How To Increase Business Leads Using LinkedIn

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2 How To Increase Business Leads Using LinkedIn Are you looking for an easy and effective way to bring more traffic to your company website and generate more leads for your business? ParasolLeads, a division of the Parasol Financial & Insurance Solutions, is one of the insurance industry s highest quality leads generation services and we want to show you how to make it easy for current and potential clients to find out more about your company and to create leads via LinkedIn. Through regular and personal updates you can inform current and potential leads about developments, promotions and special offers, or information regarding products and services by simply creating a company page on LinkedIn. What Is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a professional social network that helps enhance and expand an individual s or company s online presence. Whether you re in the market for a new job, new clients or leads, or just updated information on a person or company, LinkedIn literally links you into the business world, domestically and abroad, right from your home or office computer. LinkedIn is one of the world s largest social networks for companies and business owners. LinkedIn has over 100 million members and over 1.9 million companies who interact together; giving professionals the opportunity to look for employment, products and services, and business opportunities while simultaneously allowing companies to put a face to their name and making it easy for people to learn more about them and to increase company marketing leads. First Step Company Page The first step you want to take is to create a Company Page. With a LinkedIn Company Page you decide which people see what on your page. You can customize your page, making it vieweraware, so a potential client wanting information or a professional looking for employment will be able to see different aspects of your company. Your LinkedIn Company Page will also be network-aware, meaning, members can see who in their network suggests using your products or services, who works for your company, or if you have a contact in common. Your company page will be divided into four parts: Overview, Careers, Products & Services and Analytics. Each page can be tailored and customized to your specifications.

3 Overview The best aspect of the Overview portion of your Company Page is that it allows you to directly contact members that follow your LinkedIn Company Page. Any messages or links you send to a follower will show up in their network update feed, as well as on your Overview page. (You can also send members personal updates or messages that will not show up on your Overview page.) Not only will you be able to directly send followers messages, but the Overview page is where people can see all of the detailed information you provide about your company, including: any updates, developments or announcements you may want people to know about. Products & Services The Products & Services Page allows you to display any and all of your company s products and services in a variety of formats. You can showcase your products and services via photos, videos, display banners, and summaries descriptions. Using these features is important because they create interactivity with your products and/or services, giving LinkedIn members a chance to really get to know your company. searches. You can create a directory that allows you to list and describe your products and services making it easy for people to browse and learn about what your company has to offer. Use key words in all of your summaries and descriptions. People use key words when searching for products and services they are interested in, so use as many key words as possible to make it easy for people find you in their Once you have given members and followers a way to interact with your company don t let them leave your page without giving them a call to action. Ask them to connect to you via LinkedIn or give them way to contact you or someone at your company who can answer questions and provide more detailed information. While this page allows you to inform LinkedIn members about your company s products and services in many ways, it also gives you the ability to target specific audiences. LinkedIn helps you find people who can relate and use your specific products or services by allowing you to customize up to 30 different audience segments. For example, if your company sells insurance, you can tailor an audience segment for each type of insurance your company sells. Each audience segment will act as a different tab with information personalized for a specific audience.

4 Another fantastic feature on the Products & Services Page is the ability to spotlight particular products or services. Each audience segment can have up to five products or services, three display banners and one tailored video. So if you are launching a new product or have any special sales or promotions, this is the page to advertise those offers. Take advantage of this page to help build followers for your LinkedIn account and create leads for your business by targeting specific audiences that have a need for what your company offers. Also, this page is where members can make recommendations for your products or services. Recommendations are testimonials of the quality of your company and services and are an excellent way to create discussions regarding your company and build leads. Careers Page The Careers Page doesn t just let you post current open positions, but the jobs will be targeted to the members viewing your company job openings. Your Career Page is extremely customizable making it easy for members to learn about your company s history, work environment and current talent. The Careers Page is an ideal place for you to discuss company awards and projects, or just talk about your company mission and values. You get to choose how much information you would like to include. LinkedIn members from around the world will be able to find out information on your company and any job openings you have available. It is this type of situation where the customizable options are so handy. You can once again adapt your message for target audiences. If you have offices or branches domestically and internationally, you can tailor the provided information differently for someone in New York or California or even in Europe or Asia. You decide how you want to present your company to every different kind of LinkedIn member. Analytics Page LinkedIn will keep track of not only who is following you but also who looks at your Company Page; whether they are an individual, group or company, what interactions they had with your page, what interested them most about your Company Page, and how much traffic your page is generating. This information is private and only available to administrators of your page. Administrators will receive monthly data reports that allow you to analyze the kind of members that view your page and the followers you gain. This information will also help you know what the best markets are for you to pursue leads

5 Other Lead Creating Tips Besides creating a Company Page on LinkedIn here are some tips on creating new leads for your Company via LinkedIn. 1. Be a Follower This is one of the easiest and simplest actions you can take: follow other individuals, groups and companies on LinkedIn. The more people you follow on LinkedIn the more your company will show up in their circles, the more often people will see your company name. Follow other companies who are in the same industry as your company. LinkedIn will even suggest groups that are relevant to your business for you to follow. (This feature is under the Groups tab on the navigation ribbon at the top of the LinkedIn Home page.) 2. Take Time to Answer Questions Running a successful business is time consuming no matter who you are or what industry you are in, but one aspect that will direct you to prime leads is by answer people s questions. Take the time to connect to your current and potential followers. If someone has taken the time to ask you a question about your particular business or industry it means they are interested in what you do. Give them a chance to learn more about you and your business by simply taking 15 minutes a day answering questions you get through LinkedIn. 3. Discussions Participating and creating discussions on LinkedIn is a great way to get people talking about your industry, a specific product or service, and ultimately your company. The advantage of participating in an existing group is that it is already targeted to a specific audience. Find groups that are related to your industry or business and offer your expertise in groups discussions. Or get people talking about a specific topic by creating your own discussion group and inviting people to participate. 4. Introductions and Recommendations Don t be afraid to introduce people you know to each other and be generous with your recommendations. If you know people who would benefit from being introduced to each other, or you are aware of an excellent product or service you can recommend to others then take the time to make the introduction or recommendation. People are likely to return the favor which will help you gain more leads.

6 5. Call to Action & Contact Information As mentioned in the Products & Service Page section, a call to action is one of the main keys to building leads. Always include a call to action with any promotions, special offers or general information you provide. It is important to catch the attention of the person or company viewing your page and then give them an action to take, such as: visiting your website or providing you with their contact information. Or, give them a way to contact you outside of LinkedIn by providing your direct contact information on your Company Page. 6. Other Social Networks LinkedIn allows you to connect your account to your other social networking accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, or a blog. Use these tools to your advantage and link all of your networks together. LinkedIn is definitely a place where you want your business to be represented. Social networking is a proven method of building your business and LinkedIn is the best social networking venue guaranteed to generate leads for your business. Don t waste your time getting insurance leads the hard way, create a LinkedIn account and save more time and energy to spend on running your business more efficiently. If you have any questions about ParasolLeads, please do not hesitate to visit our website at or contact us at We are here to assist you in bettering your business.