ZINFI Technologies, Inc.

Each of us knows what it feels like to receive a cold call and know that the caller is reading questions from a uninspired script. While from a process standpoint it makes sense to have a standardized example of what you expect from your callers, for maximum effectiveness we should always be looking for new ways to innovate and improve cold calling scripts. What many people fail to realize, however, is that there is a key ingredient most companies completely overlook when writing a cold calling script.

Over and over again, we have heard the expression, “People follow other people,” but that statement is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sales and marketing techniques. The very best salespeople and marketers understand the implications of the statement and how to apply that knowledge, which is that people will instinctively be attracted to and follow the values of other people. While it may not be feasible for a company looking to do telemarketing to allow callers to go completely off-script, it is absolutely feasible and effective to create a short bullet-pointed list of the values they want their callers to communicate through their cold calling script. While only you and your company are going to know the exact values you would like communicated, whenever you deliver a cold calling script to your telemarketing team or outsourced demand generation partner, it should always include a list of the values that you want your caller to communicate on your behalf. It is beneficial to add this list not a only as an addendum to your cold calling script, but also as a way to double-check the suitability of each of the suggested script statements and questions.

Below are four examples of values that “just sell well” when worked into a cold calling script.

* Transparency and trustworthiness. These two values really are inseparable. Whenever your write a cold calling script, you should account for some element of transparency in the call. For example, who are you? Why are you calling? This first step can easily be accomplished in the initial point of contact by having callers quickly identifying themselves. A prospect will not trust without some element of transparency.

* Respect. While respect can be demonstrated in several ways, one of the most important acknowledgements a caller can make when using a cold calling script is the understanding that prospects are giving their time when taking a call. It doesn’t matter whether this is accomplished by asking about the convenience of the time of the call—e.g., “Did I catch you at a good time?”—or by asking permission to continue the call. What matters is that you find a way to clearly demonstrate respect for the prospect.

* Confidence in yourself and your product. What a cold calling script can do is help the caller differentiate the product or service. What the caller needs to be told is that how they communicate this information is crucial. What those who write tend to forget when writing a script is something similar to stage directions that you would give an actor. While a good script can ask leading questions and bullet-point relevant information, at the end of the day the caller needs to understand that they have a piece of important information that can help the prospect. A great example of how to incorporate this into your cold calling script is to add a leading question about the proposed value of your product or service—e.g., “Did you know that our company can probably save you 50% of what you are currently spending?”—but also add a statement in parenthesis: “(communicate this statement with excitement and confidence).” Don’t ever forget that how something is communicated can make or break any script.

* Fun. Don’t we all really have enough to do? If you are going to spend a few minutes on something, wouldn’t it be great to be approached by someone who is jo...

When social marketing arrived in the landscape of sales, many thought that it was a phase or a fad that would eventually fade out. While the landscape will continue to evolve with social media innovations, I think it’s safe to say social marketing is here to stay. A huge majority of corporations are now deeply engaged in social marketing, and the funding and incentives to stay online are not going away.

In an age where humans are increasingly forced to live online to conduct regular daily tasks and business, it only makes sense that they would congregate in communities. Social media is a combination of two common practices: socializing and marketing. Social activity reflects the deep human need for communities and connection, while marketing tries to catch the attention of individuals and communities with the intent of making money. While many online communities in social media are free to join, they could not exist if they were not somehow sustainable and profitable. Never underestimate the platform’s ability to influence the sales cycle.

Today’s new demand generation efforts for sales leads are now a collaborative effort to impact social communities while pushing a product or service to the forefront. A savvy social media marketer lives in communities online, creates relationships and waits for opportunities to push the sales incentive. While  social media is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of sales, it is really very similar to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) advertising. It is becoming increasing obvious that the less time people spend face-to-face or communicating on the telephone, the more WOM advertising is going to be accomplished through social marketing. In fact, a closer look reveals that social marketing has taken on many of the characteristics of traditional WOM referrals.

