The main objective of lead generation on LinkedIn is to identify and connect with potential customers who are more likely to have an interest in your product or service. LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities and wealth of professional data allow businesses to zero in on relevant leads based on job title, industry, company size, and other attributes. An effective LinkedIn lead generation strategy entails creating compelling company and employee profiles, publishing relevant content, running sponsored posts and InMail campaigns, and joining targeted LinkedIn groups. The goal is to attract your ideal customers, establish relationships through content and messaging, and convert LinkedIn interactions into strong sales leads.
Why Use LinkedIn for Lead Generation?
With over 740 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network and continues to grow at a steady rate. Here are some key reasons why LinkedIn is an excellent platform for lead generation:
- Abundance of professional data – LinkedIn member profiles contain a wealth of information including job titles, employers, skills, education, interests, and more. This data enables precise targeting of relevant leads.
- Highly engaged user base – LinkedIn members tend to be very active. Over 40% check LinkedIn daily and spend an average of 17 minutes per visit.
- Built-in lead generation tools – LinkedIn offers lead generation ad formats like Sponsored Content and Message Ads as well as Sales Navigator for finding new prospects.
- Targeting capabilities – You can target LinkedIn ads by location, company, job title, industry, interests, skills, age, and more. Highly granular targeting allows you to zero in on your ideal customers.
- Professional mindset – People access LinkedIn to connect with other professionals which makes them more open to communicating with brands.
- Higher conversion rates – Leads acquired through LinkedIn convert at a higher rate compared to other social platforms. According to LinkedIn, leads generated from LinkedIn are 3x more likely to convert.
In summary, LinkedIn is the go-to platform for B2B lead generation thanks to its unmatched professional data, targeting options, high engagement levels, and audience openness to connecting with brands.
LinkedIn Lead Generation Tactics
Here are some proven tactics for generating quality leads on LinkedIn:
Create Detailed Company Pages
Thoroughly complete your LinkedIn company page as it offers a place to showcase your brand, products/services, culture, job openings, and more to prospects visiting your page. Include your logo, banner image, company overview, employee photos and videos, customer testimonials, and any other relevant content that humanizes your brand and communicates your value proposition.
Optimize Employee Profiles
Make sure your entire team has optimized LinkedIn profiles highlighting their professional background, skills, accomplishments, recommendations, and any thought leadership content they have published. This boosts your brand’s visibility and discoverability in LinkedIn search.
Publish Valuable Content
Publish regular blog posts, articles, case studies, whitepapers, ebooks, videos, and other content that provides value for your target audience. This content fuels your organic and paid strategies. Promote this content on LinkedIn to attract new followers.
Use Sponsored Content Ads
Run Sponsored Content ads to reach highly targeted prospects with your published content. You can drive leads by promoting content offers like gated assets, free trials, consultations, and more. Retarget people who engaged with your ads or content.
Leverage LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms
LinkedIn now allows adding customizable Lead Gen forms to Sponsored Content ads. This lets prospects request content, sign up for events, schedule demos, or download your gated assets right within the LinkedIn ad experience.
Utilize Message Ads
Use LinkedIn Message Ads to send targeted sponsored InMail messages to prospects matching your ideal customer profile. These messages have open rates exceeding 50%. Follow up over time to convert prospects into leads.
Join Targeted LinkedIn Groups
Join LinkedIn Groups frequented by your target audience to connect with group members, establish yourself as an expert, and participate in discussions. Contribute valuable insights, but avoid overt self-promotion.
Use Sales Navigator
Leverage the advanced prospecting features in Sales Navigator to search for prospects based on firmographic and technographic criteria. Engage newly discovered prospects through InMail messages and connection requests.
Retarget Website Visitors
Install the LinkedIn Insight Tag on your website to enable retargeting of website visitors via LinkedIn ads. Remarket to prospects who have shown interest but haven’t yet converted.
| Tactic | Overview |
|---|---|
| Company Pages | Showcase your brand, products/services, culture, values, and job openings. |
| Employee Profiles | Keep profiles updated highlighting skills, experience, thought leadership content. |
| Publish Content | Blog posts, articles, case studies, ebooks. Promote content with ads. |
| Sponsored Content | Targeted ads promoting your published content and gated offers. |
| Lead Gen Forms | Request demos, content downloads, event sign-ups within Sponsored Content ads. |
| Message Ads | Send targeted InMail messages from your brand’s LinkedIn account. |
| LinkedIn Groups | Join Groups frequented by your audience to establish expertise. |
| Sales Navigator | Prospect for new leads using advanced search and filtering tools. |
| Website Retargeting | Remarket to prospects who have visited your website using the LinkedIn Insight Tag. |
Measuring the Success of LinkedIn Lead Gen Campaigns
To assess the effectiveness of your LinkedIn lead generation efforts, focus on these key performance indicators:
Cost Per Lead
A fundamental metric is the cost per lead (CPL), calculated by dividing total lead gen campaign spend by the number of leads generated. Lower CPL indicates greater return on investment.
Lead Quality
Gauge lead quality based on relevance to your ideal customer profile including job role, seniority, company size/industry, expressed interests, and lead qualifications from forms/questions. Higher quality leads tend to convert at higher rates.
Lead Volume
Measure the number of sales-qualified leads generated weekly or monthly to determine if your campaigns are producing sufficient lead volume to meet pipeline and revenue targets. Shortfalls may indicate a need for expanded prospecting and outreach.
Lead Conversion Rate
Calculate the percentage of leads that convert into sales opportunities (SQLs or MQLs). Improving conversion rate for a given lead volume drives more pipeline and revenue.
Content Engagement
Track engagement metrics on your published content including shares, reactions, comments, clicks, and downloads. Content that resonates will perform better at driving lead generation.
Account-Based Metrics
For account-based programs, measure engagement and conversion metrics for targeted accounts andbuying centers to gauge effectiveness at penetrating key accounts.
By regularly assessing these KPIs, you can optimize your LinkedIn campaigns and programs to achieve continual improvement in the quantity, quality, and conversion of leads generated.
Conclusion
Generating quality leads at scale is imperative to sales and revenue growth. With its vast professional network and precise targeting capabilities, LinkedIn provides an extremely effective platform for B2B lead generation. By consistently publishing valuable content and running well-targeted ads and campaigns, brands can connect with their best-fit prospects and convert LinkedIn interactions into sales pipeline. To maximize LinkedIn lead gen ROI, focus on producing large volumes of highly relevant, sales-ready leads at the lowest possible cost per lead. Track lead quality, conversion rate, cost per lead, content engagement, and account-based metrics to refine your LinkedIn lead gen strategy over time. With the right approach, LinkedIn can become a go-to channel for efficiently generating B2B leads.
