Facebook and Instagram are the first names that come to mind when we think about social media. But do you know that the professional networking site LinkedIn has grown by leaps and bounds over the last ten years? Today, LinkedIn has a whopping 610 million members. This social media site is trendy among businesses, marketers, and sales professionals. In fact, 46 percent of social media traffic to the websites of B2B companies comes from LinkedIn.
As a sales professional or business owner, you can use LinkedIn search for growing companies, more targeted prospecting, lead generation, and personal branding. But B2B marketing in the LinkedIn case requires perfecting your social media strategy. By using this step-by-step growth engine guide, you can supercharge your LinkedIn growth by more than 600 percent. But achieving this milestone is not possible without the use of some important tools. So, let me first introduce to you the vital tools you would need to rock on LinkedIn.
Essential Tools for LinkedIn Growth
Below is a list of the tools that will help you get the most out of your rapid LinkedIn growth strategy. Use these tools to expand your professional horizon and get better leads and prospects:
1. LinkedIn Premium Account
It is a good idea for sales professionals to subscribe to the LinkedIn premium account because it comes with many useful features like InMail, premium search features, and Lead Builder organizer. While Linkedin Premium is great for prospecting, the best version of LinkedIn for sales professionals is LinkedIn Sales Navigator. LinkedIn has designed this product specifically for sales professionals. It comes packed with unbelievably useful features.
2. Octopus CRM
While Sales Navigator is an excellent tool, it takes much time for prospecting. This brings us to Octopus. Octopus CRM is a simple yet powerful tool to automate prospecting on LinkedIn. It also allows you to create your personal marketing funnel by automating tasks like connection requests, messaging, profile visits, endorsing your first level connections for different skills, and more.
3. Email Marketing Software
As a sales professional, you know email marketing consumes much of your time. The good news is that tools like Mailchimp, Sender, and Snovio allow you to automate a big chunk of your email marketing campaigns. Export the list of your prospects from LinkedIn and start your email marketing campaign using these softwares.
4. Facebook Ads Manager
Facebook Ads Manager is an excellent tool for running advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. You can use it for retargeting users you’ll export from Linkedin. It also lets you personalize your ad for every customer.
LinkedIn Growth: Step-by-Step Guide
A results-driven LinkedIn growth strategy includes the following core steps. Start implementing these techniques by using the tools explained above to grow your revenue by more than six times.
Step 1: Optimize Your Profile
Many people don’t know how to improve LinkedIn profile strength. Remember, the first impression you give to others can significantly influence how they treat and see you. Your LinkedIn profile is your best chance to create a great first impression and strengthen your profile. Be sure you are looking friendly and professional in your profile picture. Write the ‘About’ section professionally, clearly summarizing your professional background.
Step 2. Use Auto-Connect Tools
Grow your network by sending up to 100-150 connection requests per day. You can save time by automating LinkedIn connection requests with tools like Octopus CRM for LinkedIn, which comes in the form of a chrome extension. However, avoid sending more than 150 connection requests per day; otherwise, the LinkedIn search engine might flag your account. You can even use the LinkedIn invite email option to connect with people using their individual email addresses.
Step 3: Send Follow Up Messages
When a connection request is accepted, you can follow-up with a “Thank You” message. And it’s a good idea to briefly introduce yourself to your new connection during the follow-up. Next, send follow-up messages once in a while but avoid spamming your audience. Your goal should be to gradually establish a rapport with your connection without appearing salesy.
Step 4: Write Articles
For effective prospecting on LinkedIn, you’ll have to appear as an authority in your niche. Writing articles on your niche-related topics and sharing it on LinkedIn can publicize your expertise and help establish trust with your connections. Write helpful articles that solve your connections’ problems. By doing so, you will also generate user engagement and convert your contacts into customers.
To begin with, you can write one article a week and share it as a LinkedIn post. Publishing your articles on LinkedIn Pulse once or twice a week is also a good idea. Since only 3 million users share content on the network every week, it provides you a good opportunity to get noticed.
Step 5. Join LinkedIn Groups
Joining LinkedIn groups that relate and engaging with the group members is an excellent prospecting method. Share ideas, ask questions, post content, interact with the posts of other members and you’ll see the results gradually kick in.
Step 6: Export the List of Your Prospects From LinkedIn
LinkedIn allows users to download their account data, including information about your connections. You can even export data about endorsements and how LinkedIn users interacted with your advertisements. Your sales team can use the LinkedIn information to grow your business.
Step 7: Run Facebook Retargeting Ads
According to Pew Research, 90 percent of LinkedIn users also use Facebook. This means you can use the data exported from LinkedIn to retarget your prospects on Facebook. This is one of the most effective ways to generate leads. Simply upload the LinkedIn data to Facebook as a custom audience and kick-start your retargeting campaign.
Step 8: Evaluate, Improve, and Repeat
Remember that LinkedIn growth is a journey, not a destination. Experiment with different techniques, evaluate your performance, improve your strategies, and repeat the essential steps. If you think it is challenging and time-consuming, there are tools available to automate many of these tasks. We’ve already introduced the necessary automation tools at the beginning of this article.
Final thoughts
LinkedIn is undoubtedly the most effective prospecting platform for your sales team today, irrespective of the size of your B2B business. Start using the essential tools explained above, implement these LinkedIn growth engine steps, and see your sales skyrocket. Now is the right time to take the most important step to grow your business.