Great WOM advertising and great social marketing both start with building relationships. Humans are social creatures and live in communities. Have you ever heard the expression “people follow people?” The trick in social marketing is gaining trust through relationships. Great salespeople are great listeners. Becoming an integral part of any online community requires the same skill set. It is no wonder that, in a day and age where online communities are forming and thriving, social marketers are quickly catching on to the impact that they can have simply by engaging in conversations from the comfort of their own space. Half the battle of getting a WOM referral is simply showing up and staying present and engaged, which is why you see the presence of large corporations and their representatives in social marketing.

Similar to WOM, social marketing starts by giving the audience something to talk about. If you have ever found yourself online killing time, you will have noticed the plethora of post and article titles vying for your attention. Chances are you have clicked through to a story or a post and thought, “Why am I reading this?” Humans are always interested in things that go above and beyond expectations. In the past, a typical WOM referral may have been the result of an organization going above and beyond with excellence. Nowadays, when a social marketer posts in a way that is captivating and entertaining and the results are shared by friends, that activity can have the same psychological effect (and potential impact on the sales cycle) as a traditional WOM referral.

Great WOM campaigns and great social marketing campaigns always ask for referrals. Have you ever noticed the “Like” and “Share” buttons—calls to action (CTAs)—at the bottom of each post on social media platforms? Of course you have. Social marketing platforms are built to grab WOM endorsements. It’s interesting to me that the CTA doesn’t just say “endorse me.” While your intention of sharing content may not have been to draw attention to a product, service or individual featured in a post, you may be doing just that. While most of us do not think that far ahead, the psychological impact of a post referred by a friend is just as powerful as the impact of a conversation. In essence, the brilliance of the social marketing platforms is precisely that they function as one big WOM referral system.

Sales and Marketing 101 teaches you that the most powerful referral you can get is a WOM referral. Once you understand that social marketing is the new mechanism for the WOM referral, it is much less surprising to grasp its staying power. When you can see the characteristics of the old incorporated into the new way of social marketing, the question no longer becomes whether social marketing is powerful or effective. It’s not a matter of whether or not you should play the game. It is now a question of which platforms suit your needs and propel your brand forward. While the platforms and tactics will evolve and shift, both social marketing and WOM referrals are here to stay.

For more information about social marketing syndication or automation software please visit ZINFI.com.

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When social marketing arrived in the landscape of sales, many thought that it was a phase or a fad that would eventually fade out. While the landscape will continue to evolve with social media innovations, I think it’s safe to say social marketing is here to stay. A huge majority of corporations are now deeply engaged in social marketing, and the funding and incentives to stay online are not going away.In an age where humans are increasingly forced to live online to conduct regular daily tasks and business, it only makes sense that they would congregate in communities. Social media is a combination of two common practices: socializing and marketing. Social activity reflects the deep human need for communities and connection, while marketing tries to catch the attention of individuals and communities with the intent of making money. While many online communities in social media are free to join, they could not exist if they were not somehow sustainable and profitable. Never underestimate the platform’s ability to influence the sales cycle.Today’s new demand generation efforts for sales leads are now a collaborative effort to impact social communities while pushing a product or service to the forefront. A savvy social media marketer lives in communities online, creates relationships and waits for opportunities to push the sales incentive. While  social media is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of sales, it is really very similar to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) advertising. It is becoming increasing obvious that the less time people spend face-to-face or communicating on the telephone, the more WOM advertising is going to be accomplished through social marketing. In fact, a closer look reveals that social marketing has taken on many of the characteristics of traditional WOM referrals.* Great WOM advertising and great social marketing both start with building relationships. Humans are social creatures and live in communities. Have you ever heard the expression “people follow people?” The trick in social marketing is gaining trust through relationships. Great salespeople are great listeners. Becoming an integral part of any online community requires the same skill set. It is no wonder that, in a day and age where online communities are forming and thriving, social marketers are quickly catching on to the impact that they can have simply by engaging in conversations from the comfort of their own space. Half the battle of getting a WOM referral is simply showing up and staying present and engaged, which is why you see the presence of large corporations and their representatives in social marketing.* Similar to WOM, social marketing starts by giving the audience something to talk about. If you have ever found yourself online killing time, you will have noticed the plethora of post and article titles vying for your attention. Chances are you have clicked through to a story or a post and thought, “Why am I reading this?” Humans are always interested in things that go above and beyond expectations. In the past, a typical WOM referral may have been the result of an organization going above and beyond with excellence. Nowadays, when a social marketer posts in a way that is captivating and entertaining and the results are shared by friends, that activity can have the same psychological effect (and potential impact on the sales cycle) as a traditional WOM referral.* Great WOM campaigns and great social marketing campaigns always ask for referrals. Have you ever noticed the “Like” and “Share” buttons—calls to action (CTAs)—at the bottom of each post on social media platforms? Of course you have.

