Author: Justin Franklin
Linkedin is a great platform for connecting with like-minded business professionals that is often times undervalued.
While Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube get millions of views a day, LinkedIn is the number 1 dedicated platform for B2B business opportunities. In fact, LinkedIn overtook Facebook in 2015 as being the number one most important social media platform for B2B companies.
LinkedIn has also been found to be more effective for lead generation than Facebook. According to Hubspot, LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads than the social media giant Facebook.
Creating an overall business strategy is important, especially for entering new markets.
To take advantage of LinkedIn and its high level of lead generation conversion, you might think the best option for you is to take advantage of LinkedIn’s ad platform.
While LinkedIn ads can be effective, LinkedIn ads are among the most expensive social media campaigns to run.Just look at this graph that breaks down the median CPC for each of the leading social media platforms.
Just look at those numbers!
While LinkedIn conversion rates are 277% higher than Facebook, you will be paying 1100% more for those conversions if you focus on ads. LinkedIn converts and they know it, so they will charge a premium for ad spend.
While this can be discouraging, there is still a way to take advantage of LinkedIn and get those higher conversion rates without spending a large amount of money on ads. Use comments combined with profile optimization!
Does Commenting Really Work?
I have personally used LinkedIn comments to secure appointments and sales for myself. The key to success with LinkedIn comments isn’t to just comment non-stop and spam peoples feed.
Instead, you need to strategically pick specific connections and influencers to comment on their statuses to be seen by the people you want to convert.
I have even used this to end up creating brand awareness for myself by getting to interview influencers and have them contribute to and share my content.
When I do comments, I’m not going to a bunch of different profiles and commenting on their feed. That is going to be seen as too pushy and will more than likely annoy your prospects.
Instead, I comment on specific LinkedIn influencers that I know my prospects follow.
What this does, is let your prospects see you consistently in their feed because of the influencers they follow.
At the same time, it doesn’t annoy them with constant notifications from you that look desperate. If you follow me, you have probably seen my comments on Gary Vaynerchuk‘s posts and get what I’m talking about.
Step 1: Optimize your Headline
When you are leaving LinkedIn comments, the majority of people aren’t going to look at your profile. All they have to go off of is your name, profile image, and your header title.
While I would advise against changing your name simply to fit an algorithm, your header is a good place to start. It’s the only place where you can instantly advertise what you do without coming off as being a hardcore sales person.
I’ve optimized my header to target the exact types of industries I work with, consultants and technology.
This means when I comment on these posts, people that are looking for lead generation services in my target markets will see that I work with their exact industry and be more likely to reach out to me.
I recommend changing your headline to an action verb or noun of some kind. “Financial Expert for B2B Companies” or “Software Creator for Startups” are good starts.
You have a lot of room to work with before your title gets cut off, but make sure to test it so that your ideal prospect keywords show up when you leave comments.
Step 2: Target Profiles that your Prospects Follow
When it comes to LinkedIn comments for lead generation purposes, you can’t just pick any influencer. You have to focus on someone that your prospects actually follow to make sure you show up in their feed.
For me, the two influencers I target are Gary Vaynerchuk and Dan Lok. Dan was a particularly good choice because I got in around the time he started to really grow.
I commented so often that Dan even liked and commented on a few of my own posts which helped me to grow my follower count organically. Unfortunately, he no longer comments on LinkedIn so I focus on Gary V for now.
While I follow and enjoy both Dan and Gary’s content, I didn’t pick them just because I like them. I picked them because they are industry leaders in the exact areas I target for lead generation.
They also have a decent sized presence on LinkedIn. This means I know that people I can do business with follow them and their audience is big enough to create a decent supply of incoming leads from my commenting efforts.
When deciding on your influencer, make sure they are someone that has a decent sized following. Also make sure they are at least somewhat related to the type of companies and individuals you target for lead generation.
Step 3: Add Value to the Conversation.
It’s not enough to simply comment something generic like “I agree” or “Great content!” These are just filler phrases that aren’t going to have you stand out. It’s also not enough to just make witty observations to get people to reach out to you. If it was, I would just comment on LinkedIn like I do on Facebook.
Focus on comments that contribute to the discussion. If the status has multiple points, take one of the points and expand on it with your own interpretation.
You also don’t have to 100% agree with what the poster is saying. Disagreeing on a certain point can create a great discussion if done tastefully.
In turn, this can make you look like more of an expert in your field if the topic is related to what you do. Just make sure to disagree in a non-argumentative way by stating the reasons why you feel they way you do about the subject.
Also make sure you can backup your statements with evidence if challenged. There is nothing worse than making a disagreeing statement and then being caught without any evidence to support your claims.
Conclusion
Commenting on LinkedIn influencer posts is one of many strategies you can use to effectively get the most out of LinkedIn for your lead generation strategy.
Just make sure you optimize your headline, target relevant profiles, and create value with your comments and you should see an increase in inbound leads.
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