Table of contents
LinkedIn has become the largest playground for growth marketers and B2B salespeople. There are many tools and strategies to explore when it comes to generating leads on LinkedIn.
What is LinkedIn Lead Generation? Why should you invest your efforts in LinkedIn for lead generation? And most of all, how to do it efficiently?
That’s what we’ll explore in this post: I’m going to show you how to generate leads on LinkedIn and my 5 favorite strategies for doing it.
What Is LinkedIn Lead Generation?
LinkedIn Lead Generation consists of generating leads (=business opportunities) on the world’s largest B2B database and social network, which is LinkedIn.
It involves all the techniques and strategies that favor visibility and engagement through the platform.
There are two different groups of LinkedIn Lead Generation strategies:
- inbound: all the actions that generate interest and make your leads want to reach out to you. This can involve LinkedIn Posts, Webinars, and so on.
- outbound: all the actions that generate interest by pushing up a message directly to your leads. This can involve LinkedIn outreach, LinkedIn Ads, and so on.
Both have pros & cons and should be explored when it comes to generating leads on LinkedIn.
Why should you generate leads on LinkedIn?
As I said in the intro, generating leads in B2B might be tough depending on your industry. Overall, there is a good chance that LinkedIn might be one of your best moves, and so for different reasons:
- LinkedIn is the largest B2B database in the world.
- LinkedIn data is very clean, rich, and up-to-date.
- LinkedIn is probably part of many of your B2B leads daily routines.
- LinkedIn is proposing a lot of features that will help you generate leads.
With the right tools and the right process, you can build a real lead machine only with LinkedIn!
That’s why we decided to include LinkedIn as one of La Growth Machine’s main outreach channels, aside from mail and Twitter.
Did you know? 🤔
Our data shows that LinkedIn messages perform as well as sales emails?
But that’s not all! Depending on your industry, LinkedIn might even perform much better than emails or other channels. Because of this, we have some clients who decide to only go with LinkedIn when it comes to outbound lead gen.
4 strategies to generate leads on LinkedIn
Now that you know what LinkedIn lead generation is and why you should focus your efforts on there, it’s time to start generating!
Here are 5 of the best strategies to generate LinkedIn leads. Read on! 👉
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms
If you don’t already know…
Yes, LinkedIn does offer you the possibility to directly create Lead Gen Forms on your company page:
These are forms outlined as templates that allow leads to sign up to your product (-or take any other action) directly from LinkedIn.
Weirdly enough, I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about them, so here are three main reasons why you should put the on your page:
- It costs you nothing: Literally. These are free forms that are available for you on LinkedIn to customize.
- To collect and store leads directly from your LinkedIn page.
- Lead quality: These are leads who have willingly filled out their information and followed your CTA so you know they’re for sure hot leads!
They also work hand in hand with LinkedIn Ads, meaning you can create a campaign within LinkedIn Ads and direct users to your lead gen form once they click.
Here’s how to create one:
- Go to Edit page on your LinkedIn page
You have to be a Super Admin (highest form of access on LinkedIn) of your LinkedIn company page in order to access this setting.
- Go to Lead gen form from the Edit menu
- Toggle Lead gen form on
- All that remains is for you to fill out the details:
Have a strong company presence on LinkedIn
When you just start out with LinkedIn lead generation, the choices you need to make can be quite overwhelming. But the good thing is that you don’t have to do them by yourself!
When I say “a strong company presence”, I’m not talking about you (the CEO, Founder, etc.) or the company you run- that’ll come a bit later in the article 😉
Rather, I’m talking about your employees! Get your employees to talk about your brand and become its ambassadors!
This is very useful for the company because it contributes to the brand’s reputation.
Expert Tip 🧠
When it comes to LinkedIn, the algorithm favors individuals posting over company page posts.
This means that if your employees post stuff about your company: Updates, Annoucements, Fun small things, etc., their posts get more reach, in turn more engagement, in turn more eyes on your brand!
LinkedIn itself even has a section for Employee Advocacy on its list of KPIs.
P.S.: Try to do a mix of informative and “fun” posts (I’ll let you be the judge of what “fun” means 🙂)
Lastly, I know that not everyone in the company will be willing to post; it takes time, effort, and a certain know-how! That said, at least make sure that those who will post have:
- The motivation to do so: Again, this will take time out of doing what they were doing before, so make it worth their while. 💸
- A well-optimized LinkedIn Profile: With professional photos, clear headlines/bios, and detailed job experiences.
This is all to add credibility to your brand! Trust me, once leads see a value-adding post on a topic that interests them by someone who’s got their profile in order… I hope you’ve got the bandwidth to deal with them all!
LinkedIn company page
Just as your personal LinkedIn profile is your digital business card, your LinkedIn company page is the virtual storefront of your business!
This page plays (or at least should play) a crucial role in your lead generation strategy!
In this day and age, you have to post added-value content to stay relevant. Even though LinkedIn prioritizes ‘human’ content (content posted by individual accounts), it’s still very important to post what’s happening with the company.
Here’s why it’s great for lead gen:
- Posting updates: Highlight your product and what makes you stand out. Share the newest things you’ve been working on. This is your time to
- Engage and Convert: Engagement on your posts and updates isn’t just good for algorithms; it’s an opportunity to start conversations. Every like, comment, and share is a potential customer waiting to be converted.