When social marketing arrived in the landscape of sales, many thought that it was a phase or a fad that would eventually fade out. While the landscape will continue to evolve with social media innovations, I think it’s safe to say social marketing is here to stay. A huge majority of corporations are now deeply engaged in social marketing, and the funding and incentives to stay online are not going away.

In an age where humans are increasingly forced to live online to conduct regular daily tasks and business, it only makes sense that they would congregate in communities. Social media is a combination of two common practices: socializing and marketing. Social activity reflects the deep human need for communities and connection, while marketing tries to catch the attention of individuals and communities with the intent of making money. While many online communities in social media are free to join, they could not exist if they were not somehow sustainable and profitable. Never underestimate the platform’s ability to influence the sales cycle.

Today’s new demand generation efforts for sales leads are now a collaborative effort to impact social communities while pushing a product or service to the forefront. A savvy social media marketer lives in communities online, creates relationships and waits for opportunities to push the sales incentive. While  social media is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of sales, it is really very similar to traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) advertising. It is becoming increasing obvious that the less time people spend face-to-face or communicating on the telephone, the more WOM advertising is going to be accomplished through social marketing. In fact, a closer look reveals that social marketing has taken on many of the characteristics of traditional WOM referrals.

* Great WOM advertising and great social marketing both start with building relationships. Humans are social creatures and live in communities. Have you ever heard the expression “people follow people?” The trick in social marketing is gaining trust through relationships. Great salespeople are great listeners. Becoming an integral part of any online community requires the same skill set. It is no wonder that, in a day and age where online communities are forming and thriving, social marketers are quickly catching on to the impact that they can have simply by engaging in conversations from the comfort of their own space. Half the battle of getting a WOM referral is simply showing up and staying present and engaged, which is why you see the presence of large corporations and their representatives in social marketing.

* Similar to WOM, social marketing starts by giving the audience something to talk about. If you have ever found yourself online killing time, you will have noticed the plethora of post and article titles vying for your attention. Chances are you have clicked through to a story or a post and thought, “Why am I reading this?” Humans are always interested in things that go above and beyond expectations. In the past, a typical WOM referral may have been the result of an organization going above and beyond with excellence. Nowadays, when a social marketer posts in a way that is captivating and entertaining and the results are shared by friends, that activity can have the same psychological effect (and potential impact on the sales cycle) as a traditional WOM referral.

* Great WOM campaigns and great social marketing campaigns always ask for referrals. Have you ever noticed the “Like” and “Share” buttons—calls to action (CTAs)—at the bottom of each post on social media platforms? Of course you have.

B2B marketing has a reputation for complexity. Because B2B transactions occur between two businesses, with diverse groups of people on each side, B2B marketing requires some savviness to get decision-making parties on the same page. Unlike a traditional direct consumer sale, a good B2B marketing campaign will often deploy multiple touches and use multiple channels to communicate a relatively simple message in an effort to unify decision-makers and raise brand awareness.

