Creating a Sales Outreach Strategy for the Modern Buyer
Creating a sales outreach strategy is a crucial part of business, which is why engagement on social media has never been more important.
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Wondering how to generate leads with Linkedin?
Here are 3 ways to get more customers on Linkedin
Author: Chaz Van de Motter - Chief Executive Officer
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When attempting to generate leads with Linkedin, it is important to play by Linkedin’s rules. If you want to “win the game” or “generate quality leads” in this case, it takes following Linkedin guidelines.
What are Linkedin’s Guidelines?
According to the Linkedin User Agreement your account must abide by certain guidelines or be subject to deletion.
Do not automate Linkedin Activity
Simply put, it’s not worth it. Building a reputation, a personal brand and network of connections is too valuable to throw away for some non-personalized automation. Automating connections and direct messages will get your account flagged. This will damage your account’s reputation in the eyes of the Linkedin terms of service. Don’t take our word for it. Here ere are two clauses that are a part of the contract you agree to when creating a Linkedin account
- You agree that you will not Develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons or any other technology) to scrape the Services or otherwise copy profiles and other data from the Services;
- You agree that you will not Use bots or other automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages;
Furthermore, Linkedin has actively sought to eliminate automation tools due to their “spammy” nature. They have done this through advanced firewalls as well as lowering the daily action limit for accounts. For example, Linkedin has recently chosen to drop the amount of connections you can request on a daily basis from 200+ to between 25-50. This means that even if you are automating engagement through an unsustainable loophole, you are restricted from connecting with others at an ambitious velocity.
Monitor Pending Requests
Linkedin uses this indicator to gauge the health of your account semantically. This means that Linkedin algorithms monitor the ratio of each account’s number of pending requests. The more pending requests, the more likely an account is to be fake or spamming. For example, if an account is connecting and sending notes to hundreds of accounts and no one is accepting that account’s connection request it raises a red flag.
This metric can damage your score on Linkedin’s social selling index as well as lower your daily action rate cap in some cases.
Add value to the network by engaging in conversations
Linkedin wants users to engage with one another in a thoughtful way. Spending time genuinely interacting with accounts will not only help boost your social selling index score, but also lead to more natural conversations. These natural conversations oftentimes flourish into business relationships at a clip much higher than the robotic “connect and pitch” strategy that many social sellers use to generate leads with Linkedin.
Linkedin also notices when users are commenting on a post versus replying to other comments. Replying to comments shows an even more meaningful interaction and will oftentimes lead to further rewards as it relates to keeping the Linkedin algorithm on your side.
Now that we know some of the rules of the game, lets explore 3 ways you can generate leads with Linkedin.
There are far more accounts consuming content on Linkedin than posting on Linkedin. This lack of content saturation (unlike platforms like Instagram) provides an opportunity to generate leads on Linkedin.
3 Ways to Generate Leads with Linkedin
Thought Leadership
There are far more accounts consuming content on Linkedin than posting on Linkedin. This lack of content saturation (unlike platforms like Instagram) provides an opportunity to generate leads on Linkedin. Plus Linkedin wants you to post. Whether it is articles, videos, or adding a name pronunciation to your profile, it shows Linkedin’s algorithm that you are bought in to using the platform frequently. This level of usage leads to higher organic reach, higher organic search results for your page and ultimately more eyeballs on your account.
To truly convince Linkedin and your audience that you are a thought leader in your subject matter expertise takes posting content focused on specific topics within your niche. Along with posting, you must be a moderator for the conversations your content sparks within your audience. This means responding to comments and starting conversations around your posts.
But how do you build an audience that is willing to consistently engage with your content? Oftentimes building an audience on Linkedin is a combination of consistent content posting paired with consistent engagement within a niche community. No amount of creative language in your bio or advertising dollars can automate your personality on Linkedin. Simply put, if you want to build a following and generate leads with Linkedin, it takes becoming a trusted source of authority on Linkedin.
