LinkedIn Leads: Are You Using the Right Strategy?

⬇️ Prefer to listen instead? ⬇️

Audiences exposed to LinkedIn brand content are six times more likely to convert.
73% of B2B buyers trust thought leadership more than product-focused content.
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms auto-fill user details, making conversions easy.
Aligned sales and marketing teams are 107% more likely to hit business goals.
B2B decisions are as emotionally driven as B2C, making creativity vital.

If you’re not focusing on LinkedIn for leads, it might be time to change things. According to HubSpot, people who see brand content on LinkedIn are six times more likely to turn into leads. And Statista says the platform is the third most important for marketers, just behind Instagram and Facebook. Whether you're a B2B marketer, executive, or content creator, the real question isn’t whether LinkedIn marketing is worth it—it’s whether you’re using it effectively.

Make Executive and Employee Profiles Good to Show Your Brand Is Human

LinkedIn is about people, not just companies. People looking for leads on LinkedIn trust real connections with people more than general company ads. That’s why your team’s individual profiles matter even more than your official company page.

Start with Visible Leadership

Leaders and employees show your brand in ways that often work better than just company messages. Make sure your leaders and people who talk to customers have good LinkedIn profiles with the following:

A professional headshot (ideally with a clean background and natural lighting)
A customized headline that goes beyond just a job title and tells what value they bring
A good “About” section that tells what they aim for, what they know, and who they are
A feed full of content that includes posts, shares, and comments about your industry

According to Jim Habig, former VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, “A consistent brand presence builds credibility, attracts the right audience, and builds trust with possible leads.” This trust becomes the main part of getting good leads from LinkedIn.

How Employees Helping Out Grows Your Reach

When you get your team to share ideas, repost things, and talk with others, it helps how LinkedIn shows your stuff. Each person on your team can connect with their network, making your reach bigger for free.

Build a Strong Company LinkedIn Page

Your company’s LinkedIn page is often the first thing B2B prospects see when they look up your brand. But lots of pages are not finished, don't get people interested, or are old. This makes possible LinkedIn leads leave.

Make the Main Stuff Good

Make sure your page includes:

A professional, recent logo (needed for trust)
An “About” description with keywords that tells what makes you special
An updated banner design that matches how your brand looks now or your current promotions
Links to your website and contact info

Regular updates help show you are active and lively to both the system and visitors. Share press news, goals met, hiring news, and team highlights to show things are happening.

Show What Your Company Is Like, Not Just Products

Buyers like working with companies they feel good about. Share stories about employees behind the scenes, what you do for the community, how you support different people, or company awards. This makes your company feel more human, just like individual profiles do.

Put Out Content That Is Regular, Interesting, and Teaches People

Putting out content gets people to notice you, shows you know what you're talking about, and builds trust over time so people turn into leads. Not every post needs to go viral—but it should add value.

What Kind of Content Works Best on LinkedIn

How-To Articles and Checklists: Helpful tips your audience can use right away builds good feelings and makes you a helpful source.
Case Studies: Stories about real results show you can do the job and matter in what your possible customers do.
Whitepapers & E-books: Show what you know and make things people can download to become leads.
Personal Stories with Insight: Your CEO overcame a challenge? Share that. People relate to emotion and sincerity.

According to the 2024 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, 73% of B2B buyers trust thought leadership over brand or product content. Think about teaching, sharing stories, and being useful.

How Often and What Kind of Posts Work Well

Aim to post at least 2-3 times per week, mixing formats:

Text + Image for better reach
Video for engagement
Carousels for teaching and saves
Long-form articles for showing clearly what you do

Make Thought Leadership Important — Especially from Leaders

People connect with those who share smart ideas, not just company ads. When your leaders are seen, it helps a lot with your LinkedIn marketing. It also helps build a group of people around those guiding what your company does.

Encourage C-suite and senior leaders to share:

New things happening in your market, with your thoughts on them
Mistakes they’ve learned from and how they fixed things
Posts about what the future of your industry or workers might look like

A great example to follow is Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot. Her content mixes being a real leader with helpful ideas. This gets lots of leads from LinkedIn without paying for ads.

When people know and trust your leaders, it brings people to your company online. It's a quiet way that traffic from LinkedIn comes back to your business.

Be Active in Relevant LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups aren't as big as they used to be, but they are still great places for talking in specific areas. This is true especially if you want to find smaller groups inside the industries you want to sell to.

Good Ways to Use LinkedIn Groups

Join groups where the people who buy from you spend time
Give helpful ideas in talks rather than just sharing links
Ask good questions that are open and get talks started
Share free things like guides or templates that help with a common problem in the group

When you are part of groups you want to reach, you not only get seen but also learn what your possible customers care about most. This can change what you write about, how you talk to people, and what your products might be like later.

Talk in the Comments and Conversations

The best thing on LinkedIn you might not be using is not your post. It's how you reply to what people say about your post. When you comment and join talks, it's a sign LinkedIn's system likes, and it helps everyone there.

Why It Matters

When someone comments on your post:

They are giving you a chance to talk more deeply
You get a chance to show what you know or give a specific answer
The people they are connected to might see your talk as it gets bigger. This helps more people see you without trying hard.

