Top 12 Ways To Generate Leads From LinkedIn
(with 12 Outsourcing Tips)
LinkedIn, when used and leveraged correctly, can be a VERY powerful way to
market your busines. There are many ways to outsource aspects of LinkedIn to a
123Employee Virtual Assistant for around $6 an hour!
To better understand how you can use LinkedIn to generate more leads, we have compiled the following
information to help you generate business leads from LinkedIn members. The information is presented in
3 sections:
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
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Understanding LinkedIn Connections
12 Ways to Communicate/Generate Leads Using LinkedIn
Outsourcing LinkedIn Tasks to a Virtual Assistant
Understanding LinkedIn Connections
The LinkedIn Network is composed of all LinkedIn users. LinkedIn users can search for people from
among millions of professionals and reach out to them through an 'Introduction' or an 'InMail'.
Your network of trusted professionals is composed of:
1. 1st degree connections - These are your trusted friends and colleagues who have sent /
received and accepted an 'Invitation' to connect. These people you can reach by sending a direct
message through LinkedIn. Generally these are people you know from current or past
employment, school or who you have collaborated with. These people are known as 'My
Connections' in your Account and Settings.
2. People 2 degrees away - These are the trusted friends and colleagues of your 1st degree
connections. These people can be reached through an 'Introduction' or 'InMail'. These people are
considered part of 'My Network' in your 'Settings'.
3. People 3 degrees away - These are the trusted friends and colleagues of those who are 2
degrees away. They can be reached through an 'Introduction' or 'InMail'. These people are
considered part of 'My Network' in your 'Settings'.
4. Fellow members of your LinkedIn Groups - These people you can reach by sending a
message through LinkedIn. These people are considered part of 'My Network' in your Account
and Settings.
LinkedIn User Agreement
The following is from the LinkedIn User Agreement, and must be considered when contacting other
LinkedIn members. It must also be noted that there are provisions in the overall LinkedIn user agreement
that allow you to contact 1st level contacts, others in your network and group members who have agreed
to receive messages depending in their LinkedIn members settings.
DON’T
 upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that:
o includes any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,”
“spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any other form of solicitation. This
prohibition includes but is not limited to (a) using LinkedIn invitations to send messages
to people who don’t know you or who are unlikely to recognize you as a known contact;
(b) using LinkedIn to connect to people who don’t know you and then sending unsolicited
promotional messages to those direct connections without their permission; and (c)
sending messages to distribution lists, newsgroup aliases, or group aliases.
LinkedIn Search Function
LinkedIn has a very powerful search function to look for people in specific industries and geographic
areas. The search will yield results of people you can Direct Message, send InMail, or connected to via
Groups.
Connections
We recommend your number of connections be both quality and quantity. Add every contact you have
into LinkedIn. After networking events, add new contacts to LinkedIn. The more connections you have,
the larger reach, LinkedIn networking and marketing opportunity you will have.
12 Ways To Communicate/Generate Leads Using LinkedIn
There are 12 ways to communicate via LinkedIn. We can create a strategy for each one and after
creating a set of rules, template messages and replies, your VA can help you maximize your LinkedIn
network.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)
Intro Message when Inviting New Connections
Intro Message when Accepting Invitations to Connect
Direct Message Connections
Direct Message to Group Members
InMail
OpenLink
Introduction
Discussion / Articles
News / Articles
Asking Questions
Answering Questions
Group Admin/Manager
1) Intro Message when Inviting New Connections
LinkedIn users can only connect through Invitations. For two people to connect, one must invite the other
and then the other must accept the Invitation. If the person being invited to connect is not already on
LinkedIn, they'll need to join in order to accept the Invitation. People you invite to connect will become
your first degree connections. When inviting people to join your LinkedIn network, you can send a brief
overview of the service you provide, this acts both as a reminder and mini-sales message.
There are a number of ways of inviting people to connect on LinkedIn:
1. One contact at a time by entering his or her name and email address using the Add Connections
link on the home page.
2. Search your webmail address book for contacts for people who are already on LinkedIn or invite
others who haven't yet joined.
3. Upload a contacts file from an email application like Outlook, Apple Mail and others. File formats
must be .csv, .txt, or .vcf.
