How to Gain Qualified Leads with LinkedIn and Twitter

LinkedIn and Twitter are two very powerful tools to utilize when trying to attract qualified leads.  Here are a few tips to start attracting customers on both social networks:

LinkedIn

• Set up your LinkedIn account to its fullest capacity.   This includes contact information, previously worked jobs, honors or mentionable certifications, charity work, interests, education, skills, work samples, projects, etc.   Adding a photo (headshot) is also very important because you will automatically gain a little more trust if you have a photo linked to your profile.  Gaining trust is ultimately very important when attracting new leads.
• Gain quality endorsements from past or present co-workers, clients you’ve worked with in the past, friends who know your skills are superb, etc.  This will increase credibility when new prospects are browsing your profile.
• Connect to as many people in your industry as possible.  As the saying goes, you can tell what kind of person someone is by looking at their friends – this same logic can be applied to your connections.  The more connected you are to industry professionals and potential customers of similar interests, the wider your network will grow which will ultimately put you in front of more potential clients.  Prospects can view your connections and gain confidence in you by examining your connections.
• Make sure to personalize connections as much as possible.  Try not to send the default connect sentence that LinkedIn provides, but add a personal touch when trying to connect to new people so you can begin to build a relationship with new connections.
• Make sure that you utilize LinkedIn for its purpose and do not use it like Facebook or another social network.  LinkedIn is a professional social network so all posts should reflect professional development, available jobs, industry related articles, company updates, etc. and should not be used for anything else.
• Comment on industry related discussions and create your own.  This will increase credibility and assist you in establishing yourself as an expert in the field.
• Share client and prospect news – especially if it’s good news.  Has one of your clients recently been promoted?  Congratulating them publicly on LinkedIn is a noteworthy post and may be reciprocated for you in the future.
• Join relevant groups to expand your knowledge in your industry.  Joining relevant groups will open many doors to connect with like-minded individuals who can become potential leads.  You can also receive emails when someone creates a new discussion or comments on a discussion you previously commented on.
• Acquire recommendations and recommend others.  Recommendations will increase credibility and help you gain trust with new prospects. 

Twitter

• Proper set up of your twitter account includes developing an appropriate twitter handle, updating personalized settings, photo, and bio.  If you have a website you can link that as well.
• Twitter allows posts of 140 characters or less – there is a counter in the corner that is highlighted in red when you go beyond that limit.  Make your posts short and quick to the point when posting to Twitter.
• If possible, add photos to your posts so that you can increase engagement.  Typically, the more visually appealing images are, the more engaged your followers will be.
• Adding images will decrease your character count so make sure to keep tweet text limited when posting images.
• Try to increase followers – especially prospects and industry professionals.  Increasing followers will increase your credibility and prove that more than a few people care about what you have to say.
• Follow industry professionals and prospects that you would like to see in your news feed.  Note: This does not mean that they will see what you post (unless they follow you back).  However, following others with similar interests will show that you care about what others have to say.
• Check your spelling before tweeting anything at all times.  Errors are frowned upon and may result in unfollows if frequent.
• Since Twitter has a 140-character limit, sometimes it is necessary to abbreviate words to get your point across (which is widely accepted on Twitter).
• Use hashtags (#) when appropriate – this will expand your reach beyond your followers and allow anyone searching for your hashtag to find you and see what you have to say.
• Do not over use hashtags – research shows that a proper tweet should have 1-2 hashtags.  People tend to get annoyed with anything more than that and may unfollow as a result.
• Retweet people you follow is like endorsing what someone is saying and usually means that you agree or like their tweet (such as a link to an article).  Retweeting others shows that you care about what other people are saying.
• Replying to a tweet builds conversation.  When you tweet a reply to someone, your reply will be shown on your twitter page as well as theirs.
• When asking more personal questions, Direct Message (DM) the person you are speaking with.  Never ask for contact information in a tweet and expect a public reply.
• When you DM someone, it is a private conversation between you and that person.  Currently, Twitter only allows you to DM someone who is following you.
• Participate in industry related Twitter parties, chats, etc. to meet new people interested in similar topics.  This may help you gain new followers.
• Use twitter’s search engine to search for hashtags that peak your interest.  For example, people tweeting with the hashtag “#scheduling” or “#employeescheduling” are currently talking about scheduling.  You can reach out to prospects you think may be interested in your product or service.

Note: When deleting a tweet, it does not necessarily mean it is deleted forever – it is possible to see deleted tweets.   This is why you should always be careful when tweeting to ensure you do not make any mistakes.

Utilizing these tips will increase your network and ultimately help you generate more leads.