LinkedIn is perfect for lead generation…once you know how to do it. Sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge standing in our way, other times it’s a lack of skills or experience.
Today, I want to share 7 ways to generate leads on LinkedIn that anyone can use, whether you are someone just starting out on your solopreneur career, an experienced salesperson with limited time or a small business owner wanting to strengthen relationships with your clients.
1. Engage with your prospects' posts
Sounds simple enough, right? That’s because it is! Building successful relationships on LinkedIn isn’t just about sharing what you have to offer - it’s also about learning what your prospects want in the first place.
An action as simple as leaving a like can significantly increase lead generation. Why? Before you’ve even made contact with the prospect, you have become a recognisable face to them. A recognisable face that will elicit trust when it comes to closing the sale.
Leaving a comment on these posts is even better because it’s also a chance to showcase your expertise and value without putting people off with a hard sell. It could take you less than 10 minutes a day to build this engagement and start filling your sales pipeline.
2. Use purposeful CTAs
Your LinkedIn posts should always end with some kind of CTA (Call To Action) otherwise, you are just writing into the LinkedIn void. Basic CTAs that can work well for lead generation are “DM me to learn more” or “Comment your questions below.”
Generalised CTAs like this work because they inspire your audience into action. However, this will only be the case if you’ve managed to craft a post that specifically resonates with them, something impossible for them to ignore.
Of course, you want all your posts to have this kind of power. But, often, people will skip to the end of a post to get to the point. For this reason, purposeful CTAs such as “Increase the success of your profile by unlocking this exclusive content” will increase lead generation by painting the outcome of working with you.
3. Create loaded polls
Polls are great for boosting post engagement but they have the power to accomplish so much more. Generic “yes” or “no” polls will have the votes flooding in, but the likelihood of any of those votes turning into leads is next to none.
The way to change this is with loaded polls. The difference between polls for the sake of engagement and loaded polls is that the latter is created with a specific outcome in mind. These polls give your audience a chance to voice their main concerns or challenges.
Once you’ve got these votes, make sure to follow up on them! If people have answered your poll then you already know they’re interested. Depending on the answer they choose will determine the approach you take to turn that lead into a sale.
4. Share to LinkedIn groups
It’s going to take time to build an audience of people in the industries you want to target. After a time, your content will bring them to you but, in the beginning, finding these decision-makers can be an extremely frustrating task.
So, why not meet them where they already are? LinkedIn is filled with groups for people to find like-minded individuals, advice, tips and tricks. Finding the individual profiles of these decision-makers will come with time, but sharing your posts in these relevant groups is something you can do right now.
LinkedIn groups are a straight path to the decision-makers you want to create conversations with. People who have signed up for the group will already be interested in what you are saying and therefore be a captive audience perfect for generating leads.
5. Post social proof
Social proof is such a powerful tool and can come in many forms; testimonials, awards, mentions in other publications. Even if you’re a solopreneur just starting out and your only client is your mum, share their experience with your audience.
It’s important to boast the benefits and outcomes of the service you provide, but your audience is always going to believe these outcomes more when they’re backed up by their peers. That’s why sharing social proof will do wonders for your lead generation on LinkedIn.
Everyone loves a success story; you need to show your potential leads that you’ve been there, done that, got the t-shirt and can do it all over again for new leads.
6. Write ‘how to…’ blogs
‘How to…’ blogs are not going to flood you with leads but they will provide a steady drip in the background. Providing actionable advice in this way will keep people coming back for more so, even if they didn’t convert into a lead the first time, there will be other opportunities.
The aim of ‘How to…’ blogs should always be to provide value to your audience first and foremost, the leads you generate from them will be a bonus. The reason for this is that you need to prove to people that you genuinely have their best interests at heart.
Including CTAs that create curiosity in these blogs will also boost your chances of successfully converting leads into sales because it will encourage them to interact with the content. In some situations, you won’t even have to make the first move - they will come to you.
7. Provide valuable information
Whatever you do on LinkedIn, you need to infuse it with value. Whether this is something practical like a ‘How to…’ blog or a loaded poll that helps your prospects recognise the challenges they didn’t even know they were facing.
Value is the secret ingredient to any lead generation strategy.
Want to learn more about creating lead-generating content? Gain access to ContentLab 2.0 to learn the strategy, structure and creation tactics to post compelling content without losing all your time.