Since 2017, LinkedIn has had over 500 million users, according to Business Insider Intelligence. That’s half a billion potential customers. So, of course, you want to utilise that gold mine by using LinkedIn for your own business. But how do you begin? How do you consistently and reliably use it for effective lead generation and ultimately boost business? Read on, and we’ll show you how.

Profile Optimisation

Firstly, you need to personalise your profile. Make sure that when people land on your page, they see a great headline, a clear and concise summary of what you’re about, your experience, your business proposition and what you can do for people. Case studies and some social proof based on previous work you’ve done can prove that you’re good at what you do and can generate excellent customer satisfaction. Then of course, there needs to be a call to action directing prospects to your website or giving out contact information. Profile optimisation will increase the rate of conversions from connection requests and give your people a solid overview of your business as soon as they land on your profile, so no pressure, but you must get it right!

Building your LinkedIn Database

Once you’ve nailed your profile optimisation, you need to create your LinkedIn database. There are two ways you can do this. Manually, using the LinkedIn search filter, or via LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a paid-for integrated application which targets your prospects using various filters such as keywords, location, job title or industry. Although creating a database manually can be just as effective, if budget allows covering the monthly fee that Sales Navigator requires, it’ll save you a considerable amount of time and is a handy tool for creating your LinkedIn database quickly and easily.

Sending out Connection Requests

So, your LinkedIn database is sorted. Now you need to send customer connection requests. It’s a good idea to track all of your acceptances in a Google Drive or Excel spreadsheet, splitting them into batches of requests you send by week, for example. This will help you if you’re split-testing messaging, allowing you to test different audiences to see where your business or service fits best and who it resonates with the most. This is essential in enabling you to tailor a much more targeted and streamlined approach in the future. It will also help you keep track of where you’re at in your lead nurturing sequence.

Of course, there will be people who won’t connect with you, but essentially this is a numbers game and so, put simply, the more targeted connection requests you send, the better the results are likely to be. As a rule of thumb and to begin with, aim for ten connection requests per day, if you’re doing it manually. If you choose to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator, the time saved will allow you to make more connection requests per day. Be careful not to suddenly leap from 10 to 200 connection requests overnight however, as LinkedIn could flag your profile as exhibiting suspicious behaviour. A slow and gradual increase is the key!

Look out for Part 2!

So now you know how to get started with generating leads on LinkedIn; you know how to optimise your profile, create a database and send and batch up connection requests. In Part 2 of this blog, we’ll discuss message sequences, the importance of warming up your prospects before going in for the sell and what kind of content to use. Don’t miss it!

In the meantime, for more information on how to use LinkedIn lead nurturing as part of your businesses marketing strategy, please get in touch via our contact page, call 07725 655240 or email .