Did you know? 🤔
La Growth Machine now allows you, in just one simple click, to target those people who have interacted with your brand content, whether they:
- Follow your LinkedIn company page,
- Liked your post(s),
- Commented your posts,
- Or, participated in a LinkedIn Live you organized.
All of these people are potential leads who are much warmer than anyone you would cold contact.
Wanna see how the magic happens? Click right here!
- Humanizing a business: People want to connect with people, not faceless corporations. Use this space to let your company culture shine through, tell employee stories, etc. Just overall relate to your audience!
How to optimize your company page for lead generation? 🤑
Want to generate leads directly from your company page? It involved a bit more than just setting up shop.
Here’s how you can:
- Content is King: Keep your feed lively with a mix of industry insights, company news, and engaging stories. You also have to keep a regular(-ish) posting schedule so the algorithm starts liking you!
- Highlight your best: Don’t be shy about showcasing what you offer and what you do better than the competition! Detailed descriptions of your services, glowing testimonials, etc. give you a competitive edge!
- Action is your best friend: Clear CTAs guide your visitors on what to do next, whether it’s visiting your website, signing up for a newsletter, or getting in touch for more details.
- Leverage analytics: Dive into the data LinkedIn offers about your page’s performance. Understanding who your audience is and what they engage with helps you refine your approach and tailor your content.
In the end, you’ll start receiving more and more messages like this one 😉:
Automated LinkedIn outreach
So far, all of the strategies I’ve discussed are what we call “Inbound lead generation” strategies meaning you put a lot of actions into play for leads to come to you.
As opposed to this, you have “Outbound lead generation”, which is when you reach out to your leads and try to pitch them your product.
Expert Tip 🧠
Though it may seem like the most straightforward and concrete strategy, I put this one last for a reason.
This strategy won’t work nearly as good if you don’t do everything I mentioned earlier.
Why? Because very few people noawadays respond (favorably) to cold outreach from a company they’ve never heard of before.
You have to warm your leads up a little bit before rambling on about your product!
DO NOT believe the so-called LinkedIn gurus who try to convince you that mass outbound works. They couldn’t be more wrong. Segmentation is the lifeblood of any successful outreach strategy!
In fact, the previous strategies I discussed are a form of segmentation: Segmenting by intent, where you target people who have already shown some interest in your brand! Automation is just the cherry on top that allows you to save so much time!
Let’s take an example workflow -here’s my nurturing campaign for when someone interacts with my LinkedIn posts:
- I start with email because the content is quite substantial; I’m explaining the resource, giving a short outline, etc.
- Then, I fall back on LinkedIn. At LGM, we love LinkedIn, Email is just too formal for us. So, I prioritize contact via LinkedIn because it’s more smooth and personable.
The copywriting can be divided into 3 sections, highlighted in the screenshot 👆:
- Email Intro:
Subject: LinkedIn Link
Hello {{firstname}},
Following your request for {{resourceName}}, I’m doubling down with an email :)
Well, I wouldn’t lie to you, it’s La Growth Machine that does all the work for me.
The tool is available [here] {{link}} – don’t forget to duplicate the Google Sheet on your end 🙂
(OPTIONAL) Also useful, we offer {promo | added value | etc.} with the code LGMNOEL :)
Finally, we regularly share free tools and relevant content – do you want me to put you on the list of people to warn so you don’t miss anything?
Have a great day!
{{identity.firstname}}
Not too complicated… It’s straightforward, transparent, with a nice touch at the end to add even more value!
- Switch to LinkedIn:
Hey {{firstname}}
I present you: the tool for … {explanation}
=> {{link}}
Don’t forget to duplicate the Google Sheet on your end 🙂
(OPTIONAL) Also useful, we offer {promo | added value | etc.} with the code LGMNOEL :)
Finally, we regularly share free tools and relevant content – do you want me to put you on the list of people to warn so you don’t miss anything?
Why? 🤔
Quite simply, to emulate the human touch. Nothing is more human than sending 2 messages one after the other.
Even if we’ve already admitted that this is an LGM campaign, it still feels nice!
You can also add one more message to drive it home:
I hope you find all of this useful 👀
- Last Try:
So how’d you find the tool? Useful no?
We’ve got a lot of free-access content that you might find even more helpful:
- {{item1}}
- {{item2}}
- {{item3}}
- {{item4}}
- etc.
This is really the last attempt to start a conversation with the person, in the hopes that it’ll draw them in so that I can ask them my sales questions and start my pitch!
Final Thoughts
Notice how in no way, shape, or form did I mention trying out my tool or a sales pitch or anything like that throughout my breakdown of these strategies.
This is the key: You just need to start a conversation with them. And because you’ve done your segmenting correctly (right?🧐), they’ll be interested at least. Or, worst case scenario, you can still get them to give you something!
Remember, in sales, NO very rarely means no. You always want to try to convert it into at least a Not yet or understand why it’s a no. 😉
Keep the conversations genuine, and with patience, the right leads will engage!
Happy lead generation! 🙂
Written by
Comments