Reconnect with colleagues or classmates who are already LinkedIn by using LinkedIn's Colleague and
Classmate reconnect features.
4. Connect to past or current colleagues.
5. Connect to past or current classmates.
2) Intro Message when Accepting Invitations to Connect
You will receive invitations from other to connect via LinkedIn. When you ‘Accept’ the invitations, take the
opportunity to respond with a Thank you message and a mini-sales message. After you have accepted
the invitation to connect and send the message, the message can be archived.
3) Sending a Direct Message to 1st Level Connections
You can direct message 1st level connections. These are people you know, or who are Open Networkers.
You can send them messages as you might through email. They can also be asked to make an
introduction.
4) Communicating with Fellow Group Members
Group one to one message should be on topics relevant to the group. Your membership in the group may
be subject to compliance with group policies for using these messages.
Each member of a group can set preferences on how fellow group members can contact him/her. Since
group members share a common purpose, most are usually open to interacting with fellow group
members and allow their group members to contact one another without a referral. You can control this
on a group by group basis from a 'Settings' page you have for each group. To modify your 'Member
Messages' setting take the following steps:
1. Click on 'Groups' found in the top navigation bar of the home page. This will take you to the 'My
Groups' page.
2. Hover your mouse over 'Go to' under the appropriate group name and click 'Settings' from the
dropdown menu provided.
3. Click on 'Member Messages' to check or uncheck the feature.
You can contact any group member who has set their 'Member Messages' setting to 'Allow members of
this group to send me messages via LinkedIn'. These messages will be sent directly to their LinkedIn
InBox and the message will indicate that you share a group. You can send these free 1 to 1 messages to
any member in your group.
5) Sending an InMail™
InMails are private messages that let you send business and career opportunities directly to any LinkedIn
user. InMail is a brokered communication channel through which you can send business and career
opportunities to LinkedIn users. You can contact users directly, but you will not see the name or contact
information of recipients who are not in your network until they reply and approve your InMails.
InMail allows you to contact or be directly contacted by 2nd or 3rd degree contacts as well as LinkedIn
users who are not in your network.
If a recipient is not in the sender’s network, the sender will not see the recipient’s name or contact
information until the InMail has been accepted.
Note: InMail is a paid feature. You will have a limited number of InMails depending on your paid
subscription.
6) Sending an OpenLink Message
OpenLink messages can be sent to premium LinkedIn subscribers at no cost to the member sending
them. The premium member must have their contact settings set to show that they are 'open to accept
Introductions, InMail and OpenLink messages'. If a premium member is open to accepting OpenLink
messages there will be a 'Send InMail Free' link in the upper right area of the member's profile. To send
an 'OpenLink' message take the following steps:
1. Click on the 'Send InMail Free' link.
2. When you send the OpenLink message you have the option to send the message with or without
your direct contact information. Complete all open text fields and compose your message.
3. Click on 'Save'.
7) Requesting an Introduction
Introductions let you contact users in your network who are two or three degrees away from you. You can
send an Introduction request through the connections you know and trust. Your connection (at their
discretion) can then forward the Introduction request on to the desired recipient. To get introduced take
the following actions:
1. Locate the member's LinkedIn Profile.
2. Click on 'Get introduced through a connection'. To be able to utilize the Introduction feature, the
person you are attempting to reach must be either a 2nd or 3rd degree connection. If this is the
case, the 'Get introduced…' link will be visible on the right area of their LinkedIn Profile.
3. Select one person from a list of connections available to introduce you to that person. The size of
the list may vary based on how many of your connections are also connected to this person.
4. Click on the 'Continue' button to make the 'Request an Introduction' page appear.
5. By default, the message is set to 'include my contact information'. If you do not wish to share
contact information at this time, click on this box until the check mark no longer appears.
6. Select a 'Category' from the dropdown menu. Reasons to be used for an Introduction could be to
discuss:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
A career opportunity.
A consulting offer.
A new venture.
A job Inquiry.
An expertise request.
A business deal.
A reference request.
An opportunity to get back in touch.
