How to Generate Sales Leads with LinkedIn (Organic & Ad Strategies)

Want to get qualified leads flowing into your business around the clock?

Spoiler alert: you need to step up your LinkedIn game.

LinkedIn is the most lucrative social media platform out there when it comes to high-quality lead generation.

With more than 800 million professionals on the social network, LinkedIn is a powerhouse for B2B businesses.

Get it right, and you’ll build your personal brand and your professional network, bring in more targeted leads, and grow your revenue, all on the same platform.

But finding success on LinkedIn requires a different approach than other major social media sites.

You need a focused strategy, a solid content plan, and a clear idea of who your customer is before you dive in.

That’s what we’re here to help you do.

In this post, we’ll show you how to turn your business’ LinkedIn into a fully-fledged lead generation machine. You’ll learn:

Why use LinkedIn for lead generation?

LinkedIn is home to a massive community of people who want to connect with other like-minded professionals, find solutions to their business challenges, and engage with industry influencers.

Unlike Facebook or Instagram, which are valuable because of their sheer ubiquity, LinkedIn is powerful for the exact opposite reason: specificity.

LinkedIn has more than 800 million active users worldwide and 224 million users in the Asia-Pacific region alone. Of these users, 4 out of 5 influence business decisions in their respective organisations.

It’s not just the demographics either.

Everyone who goes on LinkedIn is there for a shared purpose — to find helpful content that will help them grow their business and career.

For this reason alone, LinkedIn professionals are more open and receptive to the content they see on the platform, and more likely to enquire with a business they think can help them reach their goals.

That’s what makes LinkedIn the top paid and organic social channel for B2B businesses, with more than 8 in 10 B2B marketers saying they find the greatest success on the platform.

From an online CV tool to a social media advertising platform

LinkedIn isn’t oblivious to the power of its professional member network.

Over the years, the social media giant has been exploring new ways to help businesses leverage the platform for generating leads using LinkedIn Ads.

Similar to Facebook or Google Ads, these ads give businesses the opportunity to connect with their audience through a variety of different advertising solutions, from sponsored content to sponsored InMails.

Its targeting capabilities are also next-level, with the ability to segment audiences by industries, job seniority, interests, education level, and company.

Linkedin targeting

Because of its niche audience, versatile ad formats and highly powerful targeting capabilities, LinkedIn is a step above other social media platforms when it comes to paid advertising.

Lead conversion rates on the platform are 3 times higher than other major ad providers, such as Google Ads. Moreover, a study by HubSpot found that traffic from the site also has the highest visitor-to-lead conversation rate of all the social media platforms out there.

best social network for lead generation

Despite this, HubSpot found that only 10% of marketers say they’re investing on LinkedIn and 15% are creating content for the platform.

That means that if you’re using this social media platform, you’re already gaining a significant edge over your competitors.

Understanding your goals on LinkedIn

With any digital marketing platform, you have to define your goals before you go out there and start attracting followers or pumping out content.

This is especially true on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn users are there to grow their network and their business. While Facebook, Instagram or Google users might be more tolerant of generic messaging and ads, LinkedIn members are less so.

At best, a poorly executed sales pitch might get ignored.

At worst, it will negatively affect your brand and personal reputation on the platform.

The goal of using LinkedIn for lead generation is to start the conversation, build a relationship, and provide value to your potential customers. When you do this and do it well, you’ll get the payoff with more quality leads or referrals.

LinkedIn profile optimisation for engagement and connection

A standout profile is the backbone of any solid LinkedIn lead generation strategy.

Like a website landing page, your LinkedIn profile is the first port of call for any prospective customers who want to learn more about who you are and what you do. A good profile builds up trust with your audience and moves them further along the sales process.

Without it, it doesn’t matter how many decision-makers you reach out to — none of them will buy from you.

So how do you optimise your profile to increase engagement and strengthen the connection with potential customers?

1. Building Credibility, Trust and Authority elements

First impressions count, so it’s important to spend time perfecting yours on LinkedIn.

When you first reach out to someone and invite them to connect, they’ll see your name and your job title like so:

linkedin profile

Image source: LinkedIn