Getting & Keeping The LinkedIn Lead Generation Advantage

Almost every business owner I speak with know say that they know they should be on LinkedIn. A conversation with a business contact recently helped me to understand the issue that makes many people reluctant to throw their marketing efforts and investment into LinkedIn. My friend, a LinkedIn user, told me in no uncertain terms that most of the people we both know through the business networking circuit ‘don’t get it’. That they are still asking: What is the point of wasting time on LinkedIn? What difference will it make to my business? This revelation is the driver for this post, as I firmly believe that LinkedIn offers a unique marketing strategy that no other social media marketing approach can give, hence the massively rewarding results that are available for companies. Read on to find out what makes LinkedIn a unique marketing approach, the LinkedIn advantage for business and how you too can get the full benefits for your business.

Social media marketing

Few will argue against the benefits of social media for business these days, although I still come across a few people every so often who challenge the boundaries of reason and reality. For those who ask, excellent visibility and reach to your target audience, mostly free of charge are the benefits of doing social media marketing.

That said, we are competing for attention when we post to the noisy world of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and the other social channels.

I accept that investing in ads drastically increases reach and visibility, especially to people who are likely to pay attention to your ads if you have got your targeting spot on.

As we well know, people seeing your ads is one thing. It would be best if you had several other things to fall into place at the same time to have any chance of making a sale especially when it comes to selling high-value services. These include the desire to buy your product or service, the interested person seeing you as trustworthy and credible. The adage that people buy from people is perhaps the most crucial missing component when selling on social media – we do not often get the chance to build a relationship with those potential buyers on fast moving social platforms.

When one or more of these components are missing, we typically get clicks, views and page visits with few conversions if any at all. The dilemma of having to spend even more on ads in remarketing to put the missing ingredient I over time then faces you.

I am an evangelist about LinkedIn marketing because it is the only social media platform that offers the chance to navigate all of these issues quickly if you know how to use the platform properly.

 

Advantages of LinkedIn

Much is written about the fact that the majority of B2B marketers choose LinkedIn over other social media channels because they generate substantially more website visitors, prospects and high-value sales on LinkedIn. Despite the overwhelming testimonies and evidence in favour of LinkedIn, not everyone fully appreciates the benefits that LinkedIn can provide for companies. Let me articulate the unique advantages that LinkedIn marketing offers because it has the power to transform your business.

1. Connect with your ideal buyers

Advertising on social media gives businesses the opportunity to target potential buyers based on ‘interests’ that algorithms establish by a mysterious set of factors. The ‘black hole’ in this process is that you cannot be certain that person will be more likely to be interested in your product or service than the next person. With LinkedIn, you bypass that lottery altogether because if you know your target buyer’s job title or seniority level, industry and location, you can find the right people with a simple search on LinkedIn.

You can even filter your search to the right people if you invest in Sales Navigator (part of its Premium package) that provides roughly 30 search criteria including postcode, company size and keywords. We have helped clients to connect with decision makers in global business with whom you would never dream of connecting on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We have achieved that by going straight to them on LinkedIn and telling them about how we can help.

2. Find people who are ready to buy

I rarely go on facebook or twitter, for example, intending to make a business purchase. I usually expect the opposite – that I will be amused and entertained by a variety of strange content that often includes photos and videos of pets, food and babies somewhere in the mix. Without the mindset to ‘buy today’, businesses have a real challenge to get us to part with our money.

In contrast, on LinkedIn is like walking into a private marketplace because you have a unique opportunity to interact directly with people who are usually in the market to products and services, without competing against any noise or competitors.

Of course, you will connect with many people who are not interested in or ready to buy from you. Getting some ‘No’s is par for the course in any marketing campaign. However, one of the beautiful things about LinkedIn connections is that you can always reach out periodically, say every six months, to remind your contacts about your services. They are more likely to buy as they know and hopefully trust you already

 

 

      3. Fast connection to conversion route

Take a moment to think about your conversion rate. I hear many business owners lament that if they could only get in front of ten prospects, they are confident that most upwards of seven would buy from them.

Even if we use a conservative thirty per cent conversion rate, LinkedIn is superior to every other social media channel that has at best lower than two per cent conversions. A much higher conversion rate means that you only have to connect with a handful of your ideal clients to achieve your sales targets. Businesses make these high conversion rates because when you establish interest on LinkedIn, you can usually take the relationship offline into the real world by arranging a phone call or meeting.

When was the last time you booked a meeting with a new Facebook or Twitter fan?

We book hundreds of meetings every month that help small businesses to sell more.

 

     4. Visibility and Credibility you can trust

I have mentioned the remarketing process that marketers typically use to get results from social media advertising. The reason for this is that many people do not always trust who or what they see on social media. As is the way today, we don’t mind going the extra mile to avoid buyer’s regret before we make a purchase. Few people trust the reviews on Facebook and websites these days given that so many are potentially fake. At the same time, Facebook does not make it easy to find much information about a potential supplier on their profile. Their previous posts and activities are also diluted by what the algorithms want to show you.

LinkedIn provides the perfect solution to the issues of visibility, as the algorithms are much less prevalent. Furthermore, you can quickly establish connections’ credibility in several ways such as from their profile, existing connections, content they post and engage with, and even their company page. People also tend to put much trust in ‘recommendations‘ on LinkedIn because they come from people who have genuine experience of doing business with the company.

LinkedIn’s visibility and credibility factors provide the oil that can smooth connections and sales to prospects.

Top tips to get maximum returns on LinkedIn

Knowing the benefits of LinkedIn could bring to your lead generation, and sales are just the first step in realising the returns. Successful LinkedIn marketers employ a range of strategies that significantly increase the chance of getting the connections from your target buyers and turning them into prospects. These are some to prioritise.

• Complete your profile – it doesn’t make sense to attempt to convince new connections that you are a great supplier of a service that you do not mention on your profile. You would be shocked to find that so many people still do this every day and then wonder why they don’t get the credit they want.
• What do you do? – A great profile starts with a captivating tagline that describes what you do and how you help instead of your job title. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a powerful one-line can double your level of engagement and connections on LinkedIn.
• Post regularly and often to LinkedIn – new connections are likely to see your posts and engage with them if you post engaging content often. The more you post, the more chance prospects have of seeing your posts.
• Ask clients and your network for recommendations – potential connections and prospects trust LinkedIn recommendations, and unless you actively ask for them, people are unlikely to know that you want their feedback
• Know your target audience – failure to properly articulate and understand your target audience continues to be the most significant mistake business make in marketing. Once you establish whom you are looking for and how you can help them, you can start to find them on LinkedIn and invite them to connect with you.

Bringing it all together

You are missing out on clients if your business is not using LinkedIn to try to generate new high-value prospects. Marketers that prioritise LinkedIn prove month after month that we can build new connections and identify prospects for almost every company that has a specified target customer. Once you understand the unique advantage that LinkedIn offers for Lead Generation, implementing the strategies to maximise the returns as described in this post will start you on the road to making LinkedIn work for your business.

Contact our LinkedIn experts if you want help to get the full benefits of LinkedIn marketing.

 

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