LinkedIn is a robust platform, but most think it's only use is finding new jobs. While it’s an excellent system for finding new candidates (perhaps a future topic of discussion here at Thinkcurity, we’re finding that physical security companies are using it increasingly to prospect for new clients. If you haven’t jumped on board this bandwagon yet, we’ll dive into new ways you can use LinkedIn to generate new leads and nurture potential clients.  

Building Your Profile 

The first step in using LinkedIn to prospect physical security clients is to set up a professional but fun profile. To do this, you'll need to use your profile to tell your story. 

Your LinkedIn profile should be an extension of who you are as a person, company, and brand. It's essential to show off your skills and experience as well as highlight what makes you unique and stand out from other companies—and this can all be done with customized graphics, video highlights, and even call-to-actions that encourage prospects to reach out for more information about how they can work together. 

The LinkedIn Search Feature 

The LinkedIn search feature is a powerful tool. You can use it to find prospects and companies. 

You can start with the primary keywords in your target audience's title, description, and location. For example: “Director of Security,” “X Security Company,” or “Atlanta Private Security Agency.” Then try adding other keywords such as specific companies (Citigroup), job titles (Chief Information Officer), and even groups (Women in Technology Association). 

These keywords will help you find the right people to reach out to. Go ahead and look at their profiles, check their websites, and see if any of them are a good fit for your business. Ensure you have a solid lead generation strategy before creating any new content or sending out cold emails. 

The LinkedIn Social Selling Index 

The LinkedIn Social Selling Index, which you can find in the left-hand sidebar of your LinkedIn Company Page (if you haven't created one yet, click on "Create Your Company Page"), is an excellent tool for prospecting physical security clients. 

It allows you to see which of your company's current customers have viewed the content on their homepages that you've listed as related to physical security and who are most likely to convert into sales. It also allows you to identify your current customers most likely to expand products or services with your company. 

The numbers aren't perfect, but they're still helpful—and they're certainly better than no numbers. 

Use Your Company Page to Post Content and Engage with Prospects 

You can use your company page to engage prospects and post relevant content to their needs. 

LinkedIn's Company Pages enable you to highlight your business, communicate with leads, and maintain relationships. Your Company Page contains a customized URL that can be shared on other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You should be posting relevant content regularly to rank higher in LinkedIn searches. 

You can create a LinkedIn company page if you already have one or if you are just getting started with social media marketing for physical security firms. If you already have a business profile on LinkedIn and want to convert it into an official business page, then follow these steps: 

• Click "Company Pages" at the top of any LinkedIn page under "Your Account." 
• Click "Create New Company Page" in the left navigation panel (in blue). This will redirect you directly to creating your new page! 

At the bottom of the page, you will be asked to input your company name and a brief description. Next, fill in your website URL and select if you want to add a tagline. You can also choose whether to include an image for your Company Page. 

Once you have completed the form, click "Create Your Company Page." LinkedIn will ask if you want to add people to your network who are already on LinkedIn. You can choose whether these people will be able to see your company page or if they should only be able to view it if they are connected with one of your employees. Once this process is complete, your new Company Page will be created and ready for you to update! 

How to Nurture Leads on LinkedIn 

Nurturing leads is an important part of the sales process, and it’s crucial to do this on LinkedIn. Nurturing means you send content to your prospect over time, which helps them get to know you and your company better. This can be an email or even a post on social media (LinkedIn or Facebook). 

You can create nurture campaigns using LinkedIn Sales Navigator by following these steps: 

• Click “Create Campaign” under the campaign tab in Sales Navigator 
• Select “Nurture Campaign” as the type of campaign you want to create 

Select the type of content you want to send, and then click “Next.” You can choose from several types of content, including InMail, posts, and videos. 

You will then be able to select the contacts you want to send this content. Once you have selected your contacts and added them to the campaign, click “Save” and “Finish.” You can then choose when you want your campaign to start sending out the content. 

Once you have created a nurture campaign, you can create follow-up sequences for your prospects. These are emails that will be sent out after certain time periods. For example, if someone clicks on an email from you but doesn’t respond within 24 hours, then you can send them another email asking if they need any help with anything else. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a great tool to use if you want to create nurture campaigns. It makes it easy to send out the right content at the right time and will help you build relationships with your leads. 

What content performs best on LinkedIn? 

To make sure that your prospecting efforts are successful, here are some tips for creating engaging content: 

• Use a mix of text, images, and video. While LinkedIn is mainly text-based (except group discussions), it's important not to rely solely on text. This will ensure that your content stands out from similar posts by competitors (including other physical security companies). 
• Make sure that your content is relevant—both personally relevant and professionally relevant—to both yourself as well as others in your industry. If you're posting something explicitly related to one person or group of people who follow you on LinkedIn (such as former colleagues), then make sure they understand why this topic matters so much to them! 
• Personalize the content by organizing information according to themes that are most relevant within their network groups, such as industry interests or education level/degree earned, etc.,  

Use LinkedIn Groups 

Create a LinkedIn Group where prospects can engage with one another about physical security issues that are relevant to the industry (e.g., "What is your favorite PSA tool?" or "What is the best way to integrate video surveillance into my existing access control system?"). This will allow them to build relationships before they ever speak with someone from your company—and create content that gives you insight into what kinds of questions people are asking others so that you can answer those questions yourself in future emails or phone calls 

Conclusion 

There’s no doubt that LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for generating leads and nurturing them into sales opportunities. The right strategy can help you reach new customers, build a reputation as an industry expert, and keep your brand top-of-mind with existing clients. Just remember: if you want to see results from your efforts on this platform (or any other), don't post once and forget about it! You need to consistently engage with prospects, post helpful content regularly, and provide value to those who follow your company's page. 

If you’d like to learn more about LinkedIn strategies, check out our on-demand video series, The Importance of Personal Branding & Networking, featuring 7 episodes on how you can build a better LinkedIn presence!