There are alternatives to using LinkedIn for lead generation. You can invest your time generating leads with telemarketing, search engine advertising, display networks, or more high-traffic social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter?
To put it simply, LinkedIn is a trusted network of professionals where people go to learn and share ideas. An average user visits the platform to stay informed about what’s happening in their industry, look for new employees, or look for tools, tricks, and specialists to improve their team’s performance.
If your business offers a solution to their needs, LinkedIn is potentially a great environment for attracting their attention.
There are a few other reasons why LinkedIn is a good place to generate leads for B2B organisations:
It’s made up of professionals with purchasing power
Over 20% of LinkedIn users can make buying decisions for their companies. That’s at least 61 million senior-level influencers and 40 million decision-makers that you could be connecting with. It’s also the most-used social media platform amongst Fortune 500 companies, so there’s a good chance your target audience is already on the site.
It has an extremely active user base
LinkedIn has over 500 million total users, and over half of them (260 million, to be exact) actively use the platform every month. Of those 260 million users, 44% log on daily. That means a lot of potential decision-makers to frequently engage with.
It’s the most prolific lead generating platform
Those 100+ million decision making users are proven to take action. The site’s own content marketing blog ran the numbers and found that 80% of B2B leads generated through social media come from LinkedIn.
There are plenty of case studies to back up the claim, too. Simplus, a Salesforce partner, says that 70% of their website form fills have come directly from LinkedIn. NetBrain Technologies Inc. doubled their click-through-rate with LinkedIn ads and saw 94% of leads generated accepted by sales.
LinkedIn lead generation converts more leads for less
There are ways to do LinkedIn lead generation for free, but even if you go with a paid strategy, you could save a lot compared to running a similar ad campaign on a search engine or another social media platform.
HubSpot aggregated all of their customer’s results with LinkedIn Sponsored Content and found that while the ads have a higher cost-per-click than Google Ads, they also have double the conversion rate.
With a £1,000 ad budget, you could generate 11 conversions for only £90 each on LinkedIn, while the same budget with Google Ads would generate 8 conversions for £125 each.
Its targeting audiences are tailor-made for B2B lead generation
LinkedIn Advertising gives marketers extremely granular access to their target audiences. These are just a few of the many targeting options:
- Company industry, size, and name
- Job title, function, and seniority
While competitors like Facebook Ads also allow marketers to target users by employer and job title, workplace networking is not the primary purpose of the platform. It is feasible that some users may not be listing their employment info at all, making this a less than an ideal channel for reaching target audiences.
It’s the choice for B2B marketers
According to the Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn, 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute content. This means that either a lot of B2B marketers are wrong, or a lot of people are on to something.
In either case, passing on what 94% of your competitors are already taking advantage of.
Free Strategies for Finding Leads on LinkedIn
Many of the actions you already do daily in LinkedIn can help you find leads. You only need to think a little differently to get the most out of your time on the platform.
Here are a few examples:
Publish articles
Articles are the best way to demonstrate to ideal clients that you’re an expert in your industry. You can use them to anticipate and answer prospects’ questions, instilling confidence that you’re the right choice when it comes to solving their problem.
Publishing articles on LinkedIn comes with benefits you can’t get from blogging on your site alone:
- Your content gets shared with your connections and followers in their news feeds and sometimes in their notifications.
- Users that aren’t already in your network can follow you from your article, so the next piece you publish will automatically appear in their feed.
- If your profile is visible, your article is searchable both on and off the platform.
This is a great, free option for establishing your authority without having to convince users to navigate away from the site.
Post daily updates
Posting regular updates to your LinkedIn Page or Showcase Page is a great way to stay top-of-mind with your network. Updates will appear on their home feed, so it works as free, organic advertising.
Note that this doesn’t mean you need to publish a unique piece of content every day. Here are a few suggestions for how to keep this step quick and easy:
- Repurpose content shared to your other social media accounts
- Link to existing blog posts or resources on your site
- Direct users to your most recent newsletter
- Share your take on news from your industry
- The name of the game is to make use of the content you already have and updating your page as often as possible.
Build your network and make personal connections
It is possible to outsource LinkedIn Outreach but be wary. Many agencies and freelancers ignore the golden rule of sales – “selling is listening, not telling”, maybe because it is easy and cheap to send a connection request then bombard the recipient with an offer before understanding their needs and problems. This tone-deaf approach has no place in the B2B sales and marketing arsenal, indeed it is barely acceptable to be so blatant with increasingly informed consumers.
Virtual Sales Team take a different approach. Since 2007 we have successfully generated leads and set appointments by understanding the value of engaging conversations, telling stories, and building trust. By blending an approach through LinkedIn Outreach with a personal follow up with mature and talented calling professionals, Virtual Sales Team offers a unique approach to engaging a pitch-weary online audience.
If you would like to find out how to generate genuine leads using Blended LinkedIn Outreach, we’d love to hear from you.
