Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, there are many social media networking platforms to generate leads. One such trending platform is LinkedIn. The professional world has turned a big fan of LinkedIn as it has been frivolously used to generate a lot of high-quality leads.

LinkedIn has been attributed to a gold mine when it comes to selling any kind of product or service. You can reap consistent high-quality leads using these five-step process to uncover business opportunities!

1. Optimize the existing profile to attract connections: Although LinkedIn has been lately accused of a lot of spam, you need to give your profile a make-over that triggers connection requests. Blind send-outs will not work as they tend to give a bad image to your name. Aim to lure-in connection invites through your profile outlook. Here are some tips:

Experiment with your profile. For example, A conventional tittle would show “Founder & CEO”.

In order to attract your target, you need to be both, creative and smart. Your content has to be unique and untraditional. Always remember that it is human behaviour to be struck or attracted by something that is contrasting and creative and you have to apply the same concept to your profile.

The interested parties will often shoot a message to you which will save your efforts and time.

Another way to invite more connections is to switch to a paid LinkedIn account. That “Premium” icon indicates that you are not a spammer. Just by paying $59.99 monthly you can reach out to more profiles daily, along with some other beneficial privileges.

2. Keep a tab on your potential clients : An ‘Advanced’ search can help attain exact and accurate results without wasting time scrolling millions of profiles to find what you need. You can use multiple filters by specifying keywords, title, location or industry.

Using these fillers prepare a targeted list of the appealing prospects. Then simply visit the profiles of the potential leads. With this, they get notifies about being viewed. Finally, send a connection request to the potential profiles.

3. Begin with a non-promotional contact : Remember that LinkedIn users are flooded with glorious and appealing advertisements every day. Never start your communication with promotional messages. Promotional messages are too downstream.

You must stand out of the league by making a quick introduction and thank them for connecting request. You may send invites to them on other social networking sites also along with your pages on them for reference.

4. Continue your conversation for further progress : This is a follow-up for the initial stages. After you have created a lucrative profile and initialled with a not – promotional communication, you must carefully proceed with further communication eyeing the future prospects of your deal. Explore details and ask for information freely.

The rule is “Never go straight pitch”.

Like most people ask internet marketing related questions initially however, you can easily go offbeat to create a healthy impact. When to provide personal values, the party at the other end is more open to your pitch and deeply understands what do you have to offer.

5. Move ahead of LinkedIn : This step is when you really move out of the virtual world and get things done. One the offer is put on the table, it’s better to use other personal modes of contact like telephone calls, emails or even a one-to-one meeting to discuss the progress of the project.

One can make infer that LinkedIn is an excellent tool to spark up the initial approach and building trust but isn’t really appropriate to close the deal. Once the deal sets of in the right direction, you can always switch to other modes of building good long-term professional relationships.

Note: The above methods are advised by our experts on the basis of work experience and search results. There is no official announcement from LinkedIn or its corporate partner.