How To Generate Leads via Organic LinkedIn

With hundreds of millions of professional users, LinkedIn is an ocean that is plentiful with potential business leads. Navigating its waters effectively is trickier than with other social media sites. Knowledge of the right tips and strategies can produce extraordinary results for your business.

In this week's podcast episode, Natalie De Souza Ferreyra stops by to share her invaluable knowledge of LinkedIn. Her advice is actionable for anyone looking to succeed in the B2B space by building a powerful lead magnet.

About Natalie De Souza Ferreyra

Natalie got her start in marketing while at Thousand Oaks Middle School. Her desire to create a community and produce shows led her to create various content. Natalie's first big success in social media marketing materialized when she created her own beauty show on Facebook that grew to two million followers.

After being hired by Disney to work on PR and social media marketing, she was hired by Infusionsoft where she honed her B2B skills. Natalie now uses her expertise to work with clients in building result-driven LinkedIn presences for her clients.

Why LinkedIn for Lead Generation?

Business owners often find LinkedIn intimidating. It lacks the informal element of other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, this is precisely the element that makes LinkedIn a valuable ally in your quest to secure high-quality leads.

LinkedIn is where you can find high-level individuals to network with. If you operate a software business or do B2B marketing, the professionals you are looking to connect with are here.

The amount of selling you have to do on LinkedIn pales in comparison to the effort necessary on other sites. It's like having a water cooler in a desert as opposed to a hot dog stand in a massive food court. You know that users on the platform are there to do business as opposed to just look around.

People's LinkedIn profiles are up-to-date while other social media site users may not care to keep them current. LinkedIn users want to have the greatest professional reach and so they make their content a priority.

What Are the Common Misconceptions About LinkedIn?

Unfortunately, many business owners that might otherwise gain from LinkedIn tend to avoid the platform altogether. People that do not use it think that the site is spammy but this couldn't be further from the truth.

Correct LinkedIn marketing has nothing to do with sending messages. Those that try to spam their audiences tend to not do well and end up leaving.

LinkedIn is about building relationships, fostering trust and attracting people to your ideas. You achieve this by speaking as an expert and displaying authority in your niche.

Spamming Doesn't Work

Natalie does research, runs campaigns, conducts A/B testing and shares data openly. She may do a case study or a quick video that she shares with her LinkedIn audience. People then notice that she is someone that aims to share her knowledge. This leads to users following and sharing Natalie's content. She receives questions from people that consider her an expert. If someone has a project that falls into her area of expertise, they will message Natalie and assign it to her.

In this framework, mass-mailing doesn't work. Business owners are looking for results and cookie-cutter communication doesn't inspire confidence.

Where Do You Begin?

So, you're convinced that LinkedIn can provide results for your business but where do you begin your marketing? Start by putting out projects that you have the legal right to talk about. In the case of business owners, a past success story is great to this end.

For example, create a quick video that shares tips on your product or service. Think of something you are proud of with a good ROI and share the things that worked. The best way to convince others of your effectiveness is by providing irrefutable proof.

How to Organically Grow Your Audience

While running ads on LinkedIn is an option, achieving organic growth is the ideal scenario. Business owners that find you organically will do so solely based on the merits of your content. Your ability to shine without the thrust of an ad campaign will maximize your results while minimizing your outlay.

Grow your LinkedIn presence by giving the right audience the right content. Consider the example of a realtor. What kind of content can a realtor share for achieving organic growth?

Posting real estate listings will only get an agent so far. Listings will only limit the potential audience to those currently in the market to make a purchase. On the other hand, providing further value will build an audience that will consume content while bringing in more prospects.

Posting pictures with ideas on how to decorate a house, appealing architecture and how to make use of exterior spaces can contribute to building a loyal audience. A greater number of people enjoy content that relates to how they can improve their home than are currently looking to buy. If you offer value beyond real estate listings, you will grow your influence and attract more buyers.

How to Hack the Algorithm

Algorithms govern the operation of all social media platforms and LinkedIn is no different. If you want to succeed on the professional network, you need to be aware of how it functions.

The best way to succeed on LinkedIn is by creating a value proposition that is not directly related to you making money. For others to appreciate you, talk about things that pertain to your industry that are relevant to them.

Furthermore, realize that LinkedIn rewards you when people engage within the first 60 minutes. To LinkedIn, this is a sign that your content is influential and immediately grabs your audience's attention. You need to inform your network that you've posted something as soon as it is published. Tell your followers that you've just posted something that they might appreciate. This gives LinkedIn a signal that your post has value for users.

Another LinkedIn growth hacking tip is to tag relevant people. LinkedIn thinks that if you are tagging people in your industry, the content is something they might be interested in seeing. Also, use five to seven relevant hashtags. Make sure not to use laser-targeted hashtags and don't overdo it.

Immediately after you create a post, comment and tag relevant professionals. Use captions and emojis to break up the text and emphasize certain aspects of your content. These tactics will supercharge your results by improving your audience's user experience.

Emulate Growth Hackers

One of the best tips you can apply in your LinkedIn marketing is to follow people that are successful on the platform. Watch what other top users are doing and take detailed notes. Success leaves a trail that is easily emulated and reproduced with a little focused observation.

One thing that successful LinkedIn users do is to test concepts on their profiles before applying to professional projects. Take ideas that you want to put into use for your business and try them out on your profile. After you determine that something is successful, go with it. You may not know what your strengths are when starting out but once your audience tells you, capitalize on them.

What Is an Engagement Pod?

One last concept that you may find useful in your LinkedIn marketing is the idea of an engagement pod. An engagement pod is a message group or text thread that you maintain with other users. The goal is for them to like, comment and share your posts as soon as you publish them. This serves as reinforcement for one another's content to maximize its visibility.

Engagement pods can be a double-edged sword. Natalie recommends pods if people in your group are in the same or similar industry as you. Otherwise, your message is going out to users that are not going to respond favorably. Although it may get traffic, a pod won't generate quality leads unless your exposure is specific to your industry.