Odds are, you possess two LinkedIn profiles -- one for yourself and one for the company you run. Bravo. That’s a smart strategy. It’s good for you personally, and it’s good for your company. With regard to the latter, I’ve found that LinkedIn is an effective tool for generating new business leads.
But if your company today is like mine was near the beginning, then its LinkedIn page probably lacks the oomph to connect you with the greatest possible number of people, businesses and opportunities. And there are plenty to be had -- since its launch in 2003, LinkedIn has grown to a membership of more than 500 million individuals and companies spanning 200 countries, according to its website.
The marketing firm I co-founded in 2016 joined LinkedIn that same year. I signed up because I wanted access to that vast, worldwide legion of members. I recognized immediately the huge potential that LinkedIn could offer us for lead generation.
Unfortunately, my company’s presence on LinkedIn didn’t seem to be working as hoped. Eventually, and through much trial and error, we figured out how to succeed. Now, LinkedIn is doing for my company all that I imagined. You might profit by this quick look at what we did wrong initially and what we did right later on.
Create A Standout Company Profile
One mistake we made when we first started using LinkedIn was to overlook what should have been an obvious step -- setting up a compelling profile that would make us stand apart from the pack.
We solved that problem in part by using an iconic image that showcased our brand in an energized way. We also replaced our homebrewed banner with one created by a professional graphic arts outfit.
Today, when clients ask what else they should do to make their company’s LinkedIn profile sizzle, I tell them to concoct a headline that captures their brand’s personality and to be fearless in the use of colorful, bold strokes when writing the summary paragraph. For example, instead of an uninspired headline that states you’re a “maker of behavioral analytic software,” breathe some life into it by declaring, “we help you figure out what makes people tick.”
Same goes for the summary. Instead of one that sounds like it was written in dense legalese, lifted from the depths of a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, I encourage companies to tell their stories in a voice that’s both personable yet professional.
Share The Right Content
LinkedIn lets you publish a variety of content in a variety of ways. We fell into the trap of publishing content that was not notably compelling. The way out of that bind entailed figuring out what LinkedIn members wanted to read, hear and see. We came to recognize that what most effectively attracts interest on this platform is content that contains not only valuable information but also great supporting media.
In your summary, LinkedIn lets you include links to as many as six pieces of media (formerly, it was a mere two). These can include blog posts, PDFs, podcasts, slide presentations and more. You also have the ability to post video. In our experience, videos and other forms of content attract the most interest if you also use LinkedIn’s sponsored content feature to create a promotion campaign, complete with targeted native advertising.
Content types easiest to produce yet capable of giving you the most mileage are thought leadership articles and helpful responses to questions floating in LinkedIn’s various discussion forums. Both these content types go a long way toward burnishing your company’s credentials as an organization worthy of patronage and loyalty.
Prioritize Your Outreach
A big question confronting us early on was this: Out of the millions of LinkedIn members, who do we want to target?
The answer came easily after we discovered a LinkedIn feature called Matched Audiences. It’s basically an advertising program that retargets visitors, uploads existing accounts and adds target-worthy email contacts. Soon after we began using it, we were generating a pleasing quantity of quality leads.
In conjunction with this, we used LinkedIn’s InMail service, rather than conventional email, to reach out to the users we targeted. InMail is like email except its response rate is roughly three times greater -- at least that’s what we’ve observed it be. Also, you have to pay for each one, but we found it well worth the extra cost. As a bonus, we discovered that InMail offered built-in analytics that helped us significantly fine-tune our messages.
Additionally and entirely apart from InMail, we took advantage of LinkedIn’s paid sales solutions to seamlessly target, research and engage new prospects. I’d recommend trying it. First, figure out your marketing-related intentions and goals. Then use LinkedIn’s supplied data to identify your targets. Start broad, and later, send out feelers via InMail to narrow your targets once key performance indicator data begins flowing back to you. Refine and optimize accordingly.
Afterward, you need to determine which premium services and tactics are worthwhile. Again, send out InMail feelers and let the market’s response dictate your direction. Just don’t be rigidly committed to any single direction. Remember that the market is always changing, so stay flexible.
As a final thought, when you use LinkedIn, always put forth a solid value proposition. An early mistake we made was being too light on value. Make sure every statement you proffer, every image you post, every outreach you conduct -- all of it -- carries a clear expression of the value of your brand.
LinkedIn has proven itself indispensable to our work as a company. Put into practice these few suggestions drawn from experience, and you too can be generating a substantially larger number of LinkedIn leads than you may have thought possible.
