Businessman working on laptop
Lead generation on LinkedIn is popular for a reason. A HubSpot study found it was 277% more effective than efforts on other social media platforms. Although LinkedIn is where most B2B marketers prefer to be, only 10% of all marketers are investing in the social network.
A lack of knowledge and time may be to blame. However, LinkedIn automation tools and resources can simplify the lead generation process. With so many tools available, you need to identify those whose features will best fit your unique growth strategies. Here are 10 great options to explore:
1. Castanet
Castanet is a great tool for B2B campaigns. The software matches you with users’ profiles based on professional interests and affiliations. It works in the background, so you don’t have to spend hours searching for qualified prospects.
Instead, you’ll get people who are interested in learning more about what your business has to offer. They’re ready to take action today, not six months or a year from now. So far, the app has generated 2.7 million new B2B connections for its users.
2. Zapier
Posting engaging and relevant content is an effective way to grow your following. The trick is to find the time and remember to do it. But what if you didn’t have to remember to post every new blog entry? Or find time to share events with your company’s followers?
MORE FOR YOU
Zapier does all of this for you. Once you set up workflows, Zapier can sync activities between your apps. Simply tell Zapier what you want it to do when specific things happen in other apps. Sharing upcoming events in Eventbrite? Zapier can make sure events also post to your LinkedIn account.
3. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that LinkedIn has an advanced tool for finding leads. Sales Navigator personalizes its suggestions and lets you segment prospects. The tool is aimed at seasoned LinkedIn users who already know the platform’s ins and outs.
If this sounds intimidating, you can try it before you buy for 30 days. During that time, experiment with automatically saving leads to your CRM application. Send messages to groups of prospects according to their interests and get a sense of how you can accelerate your growth. Sales Navigator’s website cites an average increase of 15% for sales pipelines.
4. Expandi
If you’re an ad agency with several LinkedIn accounts, Expandi helps you manage everything from one convenient dashboard. It sends out connection requests and messages to leads, but not all at once. Expandi uses timed intervals, so it appears human—and keeps you out of LinkedIn jail.
Since Expandi is cloud-based, it can be set up to find LinkedIn leads from social media profiles and activities on Facebook and Twitter. A dedicated IP address and personalized images round out a list of impressive features.
5. Lempod
LinkedIn tends to reward those who post frequently. Once or twice a day is good. Three to four times a day is better. As long as the information is something followers will value, posting this often can boost your engagement levels.
However, there’s another way to get your content in front of people, and that’s through Lempod. You can join groups or “pods” that match your industry. Once you post content, everyone in the pod will automatically like and comment on it.
Content with more likes and comments has a better chance of being seen. It can even start trending, and that means more profile views and potential connections.
6. TexAu
TexAu finds and extracts data from LinkedIn groups and profiles. It also integrates with LinkedIn Sales Navigator to produce profile data from saved searches. You can create workflows to automate the posting of comments and personalized messages.
It’s easier to get attention when your outreach efforts are highly targeted. TexAu has advanced integration capabilities, so you won’t have to do this manually. Send individualized messages and CTAs based on data from TexAu.
7. Dux-Soup
Dux-Soup owes its popularity to ease of use. It’s so easy, in fact, that most people who are new to LinkedIn marketing will find it intuitive. Dux-Soup automates profile visits, messages and skill endorsements. You can also capture information about leads from profiles and transfer it to your CRM.
Since Dux-Soup is a Chrome extension, it won’t run unless you open LinkedIn from the browser. To get around this, keep LinkedIn up in one of your tabs.
8. Zopto
For premium LinkedIn users, Zopto can elevate the lead generation game. With sophisticated filtering features, sales teams can find people according to job title, industry and location. Once you find prospects, Zopto can automate distinct levels of engagement, including how often you send messages.
InMail messages, A/B testing and reporting features are also included. Zopto lets you track how your different campaigns are performing on a live dashboard.
9. We-Connect
We-Connect is a cloud-based tool that focuses on adding more leads to your LinkedIn network. It executes the three main functions of lead generation: prospecting, nurturing and converting. Use We-Connect to run and manage multiple campaigns and engage with several prospects from a single dashboard.
Although it might lack advanced features, We-Connect is a good match for marketers and recruiters who just need the basics.
10. LinkedFusion
LinkedFusion is a good fit if you have a robust set of applications that need to talk to each other. The tool syncs with CRM platforms like HubSpot and cloud-based resources like Google Sheets. You’ll be able to run multiple campaigns within different global time zones and view reports.
LinkedFusion also makes collaboration a breeze with templates and teammate features that prevent duplicate outreach efforts.
Automation tools can help you master the process of attracting, nurturing and converting leads on LinkedIn. Since most of the tools out there accomplish similar tasks, you’ll want one that matches your comfort levels and campaign goals. Look for the right balance between usability, reporting features and personalization. Once you’ve found it, you’ll soon be watching your business grow.