(Looking for a tool to help you manage the process of building your Linkedin community. Ditch your spreadsheet and try Social Cycle today.)
Linkedin Advertising
Advertising is another viable way to generate leads with Linkedin. Although it takes some capital, Linkedin advertising has worked tremendously for a number of businesses and creators. What differentiates Linkedin from other advertising platforms is its ability to target based off of job role, company name, company size and company revenue. That means being able to target specific audiences of the exact persona you are looking for. With advanced reporting on costs per click, impression share and conversion tracking, Linkedin’s advertising reporting gives a clear picture of the effectiveness of advertising in real time.
Although the Linkedin targeting parameters for these criteria are differentiated from Google and Facebook advertising, you will have to pay for it. On average Linkedin CPM’s (cost per 1,000 impressions) are generally 3-5x higher than Google display CPMs or Facebook/Instagram CPMs.
Linkedin advertising also requires compelling creative, clear call to action, and easy user journey. Whether it is image or video, the importance of a strong creative cannot be underestimated. Furthermore the offer must capture attention. Once this attention is captured and the ad is clicked, there must be a simple (mobilly optimized) user flow if you want to generate leads with Linkedin using advertising.
It takes expertise to run advertising on Linkedin properly. There are great Linkedin advertising courses available to help instruct. There are also many advertising agencies that focus on managing Linkedin Advertising. Agencies generally charge 20% of budget in management or a flat retainer between $1,000-5,000 per month.
Generate More Targeted Leads on Social Media.
Measure their engagement to determine which ones are most likely to convert.
Social Networking
A final way to generate leads with Linkedin is by social networking. This seems obvious, but there are many details that lead to more successful social selling. First and foremost, social networking takes commitment to the process. This is not for the faint of heart, but only for those who understand the opportunity of using Linkedin as a tool to start conversations.
We recommend that you LUV your prospects: Leave Unsolicited Validation. This means that your networking cannot be transactional. People post for validation on their thoughts, feelings and attitudes. Validating their posts with personalized engagement is the strongest way to build rapport and start conversations that originate out of a place of interest compared to a place of selling.
Personalized Social Networking Don’ts:
- Cool post!
- Congratulations!
- Very cool!
Personalized Social Networking Do’s:
- Wow David, that is incredible. How long have you been working on this?
- Well deserved Alice. I have seen you building for months, this must be an amazing feeling!
- Great article Jess. While I agree with many of your points, I am not sure I understand your position on xyz. Can you explain further?
Social networking is a thankless job. Most engagements with be outbound and many engagements will get a liked comment or simply crickets.
Social networking also takes time to be done right. Having a plan and shortcuts to keep you efficient is vital if you want to generate leads with Linkedin. Here are a few ideas for moving quickly without cutting corners on your social selling strategy:
- Drafting scripts will help you to expedite your personalization. If you have a list of scripts to pull from and further customize for interactions, that framework will oftentimes save you time.
- Plan out the stepwise engagements you plan to make with prospects. If you are looking for a tool to help organize this process try Social Cycle. A Linkedin social selling cadence could look like this:
Day 1: Connect
Day 3: Comment on post
Day 5: Profile Visit
Day 7: Direct Message
Day 9: Direct Message
- Monitor your progress and track your results. Following a consistent plan takes having a consistent plan. Whether you are tracking manually using a spreadsheet, attempting to organize your pipeline using Linkedin Sales Navigator, or organizing your social selling with Social Cycle, understanding what is working and what isn’t working. After all, if you are spending time social selling you should know if it is paying off. Tracking number of engagements, number of prospects, and where your prospects are at in your sales funnel is critical to understanding if your efforts are working.
Conclusion
In conclusion, play the game Linkedin wants you to play. This means stop automating your engagements, become a thought leader through content posting, advertise as a compliment to your strategy and become a social networker through personalized engagement. If you follow these guidelines your social selling index score will start to rise and the Linkedin algorithm will reward you for playing the game the right way. Happy social selling!