Have you noticed that LinkedIn tends to be left out of the social media conversation when it comes to lead generation? A Hubspot study recently found LinkedIn lead generation trounced Twitter and Facebook by 277%! Are you missing out? Below is a methodology we use at our inbound marketing agency for building your following on LinkedIn to drive engagement, conversions and leads.
Setting Up Your LinkedIn Profile
- Create a descriptive headline for your profile that includes a 2 - 3 relevant keywords. Be sure to add relevant website links (yours and others) and a high quality photo. Your summary should also be keyword-optimized.
- Add applications to your LinkedIn profile to highlight content. Some good starters include Events, SlideShare and Polls.
- Post status updates that direct your LinkedIn connections to your content and other information that would be relevant to them.
- Join as many relevant groups as possible.
- Blog, blog and blog ... did I mention blog? After you've created lots of insightful blog content, organize similar blog posts into white papers, how-to's, quick-start guides, case studies or cheat sheets - these blogs have now become your advanced content. Create landing pages and put the advanced content behind a form.
- Engage in group conversations and use your blog posts to support your engagement (link back). Treat your feedback seriously and be insightful.
- Start your own group conversations based on the topics in your blog posts (more links). This is not a time to be salesy. The intent here is to develop your persona as a subject matter expert, not close deals. Be sincere by requesting honest feedback or input on content.
- Once another LinkedIn member engages, continue to engage.
- Be helpful and responsive. Share your insights and experiences. This is how you gain a reputation as a thought leader.
- Connect with those people who frequently engage you.
LinkedIn Groups
Suggestion: If you haven't spent much time participating in group conversations, spend a day or two observing other personalities discussing topics. Pay attention to the tone and way people respond and see who elicits the most responses (positive and negative). Then for the first week or so chime in on posts without linking to any of your own stuff - you want to establish your value before you appear to be self-promoting.
Tip: Frequency is part of group etiquette. Observe a group's activity over a week's time. If there are just a few posts per day, you don't want to come off like a stalker by having every other response be from you.
It's safe to say that social media should not be treated as a broadcast medium and LinkedIn is especially designed for engaging conversations and collaboration. If you're using LinkedIn as just another conduit to push your message, you won't generate many leads. By collaborating with industry colleagues and people with shared interests, and by setting up your blogs and premium content as suggested here, your website will experience a steady flow of visitors and incremental leads. How have you used LinkedIn in your business and what have your experiences been?