Council Post: How To Generate Inbound Leads Organically On LinkedIn

By Solomon Thimothy, founder of OneIMS, a growth agency, as well as Clickx, a digital marketing analytics platform for agencies and businesses.

We already know that LinkedIn is a great place to connect with current customers, potential leads and other entrepreneurs. I’ve met some of my best partners through LinkedIn conversations. But what about LinkedIn as an organic inbound lead generator? 

LinkedIn wasn’t necessarily designed to be a sales tool, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it as one. However, as a social media platform, you need to be careful about how you’re using it to acquire organic leads. 

If it feels like your posts are spammy, posting on LinkedIn could have the opposite effect. If you’re not providing value to your audience, you’ll just push them away — making it harder to acquire and keep their attention. 

So, what’s the right way to post on LinkedIn to organically recruit and retain new leads? Here are my three best tips. 

Post quality content on a regular basis. 

If you want to generate leads, you need to start with content. And not just any content — quality, unique and valuable content. It sounds like a lot to ask, but there is already so much stuff people filter through on social media. Just contributing to the noise isn’t going to get you very far. 

Identify ways to provide unique value to your audience. What questions do they have that you can answer? What unique insights can you provide to the latest industry news? What can you tell them that they haven’t already heard a hundred times before?

Spend a little bit of time every day browsing LinkedIn to get a feel for what conversations are already happening. What is being said, and what has been said before? How can you contribute to the conversation in a way that is different but still valuable?

You want to make it a regular habit to post on LinkedIn, but don’t post something just for the sake of posting something. It’s better to be quiet for a day or two than to put a half-hearted effort into a post. 

Include a call to action on every post. 

Every time you post something new, you want to point your audience in the direction of what’s next. After they get done reading what you have to say, what do you want them to do? 

Including a call to action (CTA) on every post ensures your audience is always active. You’re always encouraging them to take that next step, whether it’s sharing their perspective on the matter or getting in touch. 

But when you’re CTAs, steer clear of spammy messages that feel more like a sales pitch. While it might be tempting to encourage your audience to sign up for a webinar or book a call with your leading sales manager, a LinkedIn post probably isn’t the place. 

Remember, LinkedIn is a social platform, and people are there to be, well, social. If it feels like you’re barking sales pitches at every opportunity, you’re probably going to lose a few followers. Instead, focus on encouraging conversations. 

Create a community. 

Conversations should never be a one-way street. If you’re just posting without checking in to see who is commenting on your content, it’ll be difficult to make the transition from a follower on LinkedIn to a paying customer. 

When someone comments on your post, reply. If they like or share your content, check out what they’re posting and return the favor. As you start to get to know who is interacting with your posts, you can learn their unique challenges and needs. 

When it comes time to encourage that person to reach out, you’ll already know enough about them to offer a unique pitch. This can go a long way in generating leads who trust you and are ready to work with you. 

Generating high-quality leads isn’t easy, but it doesn’t need to be difficult either. With a little bit of effort (and a lot of authenticity), you can get great leads organically just through posting on LinkedIn.