How to Use Social Media for Inbound Lead Generation

Last week I spoke with an enterprise AE at F100 company who closed over $5M in 2023 (3x his quota). The surprising part? He generated 90% from Linkedin. Here’s what the enterprise social selling playbook looks like: 1. Community: Successful sales reps are constantly enhancing their community on Linkedin. They invite key prospects, customers and other stakeholders to their network. As an AE or Exec, it helps to stay in the same domain over time so you can engage with the same community but across different employers. The compounding effect of your network is exponential. 2. Content: Engage frequently with your community. Stay ahead of the curve and ensure your content reflects that. Not all content has to be original and unique. Most Linkedin users are looking to consume content that will help them be better at their job today. Share best practices, success stories and recommendations. If you stay in the same domain, the quality of your content will grow as you build trust within your community. 3. Signals: Get a good understanding of the triggers and signals that impact demand in your target segment. Use these signals to focus your attention on select individuals as they become active. 4. Offer Help: Be mindful of any request for assistance within your community. If you are going to stay in the same domain for long, expect your community to do the same. Offer to assist even if it does not directly help your business. Chances are these interactions will lead to deep relationships in the long run. 5. LinkedinOps: This is often an ignored part of social selling. For the same reason that Inbound leads perform so well (because they are warm), somebody that visited your profile also has a relatively high probability to respond in the first 24hr. It’s the job of LinkedinOps to run all active engagers through an ICP filter and then follow up on good fit candidates. 6. Outreach: I have seen some successful reps use personalization tools to find the right messaging or conversation opener for Linkedin outreach. It makes sense to do an outreach with the good-fit engaged audience within 24-48 hrs of the engagement. Don’t hesitate to ask for referrals. 7. Tracking: Track engagements and metrics. Score and rank your audience every week for good fit top engagers. Your top engagers are the ones who will likely take your call. Your LinkedinOps can help you with analytics. 8. Convert: Know when and how to move your conversation outside Linkedin. Linkedin is great for capturing demand signals or for generating trust. Look for the right moment to share a calendar link or an email to move the conversation to a different platform. TAKEAWAY: Your buyers are already on Linkedin. With a little discipline and LinkedinOps, you can close revenues while enhancing your brand and handling objections at scale. I've been helping GTM teams for 15+ years. Never before have they had access to such a powerful platform. Take advantage.

If you start posting on LinkedIn as a founder, you will set up deal flow. It comes in 3 stages: Stage 1 - Amplify impact of your cold outreach The most powerful part of posting your thoughts on here is that it elevates you from "just another anonymous a**hole cold dm'ing" to a recognizable name & face. There is a sort of parasocial relationship that happens when people see your posts every day. They get to know you, they get to see you are a real, thinking human being. And it makes you less of a stranger when you do dm them. So at first, you are just going to post 3x-4x/week, send 20-25 connection requests to potential prospects, and not actually message anyone for at least 30 days after they accept. Just let them see your stuff, get to know you. This will drastically increase your conversion rate of how many calls you set up after reaching out. I guarantee it. (spoiler alert, this works for raising money, sales, or any other networking) Stage 2 - Attracting leads with watering hole posts After a month or two of posting, you will start to realize that certain posts become a watering hole for conversation/engagement amongst your target market. Like magic, potential prospects will comment, respond to someone else's comment, like your post, etc. Scan these posts, send requests to anyone that likes/comments/engages, and revert to #1. You now have what is starting to look like a flywheel. This is a big level up - so be intentional, throw a lot of stuff at the wall, and see what sticks. It took me ~4 months to truly figure out what could predictably drive conversation from my target customer. Stage 3 - Inbounds. I swear to god, I have been doing this for a year, and I just started getting legitimate inbound dms. No matter how great your content is, this will take time. Because inbound demand doesn't happen until people are a) ready to buy, and b) so familiar with your product, they are comfy reaching out to you to learn more. But know that if you are doing #1 and #2, you are sewing seeds that will eventually bear the magical fruit. *** Finally one editor's note... this only works if you are authentic on here. If you use ChatGPT to write your posts, people are going to know it. If you hire someone to come up with post ideas, it's going to fall flat. This takes work, but it is so. worth. it.

Confession: I am terrified of cold pitching to get leads. If you’re an introvert like me, there’s another way to attract your ideal clients. This isn’t a quick “trick,” so if you want one of those, stop reading here. 6 months ago, when I started my business, I had 0 prospects. Today, I get 2-3 leads monthly (maybe not impressive for some) And… I have made 0 cold pitches so far (the wonderful part for me!) How? Instead of sending cold DMs to prospects, I make it easy for them to find me. Here’s what I do: ✨ Know who I’m trying to reach. I figured out what industry I am most passionate about and what problem I want to solve for them. This is crucial because it directly relates to step 2. ✨ Engage with them to build trust. I follow and engage with their content so they get to know me! But what’s most important is adding to the conversation. That means, simply leaving a thumbs-up or comments like “I agree!” usually don’t cut it. Instead, I share my experiences or offer a solution if a question is asked. ✨ Give freely. I use my content to address the problems my clients often face. From my observation, these types of content get the least engagement but bring in the leads. Why? It takes time to build awareness with your ideal customers! (more on this in the comments). Sure, is this route of attracting leads slow? Yes. But it pays off! Because the best part about inbound leads? You don’t have to sell them on your value because they already know it. The results so far: 💫 A lead found me through LinkedIn and paid my rate of 2.5K up front (without me asking)! 💫 I got a paid speaking gig that resulted in a new client. 💫 I was fully booked through Q1 and have landed 2 retainers. 💫 For every “value-based” post, I get about 5 connection requests from my ideal clients. So, if you’re tired or scared of cold pitching, maybe consider a different approach? Put yourself in front of your audience and see what happens. I understand it’s tough and it takes time, but think about it this way: You’re building long-term business relationships, not just raking up 1-time clients that move on as soon as your project is done! 👉🏾 So, what are you doing differently to attract your dream clients? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi, I’m Sarah 🙋🏾♀️   I share: ✨ Actionable strategies to help travel, hospitality, & culture brands attract their dream tribe. ✨ Tips for creative solopreneurs looking to grow their businesses. ❤️ this post? Follow and hit the 🔔 for more!