Jim Habig advises, “Reply to comments right away… and show what you know.”

Think of every comment as a small chance to keep talking and stay in people's thoughts.

Use LinkedIn Ads and Sponsored Content to Reach Exactly Who You Want

Getting seen without paying is the start, but paying for ads is like a fast push. LinkedIn's ads platform is great because you can pick who sees your ad in a very detailed way. This makes it perfect for getting B2B leads.

Ways to Pick Who Sees Your LinkedIn Ads

Job Titles (e.g., “IT Director”)
Job Levels (e.g., “C-Level,” “Manager”)
Company Size & Industry
Skills or Interests
Custom Lists (using Matched Audiences)

Types of LinkedIn Ads to Try

Sponsored Content (can teach people and look like regular posts)
Lead Gen Forms (get people's info without them leaving LinkedIn)
Message Ads (send messages right to their inbox)
Carousel Ads (good for telling stories with pictures)
Video Ads (get the attention of people quickly looking through their feed)

Lead Gen Forms work very well. They fill in user details for people, making it easy. As Habig says, “they boost conversions” through convenience.

Tools like HubSpot’s ads management platform can connect your ad campaigns with your CRM to help leads move along and become customers.

Get Sales and Marketing Working Together for Easier Handoffs

What you do for LinkedIn marketing should easily pass leads to your sales team. If it's hard, leads get lost.

Getting them to work together makes sure:

Following up works better
Less confusion about which leads are ready for sales
Getting feedback to know what content or messages work best

Teams that work together well are 107% more likely to meet money goals.

Agree on what a lead is, where they are in the buying steps, and what sales needs to help them. This makes passing leads easy. Use shared Slack channels or stand-up meetings between teams to keep communication active.

Use Matched Audiences and Connect Your CRM

Matched Audiences make your targeting stronger by letting you reach people who already know your brand. Or you can reach people who are like the customers you already have.

Use Matched Audiences To:

Show ads again to people who visited your site before
Help existing possible customers with email lists you upload
Divide lists to send specific messages using your CRM
Talk again with people who joined a webinar or downloaded an e-book

As Habig notes, “With Matched Audiences, you can talk to people who already showed they are interested or are more likely to be. This makes getting leads from LinkedIn easier by focusing on those already likely to buy.”

Use Your Customers’ Connections to Reach New People

One great thing about LinkedIn that people don't talk about enough is that you can see shared connections. Use the people you already know to find new ones.

Referrals Made Easy

See who your happiest customers are connected to
See who both your sales people and the people who make buying decisions know
Ask politely for introductions from people they know
Mention the person you know in your message to connect right away

Getting a message from someone you know works much, much better than getting a message from a stranger. It helps people open and reply a lot more.

Pro tip: A simple message like, “Hey, I saw you know Samantha at [Client Co.]—we worked with them last quarter. Would love to talk about how we helped them lower churn by 20%,” makes your ask feel more human and shows you can help.

Keep Your Content and Engagement Regular

LinkedIn marketing is not about doing something huge one time. It's about doing things regularly that spread out. Putting out content on a set plan makes sure people keep seeing you, see you matter, and see you know your stuff.

How to Keep Things Going

Start with one post a week that gives good value
Find the main things you will write about (e.g., leadership, product tips, customer success)
Turn blog posts into picture carousels or quotes
Plan ahead using tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, or LinkedIn's own planning tool

People usually need to see or hear from you 7–13 times before they turn into a lead. Keep showing up for possible customers as they decide.

Use LinkedIn's Own Tools Besides Ads: Articles, Events, Polls

LinkedIn has its own tools that help people find you and talk with you without spending money on ads:

Write LinkedIn Articles: Show you know what you're talking about with longer posts that are always useful.
Post Polls: Get people talking while you get ideas from the crowd.
Host Live Events & Webinars: Get people to sign up before events and join in when they happen.

These tools let the people you want to reach connect with you in different ways. This is very important for those who aren't ready to buy yet but are still learning.

Make Your Tools for Content Work for LinkedIn

It’s tempting to push the same content across every social platform. But LinkedIn marketing works best when your content is made for it and you plan it out.

Make your tools for content do things like:

Turn a podcast quote into a graphic to get people interested
Use long blogs as outlines for video content
Turn webinar slides into picture carousels

You can do a lot and still make it fit LinkedIn.

The Top Mistake: Not Thinking Creativity Matters Enough

In B2B, if it's boring, people forget it. Having a plan matters, but creativity gets people to act.

According to LinkedIn, 69% of B2B buyers say emotions play a vital role in decision-making—just like B2C customers.

Be more creative by using:

Stories that have a problem and how it was fixed
Designs and animations that look the same and fit your brand
Numbers that surprise people or ideas that are different to make people want to know more
Things customers and leaders say

Creativity doesn’t mean “cute.” It means standing out.

Want to use tools to do more LinkedIn content? Make carousels, leader quotes, short pieces, and more. Use our tool built for getting leads from LinkedIn. It can use stuff from every podcast, blog post, or time a client did well.