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Does LinkedIn bring you a steady stream of prospects?
Is your LinkedIn presence optimized?
Adjusting how you use LinkedIn changes the way prospects respond to you.
In this article you'll discover six tactics to attract LinkedIn leads and show them how you can contribute to their success.
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#1: Improve Your Presence
If you treat your profile as a cover letter and resume, you're missing a prime lead generation opportunity.
Brynne Tillman from Social Sales Link points out that prospects don't care about what you've done—they want to know how you can help them. To convey your worth, find out what kind of value your prospects are looking for and optimize your LinkedIn profile to woo them.
Rather than listing personal accomplishments, use every part of your LinkedIn profile as a marketing tool to speak directly to your prospects and demonstrate that you have the solution they need.
#2: Create Influential Content
Eric Gruber, chief content officer for Get LinkedIn Help, says that content shared on LinkedIn is going unnoticed—even if it's filled with great information.
His advice is to stop using LinkedIn Pulse as another place to post blog articles, and start creating content that positions you as a thought leader. When people view you as an expert, you get more attention.
As you plan your posts, think about what type of content other influencers provide. Most of them share content that takes a stance, discusses trends and changes in their industry. They make predictions and provide real examples and case studies.
The Allant Group tried this tactic with their article, Everything You Know About Digital Advertising Is About to Change. The article is about the rising technologies and emerging trends that will shape and change the industry. In a matter of 48 hours the post had more than 3,000 views and almost 200 likes.
Choose your content topics carefully—make sure they fit well with your LinkedIn discussion groups and challenge traditional thinking. Try to get decision-makers to think twice about their own approaches. Intriguing content usually results in click-throughs to your blog for more information.
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GET THE DETAILSNo matter which topics you choose, your posts should be op-ed style, not the “how to” or “top mistake” articles that are saturating LinkedIn right now.
As you create content to share in different groups, status updates, company pages and showcase pages, think about whether it actually supports your lead generation efforts.
Ask yourself whether you're just giving prospects a reminder or providing relevant information and solutions they can't find elsewhere. Does your content inspire prospects to take further action?
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#3: Target Prospects
Take a good look at your connections. Many business owners and sales and marketing leaders have built their connections based on quantity, not quality. They end up with connections who are irrelevant to their business. Those are the people you want to avoid when targeting your messages.
Rather than using a shotgun approach to pursue leads on LinkedIn, I suggest directly targeting the decision-makers who will most positively impact your business. Define who your primary and secondary prospects and influencers are, and then use hot-button topics to connect and engage with them.
#4: Build Community and Engagement
Remember, B2B buyers are looking for quick access to trusted experts and relevant content that helps them with their business issues. Build a community that gives them both and they'll keep coming back.
The best LinkedIn communities have a sustainable plan. To create your own plan, define how your community is different from the hundreds of other groups like yours. Next, figure out how you're going to draw attention to your LinkedIn group and communicate its value to your prospects.
With those pieces in place, determine what content you'll share to hold your members' interest and keep them engaged. Creating a group dynamic that encourages actual conversations entices more prospects to join, and even better, stick around.
#5: Integrate LinkedIn With Content Marketing
LinkedIn is not a stand-alone tool—it's more effective when you combine it with content marketing.
If you want to generate demand and increase leads and opportunities, you need to have value-added offers (like webinars and white papers) that attract decision-makers and a way to show them why they must download your free offer right this minute.
As you cross-promote your content, make sure you have a plan for how you're going to develop and nurture those relationships both on and off LinkedIn to offer a cohesive experience.
#6: Nurture Relationships
Occasionally you'll connect with people who have problems they need solved right now, and when they find out you have the solution, will take immediate action. But that's not usually the case—most prospects won't be ready to act that quickly.
Many of your prospects may not even realize they have a problem until you've presented the solution. These are the prospects you should nurture. Provide them with relevant content instead of pushing out product and service information.
Your goal is to make leads want to talk to you about their options. Decide how you're going to pique curiosity with your value-added content (i.e., case studies, white papers, videos, webcasts and third-party research that supports your claims). Next, plan out how you'll move prospects into your pipeline and keep them engaged.
Wrapping Up
The number-one thing to remember on LinkedIn is to sell your value, not your accomplishments. Tell prospects how you can help them. Use your entire profile and all of LinkedIn's tools to show how your value contributes to their success.
Carefully plan your LinkedIn content so it positions you as an influencer and encourages targeted leads to join your discussion groups. The community you nurture should be a place where prospects can engage with your content on a regular basis and network with peers in their industry.
What do you think? Have you tailored your LinkedIn efforts to your prospects? If not, do you have plans to change your LinkedIn approach? Share your comments below.
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