While B2B marketing will always be a little complicated, there certainly are ways to simplify your marketing efforts and “up your game.” Below are 10 ways you can sharpen you B2B marketing game:

Educate your buyer. With the invention of the Internet, most B2B buyers and their associate teams are more than halfway through the buying process before your salesperson ever meets with a customer. While a good marketer always wants to have clear calls to action, consider educating your buyer—the new version of B2B marketing “foreplay.” If your team cannot provide useful tips and ideas early in the buying process, the chances of persuading a customer to buy plummet drastically.

Create open-ended topics or propositions that leave the buyer wanting more. If education is the new version of B2B marketing foreplay, then it follows that something you are saying to a potential buyer needs to generate a thirst for more information. All good sales and marketing teams know that the ultimate goal in a transaction is for the client to start to ask questions. That is where the power shift that leads to a sale occurs. The person asking the questions is usually the party who is more interested in the sale. By offering provocative and intriguing ideas and statements, you can shift the power sooner in the sale.

Remember that marketing materials should avoid industry slang or jargon. In B2B marketing, you should never forget that the end goal is to simplify your message into something that can be easily shared with a customer’s internal teams. Instead of focusing on information complicated with industry jargon, use language an average eighth-grader can understand. This will help you keep the messaging simple and it will result in a message that can be easily shared.

Whenever possible, justify your product or sale with use cases. At the end of the day, your job in B2B marketing is to get into the mind of your client. Try to remember that the person researching the new product or service is looking for a way that they can justify the sale to THEIR boss. By providing success stories, you are giving the buyer the tools THEY need to close the sale on their end.

Use digital marketing methods, but don’t forget to also shake hands and introduce yourself. One of the most common B2B mistakes that people seem to make over and over again is to think that an advertisement is enough to generate a sale. A great B2B marketing team will make room for a human component in their campaigns, remembering that ultimately people buy from other people, not just from advertisements.

Ask your sales people which customer needs they are hearing about before launching ANY campaign. Think of it this way: good marketing is all about projecting the right message at the right time. How can you possibly understand the B2B marketing message you need to send to prospective clients without speaking to your sales team and gathering all the latest feedback from the front lines?

Understand the future of your business, but don’t forget to sell to right now. In the technology vertical, a great example of this quandary in B2B marketing was the push for all information to be moved to the cloud. While storing information in the cloud is absolutely the future of the IT industry, most companies were not ready to put all of their sensitive information into an untested space. The advertising teams that remembered to include options accommodating slower growth and change were the most likely to get the phone call for the sale. A client wants to know that you understand the future, but they need to know that you can meet them where they are right now.

Clearly define your product and service offering. There is something about selling to businesses that inevitably broadens the product and service offering menu. Small wonder, given the complexity of businesses today. A good B2B marketer understands that by presenting too much information and not clearly defining your product or service, you can lose a potential sale.

Answer inquiries in a timely and efficient manner to keep leads hot. Let’s face it, buyers are fickle. Before a good B2B marketer launches a campaign, they must consider who will be answering product and service inquiries. Often, a B2B client is responsible for asking questions on behalf of their boss, so promptness and timing are crucial.

Focus on the business benefits of your product or service. Remember, as a B2B marketer the question you are answering is whether or not the product or service will benefit the client reading your pitch on the other end. Steer clear of language that is boastful in favor of emphasizing the business benefits of using your product or service.

While all B2B marketers will constantly be searching for ways to improve their campaigns, some tips will stand the test of time. While you will constantly need to learn and grow, especially in complex industries with multiple variables, it is always a good idea to remember best practices. Sometimes upping your B2B marketing game is as simple as putting your team in check.

For more information on B2B marketing, automation platforms or demand generation services, please contact ZINFI at www.zinfi.com.

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B2B marketing has a reputation for complexity. Because B2B transactions occur between two businesses, with diverse groups of people on each side, B2B marketing requires some savviness to get decision-making parties on the same page. Unlike a traditional direct consumer sale, a good B2B marketing campaign will often deploy multiple touches and use multiple channels to communicate a relatively simple message in an effort to unify decision-makers and raise brand awareness.

