How to generate leads on Linkedin

There are over 433 million registered users on LinkedIn spread across more than 200 countries around the world. When it comes to building professional relationships, you could say LinkedIn is the number one social media network.

But being on LinkedIn is far from cutting it if you want to leverage its power to generate business.

Think about the last networking event you attended. You could go and stand on a corner with your business cards in your pocket and not hand out even one, or you could put yourself out there and create relationships.

Imagine LinkedIn as one big, never-ending networking event in which you can either have your virtual business cards (your profile) ready and not interact with one soul, or you could put yourself out there, starting conversations, meeting new people, expanding your network and effectively growing your business.

What are the best tips to generate business on LinkedIn?

Have a knockout profile. When you first ask to connect with people on LinkedIn or when someone comes across your profile, they see a limited profile including your name, title, company name and photo. Make that limited profile count.

Since you are pretty much stuck with your name, let’s leave that aside, but make sure you complete the position and company fields. Now about your picture: this is a critical part of your profile. First, you need one.

A silhouette doesn’t exactly say “trust me with your hard earned money”. Second, make an investment on having professional headshots taken. Trust me, a picture of yourself cropped out from a group picture does not exactly scream “professional”.

Connect. LinkedIn is all about connecting with others. It is the equivalent to handing out your business card and receiving one in return. Invest a couple of minutes a day scanning the “people you may know” list and connecting with those who are relevant.

This is important though; don’t overdo it. You want to broaden your network, but you want to connect with people who are relevant and with whom you have no more than 2 degrees of separation.

Once your invitation to connect is accepted, send a friendly message about why you wanted to connect. Don’t try to sell, remember, you are trying to build relationships.

Follow those you know. Spend a few minutes every day looking at your current clients’ and prospects’ profiles to see who you may have in common and who you could connect with from their list of connections.

Join groups. Use groups as a targeted way to share your knowledge about your industry and build your network.

Create a list of potential customers. From those in the groups you join and those who you’ve connected with, make a list of potential customers whom you can begin connecting with.

Reel it in. Once you’ve connected with a LinkedIn user, sent them a message or interacted on a group, invite them to a webinar outside of LinkedIn or provide them with a white paper on an industry related topic.

This is where your Linkedin audience starts to develop a serious familiarity with you and your brand and your success rate of putting them through your marketing funnel is much higher.