LinkedIn Lead Generation Guide: Steps and Tips

Table of contents:

• LinkedIn Lead Generation Guide: Steps and Tips
• Why Use LinkedIn for Lead Gen
• Steps to Build The Linkedin Lead Generation Process
• Essentials of a Lead Generation Strategy
• LinkedIn Automation to Boost Your LinkedIn Lead Gen Efforts
• The Benefits of LinkedIn Automation Software
• How Outreachly Can Help With LinkedIn Automation
• Conclusion

LinkedIn Lead Generation Guide: Steps and Tips

With over 66.8 million active users in the US alone, LinkedIn is one of today’s most prominent networking platforms. Thousands of organisations rely on it to nurture professional relationships.

But how does lead generation work on LinkedIn? It’s a complex process that requires some preparation and building a strategy. You may also want to use LinkedIn lead gen automation software for more efficient communication with potential and existing leads.

This guide explores how to generate leads through LinkedIn. Get a comprehensive look at the benefits of a LinkedIn lead generation strategy and how your team can ace it. We have also included LinkedIn InMail campaign examples to guide you.

Why Use LinkedIn for Lead Gen?

LinkedIn lead generation provides brands with tremendous rewards. A recent study showed LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than other social media networks. What makes it so good?

LinkedIn users are adults interested in finding job opportunities, not teenagers exchanging funny videos or stories. Reaching someone through social media for professionals is nothing like reaching the same person on Facebook or Instagram. People here are open to talks about their work and new offers. They are more willing to establish new connections and build large professional networks. As a result, your message is more likely to attract attention and get a response.

Besides, LinkedIn has hundreds of communities where you can find people relating to the same industry. It also supports advanced filtering and other features helping to find potential partners or customers. These characteristics make it a perfect environment for relationship building.

Steps to Build The Linkedin Lead Generation Process

To increase your sales potential on LinkedIn, one has to complete different stages to master LinkedIn lead generation. Even though these steps might seem simple, they are critical for reaching out to more people and convincing them to work with you.

1. Create a LinkedIn lead generation strategy

Plan out your strategy in advance and be ready to pivot and try out new things if the data shows that they can improve your conversion rate.

There are paid LinkedIn platform tools to help you with your LinkedIn outreach, like the LinkedIn sales navigator and LinkedIn ads you can utilise. On the other hand, you can also leverage LinkedIn lead generation software to help you meet your targets.

2. Optimise your profile

Your credibility is your most important asset on the LinkedIn platform. Hence, you should optimise a profile to look professional and encourage executives to interact with your content. List your achievements and share media coverage about your brand. You need to provide sufficient details to showcase what services you offer and who may need them.

This step must go before you start any marketing activities since your profile is the first thing people check after getting a message from you.

3. Find your target audience

Casting a wide net for leads is an inefficient use of your resources. Hence, LinkedIn lead generation involves targeting leads that seem most inclined to take up your offer. You can send messages directly to potential leads or share them in relevant groups.

To know who may be the most interested in your offer, research your target audience and build a customer persona. Think about what position this person takes, their duties, business and operational needs, etc.

4. Build your reputation

LinkedIn lead generation doesn’t just start and end with creating a profile and having your name appear in essential conversations concerning your industry matters. One way to become an authoritative source for clients and leads is to share up-to-date insights with your followers and connections. The more you show up on their newsreel, the more likely they will trust you enough to do business with you.

You can write articles yourself, share content from your official website blog, leave comments, or participate in discussions. The key point is to stand out from other profiles and show that you know what you are talking about.

5. Find more ways to captivate your prospects

Most marketers offer free consultations and product demos to lure in potential leads. This gives the qualified lead a chance to sample the product or service without committing first. Another good approach is to offer ebooks and webinars on related content. Quality content makes the recipient feel valued.

Essentials of a Lead Generation Strategy

Naturally, a LinkedIn lead generation strategy will include different elements that drive engagement and brand awareness. Planning your approach before execution will be crucial here. It will allow you to check your progress and finetune your LinkedIn campaigns to get better response rates.

What to do for LinkedIn lead generation?

