How to Use LinkedIn to Boost B2B Leads
Are you a B2B marketer still struggling with how to use LinkedIn? Though the professional social site is great at connecting individuals and companies for career networking, LinkedIn is also an amazing way to grow a network of prospects. Here, we’ll walk you through how to use LinkedIn as a powerful sales and marketing tool to generate B2B leads.
Have a presence
They say the key to life is as simple as showing up. The same goes for your brand on a platform like LinkedIn. If you’re wondering how to use LinkedIn for your B2B organization, having an optimized, frequently updated Company Page is a necessary step. More than 80% of B2B leads generated through any social media site come from LinkedIn, so the juice is certainly worth the squeeze. The page not only serves as a hub for your employees to connect themselves to as representatives of your organization, but it also supports organic distribution of news and other content, in addition to allowing you to sponsor content to highly targeted audiences.
Get your team involved
One of the many features within LinkedIn’s platform is the ability to join groups and seek out thought leaders within these communities. If your sales or marketing team members are actively engaged in discussions on LinkedIn, you will spread brand awareness and be able to better scout or nurture potential leads. Once you’re involved in a group, you can bypass the first-degree connection rule and begin to form a relationship. With a real human behind the screen, authenticity in your content and presence goes a long way in your B2B lead search. An important step is training your team on how to best interact on the platform. While you should encourage participation, don’t do so assuming they understand the best (and most professional) way to interact.
Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager and Paid Products
LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager is made up of a number of ad products that allow you to target users based on things like job function, seniority, industry, education and more. Some of the available ad formats are:
Sponsored Updates
LinkedIn Sponsored Updates provide you with the opportunity to promote any post from your company page and have it be shared directly in your specific targeted audience’s newsfeed. This is a marketing tactic that allows you to spread brand awareness to reach the audience you choose. This method will capture the attention of those who engage the most with the sponsored update, which can help drive leads to your site.
LinkedIn InMail
With high open and conversion rates, LinkedIn InMails are an excellent option for delivering highly targeted messages to your audience without much clutter. InMails send email-style communication to the LinkedIn inbox of your audience on a pay per send basis, only when they log on to their account. Because people receive far fewer InMails than traditional emails, your message is almost sure to be seen. One catch? You have to send the InMail from a person within your organization, not the company itself.
Generate Leads
LinkedIn has created Lead Gen Forms, which are designed to collect the profile information of a potential lead when that individual clicks on one of your ads. This eliminates the need for a person to complete the form manually because the Lead Gen Form auto-populates information from their profile. In today’s digital age, 80% of LinkedIn engagement with sponsored content is happening through a smartphone. Lead Gen Forms make it simpler to download lead lists straight from the Campaign Manager or to sync leads with a marketing automation system of your choice.
Network Through Searching
Another feature that can benefit organizations with a sales team is LinkedIn’s search feature. When generating B2B leads, the advanced search tool, found in the Sales Navigator function, allows you to narrow down potential leads. Searching for leads by means of keywords, location, industry, seniority level and more, allows you to find the perfect prospective lead. Another great feature that LinkedIn offers is the ability to save a search for future use after you’ve gone through the trouble to create it.
LinkedIn’s opportunities to engage professionally on a social network make it a significant resource for gaining B2B leads. B2B marketers are leveraging LinkedIn for B2B leads 92% more than any other social platform. If you need any more insight from our side of the operation, check out a few tips and tricks of the trade and watch your leads skyrocket. Still have questions about how to use LinkedIn effectively? Drop us a line.
