If you work in B2B, LinkedIn is undoubtedly an essential tool to generate leads and grow your business.
There are 722 million members on LinkedIn in over 200 countries and regions around the world. These users are professionals from any and every industry and are using the platform for professional purposes. Even with a diverse user base, LinkedIn’s advertising tools make it easy for you to find your target audience and serve them relevant content. It also allows you to establish your business as thought leaders, generate leads, improve reputation and build online communities.
Here are five benefits of utilizing LinkedIn to grow your B2B leads:
- Narrow your audience
If you are looking to target an audience based on industry specific variables, LinkedIn advertising is where you should be investing your digital spend. In addition to standard demographic information, LinkedIn allows you to target your ads based on variables such as job title, job function, seniority, company name, company size, industry, skill, degree type and name. Because of these targeting specifics, LinkedIn is especially good for brands that are targeting people who make buying decisions on behalf of the company they work for.
- Expand your advertising range
Don’t just post on LinkedIn, take advantage of the multiple ad placement options such as sponsored posts and sidebar ads in order to generate further exposure, clicks and conversions. You can also utilize LinkedIn Sponsored InMail which integrates with its internal messaging platforms and allows you to send personalized messages to a specific audience. In addition to very specific audience targeting, another factor that makes Sponsored InMails more appealing than regular InMail or email, is that LinkedIn will only send out a sponsored InMail to a user when that user is online. As LinkedIn states, this will: “Put sponsored InMail at the top of your prospects’ LinkedIn inboxes for guaranteed impact and 100% deliverability.”
- Social CRM
Using a basic CRM applicator, you can integrate your database with LinkedIn to gain deeper insights on your customer base. A social CRM tool allows you to see what your contacts are doing on LinkedIn in real-time, offering valuable additional information on their behavior and preferences. When targeting a contact, LinkedIn itself allows you to see this information in its own environment.
- Generate valuable lead-nurturing possibilities
LinkedIn, like most social media platforms, focuses on generating awareness and leads. But what happens when you actually capture a customer and they enter your database? Nurturing these leads is key to securing them as a customer. Traditionally, lead-nurturing tends to be limited to email messages, however using the Lead Accelerator feature on LinkedIn allows you to track your most high-value customer, serve them more direct ads and remarket your business.
- Listen and gain insights
Once you’ve built a solid audience on LinkedIn and created some key target audience groups via paid advertising, ensure you are using the space to listen, ask questions and gain insight from your customers. If you’re not using social listening, you’re leaving a lot of great insights on the table, it’s a crucial component of audience research.
Need help creating B2B leads using LinkedIn? Chat to your Hurley’s Media Sales Representative today about how we can assist you with social media management that results in growth for your business. Email [email protected]
