LinkedIn Marketing

5 simple ways to generate leads from your company’s LinkedIn page

Generating leads for your business is no easy task. Email marketing, Facebook, Twitter, Google AdWords… you know the channels, and you know the struggle.

There are a ton of different methods for increasing the number and quality of leads for your company, and nucleo can help you with most of them. Today we’re looking specifically at LinkedIn, the oft-overlooked giant of the business networking world.

Why use LinkedIn?

With nearly 470 million members worldwide, LinkedIn has a massive pool of potential leads for just about every industry out there. In fact, it ranks as the most effective channel for B2B lead generation.

From a business perspective, LinkedIn is one of (if not the) best professional networking channels out there. With it, you can keep informed, run targeted campaigns, and generate real leads for your company.

But, as is the case for all things marketing, you can’t simply set up a company page and expect leads to fall into your lap. But with a little bit of time and effort, you could start benefiting from an effective LinkedIn strategy.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Optimise your LinkedIn profile

First impressions count, particularly when you’re trying to connect with prospects who may know very little about your brand. When it comes to optimising your LinkedIn profile, there are three main things you need to be concerned with:

• Profile picture: The typical LinkedIn user will look immediately at a page’s profile picture, so make sure yours is a good one! For a business, use a high quality image of your logo.
  For a personal account, consider having a professional headshot taken; alternatively, stand in front of a white or non-distracting backdrop and have someone take a photo with their smartphone — just make sure it’s good quality.
• Header image: If your page’s header still shows the default LinkedIn image, you’re missing a great opportunity to make your page unique and engaging. Ensure your header is on brand, visually appealing, and mobile responsive.
• Company description: Write an informative description or title for your LinkedIn page. Remember that the first two lines are all that LinkedIn will display (before it is condensed to “see more”), so pack those two lines with powerful and relevant content that hooks the audience.

There are a lot of businesses on LinkedIn, and many of them have dry, generic content. Don’t fall into the same trap! Use your brand personality to create compelling content and make your page stand out.

2. Increase your page’s visibility

It’s simple — people can’t connect with you if they can’t find you! Give your company’s LinkedIn page the best chance by doing everything you can to improve visibility. Here are a few things to try:

• Fill every field. Don’t leave any fields blank. Go through your profile and make sure it is fully completed with relevant and interesting information.
• Include keywords. The summary section is not visible in the profile box, but it is crucial for SEO (search engine optimisation). Use a variety of keywords, but avoid keyword stuffing; your summary should still read naturally.
• Impress with your specialties. Concise keywords are also ideal for the specialties section. Make clear what your company can provide for customers. If you’re setting up a personal LinkedIn profile, be sure to include impressive titles in your professional headline.
• Be active. Help people find your page by regularly posting fresh and meaningful content. Let’s explore this step some more below.

3. Publish relevant content

Publishing and sharing content on LinkedIn is an excellent way to increase visibility, improve brand image, and establish yourself as an authority. LinkedIn users can “share an update”, which is usually a brief comment with a link to another website, or “publish a post” with direct long-form blog posts.

Whenever you publish a post, your profile will become visible on other users’ news feeds. This could encourage followers, get you more profile views, and spark a conversation with new clients.

If you have an important and industry-leading post, consider pinning it to the top of your page for a few days or for as long as it is relevant; this can help to increase its reach and grab the attention of new prospects. Importantly, ensure that all content you share is aligned with your business strategy and brand personality. If your post compels someone to visit your website, you want them to experience a consistent brand story across the different platforms.

4. Follow up on profile views

One of the great things about using LinkedIn for your social media marketing is that it explicitly provides information about who has taken a peek at your profile. Every view your profile receives is a potential lead for your company, so make sure you’re taking action with the information that LinkedIn provides.

Simply navigate to the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section under “Profile” in the menu bar. Checking this regularly will allow you to keep an eye out for anyone who may be interested in working with you.

Reach out to prospects via LinkedIn or email with a message about why you’d like to connect and how your business may be of use to them. You may like to wait a day or two after the person has viewed your profile; you don’t want to appear desperate! Typically the worst that can happen is that they ignore your message, so you have little to lose.

5. Be active with groups

Another useful LinkedIn tool to consider is Groups. You can join up to 100 Groups, but we recommend you concentrate on approximately five at a time. This way you can maintain a decent level of activity, bring genuine value to the discussions, and nurture authentic leads.

When searching for Groups to join, identify whether they are:

• Relevant: The Group should be a suitable match for what you are seeking in a target audience.
• Active: It will be difficult to connect with interested prospects in an inactive Group. Pay attention to activity levels in the search results and select Groups that are very active.
• Suitable size: There is no “right” size when it comes to Groups, but keep in mind that a very large Group may make it difficult for your brand to stand out, whilst a very small Group will offer few prospective leads.

As you join and participate in other Groups, you may identify a chance to create your own LinkedIn Group. This is a fantastic networking opportunity that can help you to generate new leads and establish your brand as an authority.

Starting a Group is easy: hover over the “Interests” menu on LinkedIn, pick “Groups”, then “My Groups”, and then “Create”. It may be a good idea to add content before you starting adding new members, so that your Group makes an instant impression as a place where your target audience can gather and communicate.

Start generating leads on LinkedIn!

LinkedIn can be a powerful part of your marketing strategy. With a little bit of work, your business’s LinkedIn profile can become a consistent source of high quality leads and prospective customers.

At nucleo, our team of marketing coordinators and strategists can help you create an effective content strategy using LinkedIn and a diverse mix of marketing methods. Let us help you make a difference in the growth of your brand.