How to Build Your LinkedIn Connections Count and Generate Leads
LinkedIn is perhaps one of the most underutilized social media platforms in the world. Most people view LinkedIn as a complex social platform to use due to its complex nature. Although many are complaining about it, the business world is learning to embrace it. Professionals now use it for networking, marketing and connecting with future employers and business partners. There are various social media marketing strategy, and now, it includes LinkedIn too.
But, how do users keep afloat in LinkedIn? The secret is to make each connection count. It means connecting with people who are in the same niche as your area of interest. The process of gaining new connections might take time, but in the end, it will bear results. Here are some of the ways on how to build your LinkedIn Connections count and generate leads.
1. Publish articles
Posting articles in LinkedIn give you a competitive edge to the visibility of your brand or company and giving you the chance to share your expertise in your area of interest or industry. Every time you publish an article in your LinkedIn profile, your network will be notified. As a result, it increases your brand visibility and engagement.
It is prudent to write long-form posts when doing this as these kind of posts go viral due to their richness in content for your particular industry. What keeps your connections alive is the kind of value you present to them. Write an article that contains 2-3 lines for easier readability.
You can post your new, original work or republish your past pieces on LinkedIn. In addition, include images and videos to interest your network. Lastly, your content should be able to captivate and engage your network, including relevant Call-To-Actions at the end of the article.
2. Engage daily with your audience
Your visibility as a personal brand matters in LinkedIn does matter. One way to generate leads is to post regular. When you post an article, and one of your connection either shares, likes or comments on that particular post, your content will be visible to all their connections’ homepage feed. When your content is resourceful, other people will automatically be intrigued, send their request and connect with you.
Sometimes you might not have time to publish an article, you can always opt to share trending articles or other blog articles from other LinkedIn Users. You can include one or two lines that describe what you are sharing, why you are sharing or what stood out for you. Make sure what you are sharing is resourceful, relevant and newsworthy. And since sending and keeping up with messages and comments is so fundamental to the platform, look into bots for social media marketing.
3. Leverage your existing connections
Your existing connections act as a pathway for new connections. Engaging with your existing connections fosters a strong relationship between the two parties. LinkedIn has segmented connections to help you build your exposure and engagement rates hence generating your leads. These segments are called ‘clusters’ or ‘groups of connections.’ The clusters are categorized as either title, community, location, work, company, friends, influencers or source.
Therefore, leverage your existing connections through clusters to create a new ground for your new connection and business opportunity on LinkedIn. Search deeper within each cluster to find relevant people to send an invite to connect. You can also make use of the LinkedIn Tags feature to sort your network manually. LinkedIn tags and clusters help you expand your leads and to ensure your connections count.
4. Make use of groups
Just like any other social media group, LinkedIn groups are a way to build authority, relevant network, increase visibility, generate leads and build traffic to your website. Use LinkedIn groups to connect with others in your industry and build relevant networks. Once you join the groups in your niche, you will see other people who are in the same niche. Search deeper until you find persons with similar profession interest and connect with them.
5. Participate actively in discussions
There are numerous group discussions in LinkedIn, and every day, different conversation does happen. You only need to participate in a conversation in your niche. Pick those that interest you and engage with the members. You can give your thoughts on a said topic, solve problems or share advice. You can share helpful links to your content or any other content to support your argument.
Avoid being more of a salesperson but more resourceful with your discussions. Members of the groups will see you as the most resourceful person in the group and as a result generating new leads. Earning their trust first and then introduce them to your business.
6. Use an Advanced Search tool
An Advanced Search tool is also found in LinkedIn to help you find new people who fit your LinkedIn network. The Advanced Search Tool on LinkedIn helps you to filter your search by title, location, company, community, school, etc. To make the tool efficient try searching more than one keyword to have an absolute search result.
However, a LinkedIn premium account has a lot to offer compared to a LinkedIn free account. LinkedIn free account narrows down some of the benefits that one could get from the premium account. The LinkedIn Premium account permits more searches, saved searches and search perimeter.
Once you are done with the searches, you will be able to identify the connections and each person’s identity. You can quickly review their profile before making a decision of sending an invite to connect. The downside of using this tool is you cannot customize the connect button (customize the invite). Nonetheless, you can send a customized message before sending the invite.
7. Personalize your connection request
A LinkedIn algorithm can be quite confusing, for instance, connecting with people via the ‘people you may know’ ‘connect’ button—would not give you a chance to send a personalized message.
Therefore, if you want to send a personalized message, go to the person’s profile and then the click the ‘connect” button. A small box will appear in which you can craft your message. For instance, “Hey, I admire and appreciate your work, and I would love to connect.”
8. Include your LinkedIn URL on other social channels
There are different means of displaying your LinkedIn URL on other social media spheres. This include tweeting, pinning or adding it to your status updates. You can also include LinkedIn URL on the different social media bios and on your email signature. This helps you to increase the engagement rate in your LinkedIn profile since you are encouraging your audience to visit your profile.
Conclusion
It is evident that a strong LinkedIn account contains the right network of people in your niche who bring value to you. Work towards having a strong LinkedIn network for your brand. Invest your time each day in creating a strong LinkedIn account to generate more leads.
