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Exploring LinkedIn Premium and tools like Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Advertising
Part 5 of my LinkedIn Series. There are a number of different LinkedIn business development tools. If you’re new to using them and want a quick overview to establish where you should focus your energy, then read on.
LinkedIn Premium
Let’s start with LinkedIn Premium. Do you need it? I don’t think you do.
The main benefit of LinkedIn Premium is the ability to send InMails, which are basically emails or DMs to people that you don’t know, ie that aren’t in your network. So to me, it’s a bit like cold calls.
(I think telesales is a good thing by the way. And I think in this day and age, most people don’t receive cold calls, so it’s a way to stand out.)
But I’m not sure cold emails are the way forward.
I can see how it might work for some businesses. Recruitment agencies, for example, might have a specific job and want to talk to a specific group of candidates.
But for the majority of us, I think business development is about forming relationships first, before we start talking to people. So I’m not convinced about LinkedIn premium.
However, there is another tool called Sales Navigator, which I do like. It’s like a CRM (customer relationship manager) for LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
I love the advanced search facility within Sales Navigator. You can really fine-tune your searches to come up with targeted lists. You can go deep to define the location, industry, seniority and job title of the person you’re looking for. You can save searches, return to search results later and turn them into leads to track.
It gives you the ability to keep an eye on selected people, so you can find the right opportunity to engage with them. And the beauty of Sales Navigator is it then shows you all the activity in one place. You can see all your saved leads and all their activity on one screen, so you can go in and like or re-share their content and engage with them.
I think it’s a really useful tool to come up with a target list. So you might just pay for it for a month to come up with those lists, or you might continue to pay for it to continually engage with these people.
And the tool adapts as your business grows. So when you’ve got ten sales navigator accounts, there’s a team facility where you can look at whether one of your colleagues has got a connection. That can be quite clever if you’ve got a larger recruitment team.
LinkedIn Advertising
The other useful tool is LinkedIn Advertising.
Now I’m not here to sell this service. As always, it’s about deciding what’s right for your business. Except to say that if your audience is online, then LinkedIn Advertising is an opportunity to explore.
The ability to target really specific variables is good. And the returns can be excellent. For example, on the LinkedIn adverts we manage for clients, they can sometimes reach up to a 15x ROI, so that’s really powerful.
If you want to explore advertising as an option, LinkedIn walks you through the process of setting up LinkedIn adverts in seven simple steps. And gives some more information on measuring and optimising your campaigns.
Hootsuite also does an excellent ‘Complete guide to LinkedIn ads: how to run a successful campaign’, which covers which types of ads to use for different business goals.
So in a nutshell: LinkedIn Premium, I’m not convinced; Sales Navigator, worth trying for a couple of months; and advertising could be well worth your while.
What tools do you use in LinkedIn? What results have you seen?
Previous articles in the series:
- Part 1:Why LinkedIn needs to be part of your content strategy
- Part 2: Growing your network on LinkedIn
- Part 3: Pimping your LinkedIn profile to be loved by LinkedIn and found on Google
- Part 4: Rocking your LinkedIn content and getting to grips with groups
Does your team want to learn more about using LinkedIn for business development? Find out more about my tailored LinkedIn training.
I also speak regularly at events so if you are looking for an experienced LinkedIn speaker or digital marketing panellist, then give me a call on 0113 493 1819 or contact me online and we can discuss your requirements.