On LinkedIn, you can find qualified leads using the following LinkedIn lead generation tactics:

Search and send connection requests

Connection requests are the ultimate way to build relationships with other professionals on the platform. LinkedIn helps with this by recommending peers you may know. You can effortlessly search for individuals and organisations in different industries thanks to the search function. It allows you to widen your scope and grow relationships with decision-makers in over 200 counties.

By sending connection requests, you open a channel to communicate privately with the user. It enables you to send LinkedIn messages (also known as InMail) for their eyes only. How you use InMail to propel your interests and convert a potential lead is entirely up to you. You can initiate a conversation highlighting how you can help their brand avoid specific pain points. Or leverage your other B2B marketing skills to convince them that your product or service will benefit their operations.

Join LinkedIn groups

LinkedIn groups are one of the most effective ways to increase your sphere of influence. They are activity hubs designed to allow users to share related content in one place. For example, a group focused on fintech will have financial organisations and professionals sharing posts and interacting in the comments to build relationships with other group members. As part of your lead generation strategy, LinkedIn groups allow you to share insights and increase your reach.

Engage with LinkedIn posts

Other users can see your recent activity, including posts, likes, and comments you make. Such public engagement boosts your visibility on the platform. Users are more likely to view your profile when you comment on a mutual connection’s post. Similarly, people become more likely to trust your expertise even without an existing relationship when you share professional insights.

So when another marketing executive posts next time, engage. Let them know what you think of their ideas and provide some advice. You won’t regret it!

Leverage lead generation LinkedIn ads

Lead generation LinkedIn ads are a tool that allows you to collect data about potential leads for further communication and marketing. When you invest in lead generation LinkedIn ads, your sponsored ad is shown in the feed to other users, increasing visibility. It promotes your offer and allows users to share their details in a second. Lead gen forms eliminate the need for users to manually fill out forms with details like name, address, email, and other important marketing data. Instead, the user inputs their email and auto-fill does the rest. See the lead gen form LinkedIn examples on the platform here.

Rely on data and create quality content

You should take a data-driven approach to lead generation. It pays to have access to LinkedIn analytics that allows you to track unique impressions and response rates for your LinkedIn communications, be it posts or lead generation messages.

But before all that, quality content is a must-have. Ensure you have content that will appeal to a professional audience and keep them engaged. If maintaining the quality of your correspondence is difficult, invest in copywriting services to ease the burden. Outsourcing some tasks will help you focus on what matters, like converting the generated leads.

Cold message leads

How to cold email someone on LinkedIn? Cold messaging on LinkedIn can be a fruitful endeavour if done right. Harness the power of social selling by finding common ground with prospects

Note that unless you are a LinkedIn premium user or have purchased their InMail credits, you will not be able to message a user. You will need to establish a connection first. You can also approach a lead indirectly by having a mutual connection introduce you to them. According to LinkedIn, a prospect is 21% more likely to respond if in the same LinkedIn group. 

LinkedIn is anchored on building professional relationships. Do you want your prospects to have a reason to respond to your lead generation messages? Save selling for later. Build a genuine conversation with them first. It could rely on common ground like industry insights or expertise, even something only the person in their position would know. Such messages will also present you as someone knowledgeable about what they do. From there, you can keep track of the conversation, follow up with the leads, and introduce solutions you have for problems they may be facing.

You may find LinkedIn prospecting messages examples helpful in modelling your own successful LinkedIn lead gen approach. Below is an example of how to cold email someone on LinkedIn:

Hi [first name],

I have noticed you are interested in AI solutions in the fintech industry. Judging from your position at {company}, we might be able to help each other.

Let me know if you would like to connect sometime and exchange insights on {topic}.

Regards

{Sender}

Strong connections in social marketing come from engaging with prospects. That’s how you build your B2B prospect database. Once you initiate a conversation, don’t stop there! It’s crucial to make follow-ups even when they don’t respond to your first attempt. Who knows, maybe your cold email got lost in a busy inbox.

Here’s a LinkedIn follow-up message template to help you out if you find yourself in such a situation. Most LinkedIn lead gen examples look more like this:

Hi {FirstName},

This is a follow-up to my last email. 

With the latest news on {topic}, it seems like the perfect time to share with you my experience working with automated chatbots in {industry}.

I’m looking forward to connecting with you. 

Best,

{Sender}