LinkedIn has become one of the most powerful places for businesses to generate new leads. While most people use LinkedIn as a way to stay in touch with former friends and colleagues, there is so much more that can be done with the professional networking platform. Utilizing your existing LinkedIn network is the fastest way for your business to find new leads. Here are some of the best ways to use LinkedIn to generate more leads.

Ask Your Current Contacts for Introductions

Most entrepreneurs have no problem asking their friends in real life for contacts or introductions for their business but forget about asking their online connections for the same introductions. To take advantage of the potential leads that you can gain from your current contacts, send them a message explaining your business and ask if they know of anyone that would be interested in what you are selling.

Search People and Gain Introductions

Conduct an advanced search to find people on the site that you would like to be introduced to, and then figure out if there is anyone in your current network that can make an introduction. For this strategy to work, you have to have a clear idea of who your target audience is and the right keywords to search for the right people.

Publish Content

LinkedIn allows you to publish, and republish content in what they call “Long-Form-Posts.” While this strategy might not provide you with the largest audience, it does have the power to give you a very targeted audience of prospects and influencers in your industry. Not only will your post be shared with your contacts and followers, but interested people will also be able to find your content via a search on LinkedIn or other search engines.

Engage with Visitors to Your Profile

As you become more active with your LinkedIn company page, you will find more and more people are visiting your profile. You should be checking your profile on a regular basis to see who has viewed it and reach out to them and try to connect. At the very least you need to be communicating with those people who are relevant to your industry and who fall in line with your target audience.

These are just some of the ways your business can start to generate more leads through LinkedIn. In most cases, there is a lot more you can do if you can develop a solid LinkedIn marketing strategy.