It hasn’t been too long ago since LinkedIn morphed from a teeny professional networking site to an enormous world force. Ever since its beginning, B2B marketers have been trying to crack the code for B2B success. With all these millions of professionals in one place, surely there’s some way to open up the floodgates to leads, isn’t there?

Yes, there is a way to open up the floodgates to success. The conventional LinkedIn advice isn’t detailed enough: 1) Join. 2) Be active. 3) Get leads. What?! So, how do you actually get leads?

Sure, you might accidentally catch a few falling leads, but in order to really win you need to do your own prospecting, LinkedIn style. How do you cut through the gaggle of job seekers and find qualified people to do business with?

#8: Follow the LinkedIn Marketing Blog. I mentioned earlier that LinkedIn currently has half a billion users. But if you’re doubting the longevity of the platform, I have some advice for you. LinkedIn has proven that they’re not done yet. They want to reach a maximum of 3 billion users.

In this article, I’m going to show you 7 tips that will help you better leverage LinkedIn to be a powerful B2B marketing tool.

If you don’t have a photo up on your profile, you’re hiding, plain and simple. LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with more than 530 million users in over.
While this may seem like a small detail to deal with, having a bio that isn’t filled out is causing you to miss out on another opportunity to interact with your customer base. The nice thing about your LinkedIn bio is that it’s easy to edit with many parts of it allowing to drag and drop pieces in from your website.

LinkedIn works

Before I go all technical and start giving you killer tips, let me step back and do a little cheerleading number.

LinkedIn does work for B2B leads. Do Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest? Maybe, but don’t bank on it.

Most B2Bs are using social media to get leads, as the research indicates. But how effective are these social media efforts?

Not very, says the data. According to InsideSales, social media is overused when we consider how many leads it actually gains.

Social media platforms as a whole aren’t scoring high on the lead awesomeness scale. But among the low-scoring social sites, there is one that stands out as a success marker. You guessed it: LinkedIn.

To put that into real numbers, LinkedIn is responsible for 97% of a business’s social media leads!

The bottom line is this: LinkedIn works for B2B lead generation.

All that remains to be done is to leverage LinkedIn in the best way possible. These 7 tips will help you do just that.

Linkedin marketing opportunities you don

1. Turn your company page into a lead generation page.

In order to make leads from LinkedIn, you have to be intentional. Leads don’t just fall into your lap. You work for them.

The best way is to turn your business or company page into a lead generation page. This is a course reversal from the typical company page, which shows basic information and facts about the company. Who reads that stuff anyway?

Your company page is a pipeline for LinkedIn leads to visit your actual company website.

Structure your company page in such a way that it leads up to a conversion action. The conversion action is a click-through to your website, either in the company description or your recent updates.

First, use an image that gets attention or creates interest.

The header image is the first way to attract a user’s interest. This is what Hubspot does with their header image, in which they advertise one of their many guides.

The header image is a clear way of prospecting for those who are interested in learning more about personalized marketing. The header image is only where it starts. You want a response, and the next logical response is to keep reading. The image both grabs attention and makes the user eager to find a way to get their hands on that guide.

Second, create a clear and compelling pitch in your company description.

This is where many companies falter. The company description should not be a dry explanation of how much you grew and how many offices you’ve opened. That’s not the stuff of lead generation.

Instead, you want to speak directly to your target audience, and invite them to convert. (Don’t worry; the conversion part will come soon enough.)

The most important part of your company description is the first two lines because that’s all that LinkedIn displays. In order to read the rest of the description, the user must click “see more.” You’ve got to grab the user with your first couple of sentences, or they won’t read all that sparkling copy you created.

Here’s what Stride does with their description.

There’s nothing here about office locations, Forbes 5000 listings, or whatever else. This description puts the user at the forefront:

“Helping independent workers …” BAM! Target audience identified.
“… save time and money …” Value proposition submitted.
“… insurance and taxes.” Service provided.

Based on that hook, the engaged prospect is going to click “see more.”

Now what? Now, they can visit your website.

That’s the path of the user who is interested in finding out more about your company — a prospect. It’s up to you to make your company website as conversion-ready as possible.

Third, make your Recent Updates section clickable and conversion-focused.

Just in case prospects don’t click through your company website on the company information section, you want to get them in the Updates.

As long as you’re regularly posting updates, you’ll have an active and engaging feed. The best way to gain leads from this section is to post updates that are directly aimed at your target audience. You can post blog updates, link to your infographics, and share other information, but keep this in mind: You’re looking for click-throughs from information-seekers.

Those are the basic steps to optimizing a company page. If you’re an industry that has broad appeal, you’ll probably see quite a few leads from this source. If you’re in a very small niche, your answers lie in the information below.

2. Create a Showcase page.

LinkedIn created showcase pages for companies to promote individual brands that are extensions of the company.

Showcase pages are the perfect way to segment your inbound LinkedIn traffic. If you can create a business unit that is directly connected to a specific target audience, then you are in a position to create a Showcase page.

From your company page, click “Edit” and “Create a Showcase Page.” (See complete instructions here.)

Showcase pages were basically custom made for B2Bs to better generate leads. LinkedIn writes, “It makes sense to create a Showcase Page when you want to represent a brand, business unit, or company initiative. These pages are intended to develop long-term relationships with a specific audience.”

Represent? Relationship? Audience? Sounds a lot like B2B marketing to me.

A Showcase page should target one customer segment and provide information that is relevant to them. Your Showcase page gets a larger header image, more above-the-fold update posts, and places to link back to your company. In this way, it differs from company pages in several key ways.

This is what Microsoft’s Showcase page for Office looks like.

A massive company like Salesforce has several Showcase pages.

Here some tips for making your Showcase pages as powerful as possible.

Make it conversion-primed, just like your company page.
It’s important to keep the name of the page short, so it won’t be truncated in the display sidebar.
In the Showcase page name, use a word that your audience will understand and relate to.

Linkedin Marketing Opportunities You Don't Want To Miss Marple

Showcase pages are simply another way to spread the net a little bit wider and to gain even more targeted leads interested in your product or service.

3. Use Advanced Search

So far, I’ve explained two inbound techniques for gaining leads. Now, I want to explain how to go out and find your prospects. They may not