We are in an era where LinkedIn doesn’t need an introduction. But still there are a few individuals who are unaware of this website called LinkedIn.com. To explain such individuals, LinkedIn is an online business networking tool. This website has more than 60 million registered users. It is one of the website that reached 1 million users mark in just 18 months. It is bigger than what you can imagine.
LinkedIn is a place where you grow your professional network by connecting with people. There are 3 tiers in your network. Teir 1 comprises of the people who you are directly connected with, teir 2 comprises of people who are linked with your teir 1 contacts and tier 3 consists of people linked with your teir 2 contacts.
Many B2B marketers have just realized about the huge potential LinkedIn hold in generating B2B leads for their businesses. Following is a step by step procedure on how you can generate B2B leas using LinkedIn.
1. Build a compelling profile – After you have joined Linkedin, the next critical step is to build your profile. Remember that your profile is the first thing that a marketer looks at. Create an impression that you are capable enough to solve their problems. They are more interested in seeing what you can deliver to them and not what you have done. Give out all possible details in your profile and make sure its 100% complete. Connect your linkedin account with your facebook account as well as twitter account.
2. Get connected – Growing your professional network on LinkedIn is the next step. LinkedIn allows you to connect with people you know, however once you have build your network you can add people from teir 2. Add as many connections as you can (this should happen gradually. Say about 2 – 3 months). Import your email contacts from the email server and add them using their email IDs. While sending them a request to add them as a contact do not use LinkedIn’s default message. Rather send them a personal message.
3. Join groups and discussions – There are about 55,000 groups on LinkedIn. Depending upon your activity you can join these groups. If by any chance you do not find anything specific to join a group, LinkedIn allows you to create a group and request people to join it. Participate in group discussions and share your insights and comments. Do appreciate comments and posts by other group members. It helps you build credibility and rapport with fellow group members.
4. Get recommendations – Recommendations here on Linkedin are similar to testimonials. Ask people you know and have worked with to write a testimonial for you. To start with you can ask your best customers / clients first who have had a great experience working with you. Build up recommendations gradually over the time. Too quick too many testimonials may look false and fake.
5. Search for individuals – If you are too lazy to go for above four points and you are proactive in your approach, you can straight away look for the person you want to contact. or you want to do business with. Linkedin allows you to perfor searches based on companies, job titles etc. Doing such a search would allow you to see related contacts with profile summaries. If you have someone in common, you can ask them get introduced to the one you wwant to do business with.