Use LinkedIn Announcements to Generate Leads

If you operate in the B2B space and are not yet familiar with LinkedIn and
using it as part of your lead generation tools, you may be missing out.
According to data from HubSpot, LinkedIn is the most effective source of new
business leads among the three leading social networks (Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn). And a study of some 3,000-plus B2B marketers indicated that
LinkedIn’s visitor-to-lead conversion rate is four times higher than that of
Facebook and Twitter.
With a user base of 160+ million and climbing, LinkedIn is a powerful and
robust professional networking tool. In fact, maintaining an updated profile and
regularly participating on the site is a great way to land a job, attract new
clients, and stay up to date with your peers and colleagues.
LinkedIn Announcements as a Lead Generation Engine
You likely know by now that features like LinkedIn Groups, Answers and Company
Pages can help with lead generation. And if lead generation is your goal, LinkedIn
Announcements is something you might like to experiment with as well.
Announcements are essentially an email marketing channel. If you’re looking
to spread the news about a new product or service, or have other pertinent
information that merits widespread dissemination, Announcements may be just the
tool you want to check out.
When you use Announcements, messages are sent directly to the email inboxes
of a particular group’s members. As with any marketing initiative, you want to
be sure you have a well-thought strategy in place, a great call to action, and
a compelling message.
It also makes sense to join and spend some time participating in various
groups before hitting them with your email message—but you already know that,
right?
How to Use LinkedIn Announcements
Of course, as with any piece of content, you don’t want to dive in without a
little pre-planning and strategy. After all, LinkedIn Announcements are
essentially a form of email marketing and should be treated as such.
For example, you’ll want to create a carefully crafted message. This is a
valuable communication opportunity, and you don’t want to waste it—or, worse
yet, annoy the group’s members with a poorly written or spammy message.
To get the most out of a LinkedIn Announcement, consider these tips.
Ditch the default
subject line. Just as you wouldn’t send a default LinkedIn
invitation to connect with someone (and if you do, stop it!), you don’t want to
send an announcement with the standard subject line. Instead, channel your
inner email marketer to write a descriptive and compelling subject line that
will make recipients want to open the message.
Catch their
attention. Make no mistake; this is an ad campaign. Treat your
copy in your email marketing efforts as you do in any other campaign. As you
start your message, make sure the opening lines are interesting enough to
grab—and keep—a reader’s attention. This is a great place for stats—not only
can they present a compelling case in a short amount of space, but they can also
help readers visualize a particular topic or subject matter, which will help
pique their interest.
Include a call to
action. I’m guessing you’re contacting fellow group members
because you want them to take some sort of action, right? Make sure you include
that call to action in your message, whether it’s linking to an external piece
of content, providing an offer or coupon or referring to a special event or
landing page. By having a specific destination and using a link tracking
service like Bit.ly, you can monitor the success of your lead generation
campaign and use that information to refine future messages and initiatives.
Ask a question. All
LinkedIn Announcements will also appear as featured discussions in that
particular group, so it’s a good idea to pose a question about the message
to prompt people to not only click through to the message content, but
also spark dialogue within the LinkedIn group.
Don’t Be a Douche Rule
I hope this post has been enough to entice you to at least consider
experimenting with LinkedIn Announcements as part of your lead generation
efforts.
Before you get started, one last piece of advice—use the announcements
sparingly. Around here, we call that the “Don’t be a Douche” rule. Nobody wants
to be spammed and inundated with tons of email— from LinkedIn or otherwise. So,
use this tool wisely and respectfully.
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