LinkedIn and Paid Search; How Both Drive Conversions
2:03 PM
LinkedIn is much like paid search in many ways, as both marketing
tactics involve search, clicking, connecting, and converting. We explain
to clients that it is of this mindset to keep in mind as we train on
our approach to social selling for lead generation.
Linkedin is a social network for business; and to be engaging with
contacts and prospects should not be ignored. But as a marketer or
salesperson, no activity during the day should be done without some sort
of convincing as your goal. Think about it; sharing content, posting
content, and being helpful are what I call social retargeting. On
LinkedIn, its reminding prospects and connections of your existence, and
you are sharing content that aligns with your personal brand.
Retargeting in the advertising context means “finish a conversion on our
website”, or “here’s a new offer you may like.” With LinkedIn,
retargeting is “Remember me? Here’s content you may like. Maybe it can
lead to a sale because I know stuff that can help you”
There are many ways that LinkedIn social selling is like paid lead generation programs, as the chart below shows. Let’s explain.
Search
LinkedIn: I am searching from prospects based on a variety of
filters, to reach out to, or ask a current connection to reach out to?
Why? I hope to sell my services to my targeted prospects by first
connecting with them, sharing content, and hopefully give them something
of value that can lead to an appointment. Prospects use groups to
search for solutions, by asking questions themselves.
Paid Lead Generation: Prospects are searching for a solution to
a problem. Prospects are either looking to education themselves, or
find a company that has a product or service they need. They enter
queries into a search engine with the hope to become a lead for a
company if the content or offers are compelling enough for conversion.
Results:
LinkedIn: After I enter queries into LinkedIn Search, I find a
list of people who satisfy my query. I can now review and click who may
be helpful to me, or who I could connect with may be a potential lead.
The more specific my search; the more granular my potential lead list
is, and that makes my connection requests relevant to the prospect. So
if you want prospects to find you, make sure important keywords are in
headlines and profile.
Paid Lead Generation: After prospects enter their search query,
they get a list of companies that have the potential to satisfy their
needs. The more relevant their query is, the better results they get.
When buying keywords on Google, if your keywords match the intent of the
buyer, your click rates will be better, and you will get more qualified
inquiries to your firm.
Ad:
LinkedIn: A compelling profile headline, telling people what
you do with relevant keywords that prospects use to find people like you
will get you more clicks to your profile, and more connection
acceptances.
Paid Lead Generation: If you have a compelling value
proposition, and a strong call-to-action, your ad will generate more
clicks, and you’ll receive increased conversions.
Click:
LinkedIn: As prospects click to your profile, they are scanning
your summary, background, and other profile information to make a
determination whether to become a connection. Your profile needed to be
written like a landing page, designed for convincing and converting. As a
social seller, this is the first impression of you and your firm,
before they visit websites. Prove that you are a valuable connection to a
prospect.
Paid Lead Generation. Prospects click to landing pages designed
for lead capture. Offers, benefits, and proof points must be easily
understood. A properly designed and well-written landing page can make
all the difference in the world in email capture conversion rate. Don’t
lose the audience; convince them instead- reassure them.
Convert:
LinkedIn: If you reach out to enough prospects with a tailored
and non-threatening connection request, your LinkedIn connection
conversion rate will increase. If your follow up messaging is helpful,
and even if you include a compelling offer with proof points in your
messaging, your message-to-lead conversion will increase. And, don’t be
afraid to offer something free on your profile page.
Paid Lead Generation: A problem solving content asset, a free
offer, or whatever you have that is so valuable that a prospect will
indeed be curious enough to offer an email address, is what will capture
conversions on your landing pages. Testing is important here.
With both LinkedIn and paid search, the objectives are eerily
similar, even though the mediums work so differently. Our goal with any
marketing or social selling endeavor:
• Attract
• Convince
• Convert
• Then Close
Think of conversions when you engage on LinkedIn; that’s a key metric
when identifying your results with social media lead generation. Agree?
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