Prior to selecting a reason listed above, review the area to the right of the message text box to identify
what the member is interested in when being contacted through this feature.
7. Type a message to the person you are requesting to be introduced to.
8. Type a brief note to the person who will forward the Introduction.
9. Click on the 'Send' button.
LinkedIn asks that you be respectful of the member's wishes and only use an Introduction request if the
category chosen falls in to what is listed under their interests. For example do not send an Introduction
request to someone who identifies they are only interested in getting back in touch with old contacts.
Members not abiding by this may be negatively perceived as a spammer by that person.
If you share a group with that person you will not have the option to utilize the Introduction feature.
Instead, you will be able to click on 'Send a message' from their profile and contact them directly.
8) Starting/Participate in Group Discussion
You can communicate information, schedules and share opinions and ideas with your group by using the
Discussions feature. Each time you initiate a discussion or participate in a discussion in a group, you
increase your exposure. Remember to create a captivating signature and tag line so others can quickly
see what you do.
9) Sharing News
You can share news with any of your connections or one of your groups in the following ways:
A) To share news from a LinkedIn partner site take the following steps listed below:
1. When you see a news article you would like to share, click on their 'Share' link. This should reveal
the LinkedIn icon.
2. Click on the LinkedIn icon to begin the share process.
3. Complete any open text boxes in the 'Share news on LinkedIn' page and select who you want the
article to be sent to.
B) From one of your groups:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Click on the 'News' tab in your groups.
Click on 'Submit a News article' found on the right area of the page.
Enter the article URL.
Click on the 'Continue Button'.
Complete any empty text fields.
Click on 'Add News Article'.
You can also click on a news article title on the ' News' tab and then click on the 'Share' button at the top
of the page to share with people in your network.
10) Asking Questions
People like to answer or participate in surveys. You can ask questions that help you get your work done.
Any question which allows subject matter experts to share their knowledge will produce more answers,
and will be welcomed by other users. Questions which ask for introductions, partners, clients and
contacts produce substantially fewer answers.
If you are asking a question in order to recruit or advertise, or announcing your own job search, you
should indicate that while creating the question with the checkboxes provided. These types of questions
should be limited to your first degree connections and not to the entire LinkedIn Network. Users may also
use the 'Report question as...' feature to flag these types of questions as inappropriate. When a question
is flagged by several users, it is automatically removed and reviewed. Users who have many flagged
questions may be blocked from asking more questions.
11) Answering Questions
Answering questions will gain you exposure and possible expertise status which adds to your credibility.
When you see a green box with a white star on a Profile, you know that person has proven their expertise
by answering questions posed in the Answers forum. They have had answers selected as the 'Best'
answer and are given expert status. Answer experts can be found at the bottom of the Answer home
page. To earn expertise:
1. Find questions in the areas you know.
2. Browse questions to find categories familiar to you and answer those questions.
3. Every time the questioner picks your answer as the 'Best' answer, you gain a point of expertise in
the category of the question. The more points of expertise, the higher you appear on lists of
experts. Private answers don't count toward expertise.
12) Group Admin/Manager
The Open Access setting is controlled by the manager or owner of a group. If the setting is turned on, any
LinkedIn member requesting to join the group becomes an automatic member. This setting was designed
to help managers manage their groups with greater ease by not requiring them to approve every request
to join. If you go to the Group Profile, Open Access Groups will have a note in the 'About this Group' box
stating, 'Access: This group is open to everyone'. If there is no message like this you would have to
request to join and wait to be approved by the owner/manager of the group.
12 LinkedIn Outsourcing Tips
Just some of the daily tasks you can outsource:
1. Add new connections (and send intro message)
2. Accept Invitations and sent Thank you message & min-sales message
3. Join Groups
4. Send Messages to Group Members
5. Research Prospects
6. Send Messages to Prospects (1st Level or who allow for open communication)
7. Start discussions
8. Participate in discussions
9. Post questions
10. Answers questions
11. Filter LinkedIn inbox
12. Reply to messages within LinkedIn. (Our goal is to get prospects into our external
marketing funnel.)
For More Marketing & Outsourcing Tips & Strategies:
www.123Employee.com
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http://www.123employee.com/clientinterview/
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