LinkedIn is not only an ideal place to make new professional contacts, but also a modern channel for online customer acquisition. In this article, we explain why it is worthwhile to conduct business activities using this portal and give you tips on how to generate sales leads.
LinkedIn vs other channels to generate B2B sales leads
LinkedIn is currently the largest social network for professionals supporting key business processes such as B2B marketing, B2B sales and lead generation. Compared to other popular customer outreach channels, this site compares extremely favourably. First of all, you don't have to pay for advertising, marketing or sales activities on LinkedIn - all you have to do is create a free account and skillfully use all of the portal's functionalities. The efficiency of your work can be further increased with the help of intelligent automation tools from Sales Robots.
Unlike Google Ads or Facebook Ads, you don't have to wait weeks for tangible results from your LinkedIn activities. With more precise B2B targeting, you can quickly and effectively reach a wide range of decision-makers in your industry on LinkedIn, who are eagerly accepting contact invitations and are enthusiastic about doing business with you. Using the right methods, you can even acquire more than 20,000 high-quality leads over the course of a year! What is important is that the database of B2B contacts gathered in this way is fully compliant with GDPR, so there is no need to worry about the possible legal consequences as in the case of cold mailing or cold calling.
Therefore, anyone can generate leads on LinkedIn without acquiring expertise in running social media lead generation campaigns or adapting to the constraints of changes in the way algorithms work.
LinkedIn - advantages and key features of the portal
LinkedIn's considerable advantage is its huge business potential - currently, there are over 810 million registered accounts worldwide and the number of users is constantly growing year by year. In Poland, there has also been a significant, 12-percent increase in the number of people using this portal, currently amounting to 4.7 million users. According to the research conducted by Kozminski University, this large group includes as many as 97% of Polish business leaders from all industries.
LinkedIn users have access to a number of features to support B2B lead generation. The free search engine for decision makers allows to narrow down the search results according to the main criteria, such as industry, position, current and previous company, or location. The paid advanced search engine provides even greater accuracy, with dozens of precise filters available (e.g. hierarchy of positions in the company or seniority in the current position).
Correspondence with people who have accepted an invitation to join our LinkedIn network takes place using a free messenger built into the portal. It enables you to send personalised private messages with a suggestion to start a cooperation or a short presentation of your offer. The chance of a quick response is increased by individual notifications delivered to the e-mail inbox of our interlocutor.
The image of a reliable contractor should also be strengthened by publishing substantive industry articles, creating an original newsletter, participating in discussion groups and organising online events. The latter form of communication with potential customers is gaining popularity, as it allows you to reach thousands of new people to whom you can present your product or service in a modern and accessible way. Before the event, the organiser can manage the list of declared people and make contact with those who are not in his professional network.
There are also modern third-party tools which streamline and improve the lead generation process on LinkedIn. The most effective of these are offered by the Sales Robots platform.
LinkedIn - the main disadvantages of the portal
When it comes to the shortcomings of LinkedIn, the most prominent one is the very low effectiveness of activities on company profiles. This is due to the fact that 74.5% of company pages are observed by no more than 50 people, therefore the reach of published posts is minimal.
The effectiveness of reaching audiences through posts published on private profiles is also decreasing - in December 2021, only 2.7% of domestic LinkedIn users decided to use this form of activity on the portal (data from the latest report "LinkedIn in Poland in 2022" by Adrian Gamon).
Why should you automate manual actions on LinkedIn?
Acquiring B2B customers on LinkedIn requires a significant investment of time with manual efforts. Sales Robots specialists estimate that to generate 12-32 leads per month on your own, you need to spend about 3-5 hours per day, while with the use of intelligent automation, you only need a few minutes each day to accumulate from 50 to even 170 leads per month.
Thus, intelligent automation of activities on LinkedIn allows you to significantly increase the efficiency of your daily work and use the full potential of this growth portal. Advanced tools, available within the Sales Robots platform, ensure a much higher level of acceptance of invitations, allow for the aggregation of even more contact data and enable integration with various CRM systems.
Generating leads from LinkedIn - ready methods
What steps can you take to attract new B2B leads on LinkedIn? Here are some proven methods:
1) Search for and then invite about 200 people per week to contact you - adhering to LinkedIn's weekly limit. Send personalized messages and follow-ups to those who accept your invitations.
2) Invite users to your event and send them a message when they request to attend. Then export a detailed guest list with their contact information.
3) Review your contact list, get their details (including email addresses) and include them in the mailing.
All of the above methods will generate B2B leads for you, but it's worth keeping in mind that these activities require a significant amount of time.
