02.14.2013 Staff
LinkedIn is on the top professional networks today and is a treasure trove for lead generation. The site helps you connect and grow your network, which ultimately helps you promote and grow your business. Following these five lead generation best practices can help you leverage the power of LinkedIn to expand your customer base.
- Build An Amazing Profile: Think of your profile as a bio you would send if you were asked to do a speaking engagement. Your profile should be one of your most effective lead generation tools, so it needs to build an impression of your authority and competencies. A complete profile, embedded with key search terms, will get you noticed and ranked highly in LinkedIn Search terms. View your appearances in search and see what activity generated the greatest number of views for your profile. If you think you might not be the best writer, it's not uncommon for professionals to hire someone to write their bio for them.
- Upgrade To the Business Plus or Executive Account: Upgrading your account gives you access to better LinkedIn data, like who has viewed your profile, where you land in search, who’s profile you can see and more. Mine that data for qualified leads and, with your upgraded account features, connect with them. Upgrading your account also allows you to learn how people find you, view your visitors by industry and get visitor stats by geography.
- Participate in LinkedIn Answers: LinkedIn makes it very easy to participate in answering questions, which is different from commenting in LinkedIn Groups. While underutilized, the Answers section provides you with a place to demonstrate your knowledge, provide advice and promote your solutions. Establish prowess in your field and connect with people who liked your answers. Make sure to feature any blog posts or other optimized lead generation assets and content you own and include a link to your call to action.
- Create a LinkedIn Group or Join A Group: Join groups on LinkedIn or create your own! Joining groups within your industry is a given, but don’t forget to join vertical industries that can benefit from your products or services. Monitor the groups for any discussions where you can chime in and offer solutions. Most people end up connecting with the people who provide the best engagement in groups.
- Leverage People Search: Using the People search toolbar box, search for specific company names or titles. The results will provide you with a return of people looking for jobs, business owners, corporations and all the key players - the leads you need. You can refine your search results to narrow down people who appear to be the most qualified leads, and view your shared connections. From there you can start making introductions.