B2B Marketing: Lead Generation using LinkedIn
8 Ways you can use LinkedIn for B2B Lead generation
If there’s one thing that defines lead generation in the B2B space, it is knowing your audience. The more you know about who your ideal customers are the easier it is for you, the B2B marketer. It will help you understand and channelize your strategies via the right tools and mediums. And, not to forget content and distribution.
A recent LinkedIn article states that content creation went up by 66% in 2022. That’s a phenomenal increase. There is an obvious reason why this happened. The pandemic pushed businesses to turn to online channels. That led marketers to rapidly generate content to build a quality prospect pipeline.
But just how does all this add up?
How does content help a business, especially B2B, in lead generation?
B2B Marketing: Lead Generation using LinkedIn
Let’s take a look at some ways you can use the most popular business networking channel, LinkedIn.
1. Build thought leadership content to enhance brand value
This has to be the most complicated piece. If you are in the B2B space, it is a given that you are playing in a niche. Take that as an opportunity to create value for your audience, customers and users. Slot out time to write key content pieces that will help bring value to your customers and prospects. Sometimes that is where it all begins.
Relevant content always has good search volume. Be it on social media or on google. Once you’re found for the right content (and, of course, hashtags!) your B2B marketing will start seeing results. In order to build great thought leadership content, a good idea would be to invite Subject Matter Experts, Leads and Project Heads to share real stories of their everyday work using interesting angles and narratives.
Wondering where to start with thought leadership content? We can help.
2. Share content. Lots of it.
They do not call it social for nothing. So, the more you chit chat on your page, the better. That boils down to sharing valuable content in the form of posts – and doing it frequently.
Depending on the type of audience you cater to, you can aim for anywhere between 5 posts a week, to 5 posts a day. With time you will find the right balance, and also the right kind of content that works for your brand.
Make sure you use a lot of your website content (case studies, blogs, infographics, datasheets et. al.) to make your feed interesting and engaging for your audience. The crux of B2B marketing to enable lead generation is to share real stories. Oh, we already said this. But, yes, it is just that important.
Social media calendars are a great way to keep tabs on your publishing schedule. Let us help you build one.
3. Gather your assets
Speaking of real stories, the best ones come from the assets your marketing team generates on a regular basis. Ensure you store all your assets – be it case studies, whitepapers, blogs, product information, customer testimonials, datasheets, webinars, and more – in a place that is easily accessible not only to your sales team but also your marketing/demand generation teams.
Your in house creative team can then whip up posts using fresh ideas around these assets and share them as posts on a regular basis. Keep a tab on high density hashtags when you share these posts. Also, ensure you tag people who have contributed in building the asset. This enhances the visibility of your posts and drives more views to your page/post.
4. Grow your business connections
B2B marketing on LinkedIn is all about lead generation. But, it is also essential to bring a human angle to your brand without being sales-y, so to speak. Combining the right kind of content with your products and offerings to create posts that your employees and leadership can share will not only drive value but also build credibility for your brand.
Sometimes sharing a simple occasion or celebrating a new business partnership by tagging people can result in dramatic increase in views and engagement. This is a surefire way to enhance your brand using the power of business connections.
5. Explore content promotions/boosting
You have your assets ready. How about promoting or boosting them? With LinkedIn promotions you can pick the appropriate audience segments that you cater to and drive better engagement for your post. Bring out fresh angles to market and remarket your assets multiple times to establish your B2B brand.
Post promotions or boosting come at a basic cost. Adding some dough behind the post ensures that people see your post on their feed versus them missing out on your organic content while they scroll through LinkedIn. Considering that boosted posts are pitted against both value and predefined targeting, the likelihood of them being viewed/engaged with is much higher.
6. Leverage LinkedIn InMails
LinkedIn InMail is a great low-cost method to generate leads/signups/views for your business. It’s an alternative to traditional email marketing, the only difference is that you get access to LinkedIn’s database of audience and your message is delivered in LinkedIn. This does away with the risks of your message ending up in their spam folder or not delivered at all.
If you already have an email database of your target audience you can upload the same as a custom audience on LinkedIn and your InMail or Sponsored content will be delivered only to that select audience.
LinkedIn InMail have higher open/ engagement rate than sponsored posts.
7. Did you say Demographics? We hear you.
80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn. That’s a staggering number knowing well that B2B businesses operate in a niche. The reason LinkedIn helps here is demographics. The ability to precisely target your content to the right audience. Once you have your asset, that works like a lead magnet, LinkedIn offers you various ways to break down your audience by industry, designation, geo etc., to enhance reach.
Thinking about starting a new campaign on LinkedIn. Let’s help you drill down your database and help you kick-start your B2B marketing campaign.
8. Retarget again using InMail
Why leave the last stone unturned? C-Suite executives, Leadership teams and B2B marketers can easily leverage InMail to write personalized emails to prospects. Once you have gathered data from your prospect database, your marketing team can write content that specifically caters to the needs of the audience segments you wish to target. This channel has always proven to be effective considering the human touch it often brings to B2B marketing and lead generation.
Closing Notes
The power of social media is not to be underestimated. With proper planning around your content, audience and target markets, LinkedIn can help you achieve dramatic results over time. Social media and digital marketing experts at Blufig can work closely with you to help you understand and craft strategies that work for your B2B busiess. Ask us for a consultation and we will be more than happy to connect and drive value in your B2B lead generation initiatives.
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