Generating Leads With LinkedIn: What You Need to Know

Do you use LinkedIn for business?

Are you wondering how you can use LinkedIn to generate quality leads?

To learn how to use LinkedIn to attract leads and build networking relationships, I interview Stephanie Sammons for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.
More About This Show

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Stephanie Sammons, who blogs at Build Online Influence and is the CEO of Wired Advisor—a firm that helps those in the financial industry. She also writes exclusively about LinkedIn for Social Media Examiner.

Stephanie shares her LinkedIn knowledge, tips and experiences when it comes to social networking for your company.

You'll learn about the tools and techniques that will help you attract leads and connect with business professionals.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
LinkedIn for Business
Why LinkedIn is so important for business professionals seeking leads

Stephanie explains how most people think of Facebook as a personal web, whereas LinkedIn is a professional web.

LinkedIn is the largest professional network for working people. It doesn't matter if you're an employee or a business owner, a freelancer or a marketer within a company.

People typically visit LinkedIn with a purpose to make connections, gain insights about their industry and anything that can help them get smarter. They also use LinkedIn to network.

In Stephanie's mind, it's the purest form of business networking online.

Listen to the show to find out how LinkedIn has evolved from just being a place to look for a job.

LinkedIn tools to help generate leads

You'll discover that it's not just about the awesome tools and features that LinkedIn has, it's also about how you use them.

Stephanie recommends having a relationship mentality when on LinkedIn and to position yourself as a thought leader. Look where you are building influence with your network and niche. It's the right thing to do when it comes to attracting leads and people for your business. The smarter you are about marketing, the less people realize you are marketing to them.

Your main goal is to aim to be consistently visible and valuable. Studies have shown that it takes someone 7 exposures to you before they really start to pay attention, listen and determine whether it makes sense to take the next step.

Stephanie looks at LinkedIn as an opportunity to position herself as a resource within her niche using the various tools.

For example, LinkedIn Today is a great way to quickly find content that is relevant to your target market and be able to share it on LinkedIn. You'll find out the benefits of using these rich status updates to stay top of mind.

It's really important to keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date. The more people see you on LinkedIn, the more they are likely to come and check out your profile to learn more about you. And if that person is relevant and potentially interested in your business, they may click through to your blog or website and take the relationship from there.

Another great LinkedIn tool to consider is Groups. If you spend time in group discussions, you have the opportunity to connect with mutual group members whom you might not necessarily know. As you get to know some of the members in the group, you can send them an invitation to connect with you.

Stephanie goes into greater detail about how many LinkedIn Groups you can join and how adding value to the conversation can lead to potential clients and customers.