With over 810 million users & 310 million monthly active users (and growing), LinkedIn has crawled out of the jobs platform cocoon and developed into a marketing platform. The platform can be tactfully used to promote products, connect with potential customers, generate leads, and grow sales.
Is LinkedIn truly efficient in lead generation? Let us look at some facts:
- LinkedIn has 61 million senior-level influencers & 65 million decision-makers
- Visit-to-conversion rate of leads is 277% higher for LinkedIn as compared to Twitter & Facebook
Source: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/LinkedIn-statistics/
These facts strengthen the position of LinkedIn as a ‘Lead Generation Platform’. In addition to that, LinkedIn helps businesses in the following ways:
- Reinforce brand credibility
- Share relevant content
- Increase online visibility & reach
- Boost brand awareness
- Increase quality traffic redirected to the website
- Drive sales from the website
But how can business owners use LinkedIn to its full potential?
It requires a well-drafted strategy and knowledge to convert your LinkedIn connections into clients or leads. Although the first step is to attract connections without sharing highly promotional content, it requires more effort than sharing the right content.
Before we delve deeper into how to convert LinkedIn connections into clients, leads, or sales, here is the imperative tip – connect and build relationships with the right people!
Convert your connections to your clients with these steps:
If put into simple words, it is the process of finding the right connections, communicating with them, building your LinkedIn relationship, & moving the relationship offline.
“It’s all about people. It’s about networking and being nice to people and not burning any bridges.” -Mike Davidson
Let’s take a look at a stepwise strategy to convert your LinkedIn connections into clients or leads:
Find prospects on LinkedIn:
The first step is to connect with the right people. To do so, find people who can be your potential business clients/ associates on LinkedIn. Here are some ways how you can do this:
Conduct Targeted Search – Have a clear idea of your target audience by profiling your clients. Once you have your client profile, you can conduct a targeted search on LinkedIn to find matching profiles. Alternatively, you can also use services offered by LinkedIn to search for users that make a perfect match for your business. LinkedIn allows you to filter your search based on Keywords, Service Categories, Profile Language, Industry, Current Company, Past Company, Location, Followers of, Connections of, etc. While these are the filters available to free members, you can enjoy further customization of your search with paid or premium LinkedIn membership.
Rely on your network – You can also rely on your existing contacts to introduce you to potential connections. This offers an additional benefit of mutual trust as people are more likely to trust your business if they are referred to you via an acquaintance. Word-of-mouth is one of the most trusted marketing channels among consumers.
Did you know? 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends.
Source: https://review42.com/resources/word-of-mouth-marketing-statistics/
Join LinkedIn Groups – Join & participate in LinkedIn groups that house your target audience. Make sure to give thoughtful, valuable, and interesting opinions in the group. Providing reliable answers to questions will also help you attract potential connections & build your expertise.
Pay attention to your profile – Check your notifications to see people who have viewed your LinkedIn profile. Visit these profiles & check if they match your target audience. You may also check skill endorsements or recommendations on the profiles of your existing connections. These endorsements or recommendations will usually be given by their colleagues, who are likely to match your connections’ profile. This will widen the potential connection pool for you.
Reach out to your prospective connections
Once you have shortlisted the right people on LinkedIn, connect with them. Make the initial connection by sending personalized invitations.
Why personalized messages on LinkedIn are important?
- Personalized messages help your connection request stand out from the rest.
- It can be used to highlight the value your products/services can offer.
- You can mention the business you would like to conduct & how it will benefit them.
- Generic invitations are more likely to be ignored or reported as spam.
Engage in communication:
Once your connection request is accepted, work on the relationship to strengthen it by engaging the connection in meaningful communication. Start the conversation by thanking them for accepting the request. Make it a point to communicate regularly. You can talk about their latest status update, compliment their skills, etc. Another way of staying in touch is by leaving valuable comments on their posts, sharing their content, etc. You can also ask for feedback on products or services you share on your profile. This will give the connections a chance to know more about your products or services.
Pro Tip: At this point, focus on communicating & building your relationship. Hard selling doesn’t help.
Relationship building
Trust is the key to any relationship! Showcase your expertise by sharing valuable & relevant content. You can do this by sharing market updates, reflecting on industry development, reviewing products, providing troubleshooting data, etc. A great way to build the relationship is by sharing articles or posts they may find helpful, sending an invitation to relatable events/webinars, etc. However, refrain from sending sales pitches in messages or sending too many messages which can impact your relationship negatively.
Transition to offline
Once the connection shows interest in your products or services and is ready to discuss business on a phone, message, etc. Move them into your offline sales system, or CRM (Customer Relationship Management Software), discuss their queries and plan a way forward.
Invest your time and energy in networking on LinkedIn & converting your connections into leads.
LinkedIn Marketing can help a business to build a brand and find potential customers. A good team of Digital Marketing specialists with graphic skills, content ideation and creation, and an understanding of the technicalities of posting on Social Media can help you with your business goals. Do follow guidelines by LinkedIn and make use of promotional tools offered by the company.
Do you have more questions? We will be excited to assist. Contact us at https://www.vanqmedia.com/ or +1-800-438-9172.
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Effective Content Writing Tips: Get More Sales From Your Website