While B2B marketing will always be a little complicated, there certainly are ways to simplify your marketing efforts and “up your game.” Below are 10 ways you can sharpen you B2B marketing game:

* Educate your buyer. With the invention of the Internet, most B2B buyers and their associate teams are more than halfway through the buying process before your salesperson ever meets with a customer. While a good marketer always wants to have clear calls to action, consider educating your buyer—the new version of B2B marketing “foreplay.” If your team cannot provide useful tips and ideas early in the buying process, the chances of persuading a customer to buy plummet drastically.

* Create open-ended topics or propositions that leave the buyer wanting more. If education is the new version of B2B marketing foreplay, then it follows that something you are saying to a potential buyer needs to generate a thirst for more information. All good sales and marketing teams know that the ultimate goal in a transaction is for the client to start to ask questions. That is where the power shift that leads to a sale occurs. The person asking the questions is usually the party who is more interested in the sale. By offering provocative and intriguing ideas and statements, you can shift the power sooner in the sale.

* Remember that marketing materials should avoid industry slang or jargon. In B2B marketing, you should never forget that the end goal is to simplify your message into something that can be easily shared with a customer’s internal teams. Instead of focusing on information complicated with industry jargon, use language an average eighth-grader can understand. This will help you keep the messaging simple and it will result in a message that can be easily shared.

* Whenever possible, justify your product or sale with use cases. At the end of the day, your job in B2B marketing is to get into the mind of your client. Try to remember that the person researching the new product or service is looking for a way that they can justify the sale to THEIR boss. By providing success stories, you are giving the buyer the tools THEY need to close the sale on their end.

* Use digital marketing methods, but don’t forget to also shake hands and introduce yourself. One of the most common B2B mistakes that people seem to make over and over again is to think that an advertisement is enough to generate a sale. A great B2B marketing team will make room for a human component in their campaigns, remembering that ultimately people buy from other people, not just from advertisements.

* Ask your sales people which customer needs they are hearing about before launching ANY campaign. Think of it this way: good marketing is all about projecting the right message at the right time. How can you possibly understand the B2B marketing message you need to send to prospective clients without speaking to your sales team and gathering all the latest feedback from the front lines?

* Understand the future of your business, but don’t forget to sell to right now. In the technology vertical, a great example of this quandary in B2B marketing was the push for all information to be mo...

What is the most important part of your job as a B2B marketer or business development professional in the tech space today? Generating leads! They are the lifeblood of your business model and the food that feeds your revenue pipeline. It’s a lot like a restaurant: Marketers get the public to take notice and walk through the front door, business development gets them to sit at the table and sales takes their order and serves them their dinner. But if the marketers can’t find potential customers with an appetite, there will be no sales.

B2B lead generation is dependent on good digital marketing strategies. Inbound marketing has the staying power of unlimited presence and searchability on the web, whereas outbound marketing is usually time-restricted, expiring when the budgeted funds run out. That’s why you need a good strategy that helps you find the best prospects. If done right, your digital marketing can net you targeted audiences and response to conversion. Here are some tips to follow when deciding how to structure your B2B lead generation approaches:

Be a Social Media Wizard!

Social marketing can be a powerful tool, if done correctly and if platforms are chosen wisely….

Choose an effective social platform. Social media is a sea of potential. There have been many studies done in the B2B space about the effectiveness of social media in B2B lead generation. Some reports proclaim excellent lead conversion on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and some warn against the waste of advertising dollars on these platforms due to non-targeted click-throughs and inflated analytics. The overwhelming consensus is that social media is an excellent medium for outreach, generating much discussion and brand awareness—but very few actionable leads. Out of all the social platforms, LinkedIn is far and away the best for B2B lead generation. It’s the site where you should focus your digital marketing efforts. Although there is plenty of casual social chatter and personal posting bubbling up on LinkedIn these days, it has remained very focused on B2B connections and communications. The percentage of external non-business content represents only a small fraction of the cat pictures and infernal “I’m at Starbucks!” selfies on Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn remains a viable source of genuine lead-generation potential. Two tips to using it correctly:

Be active. Once you establish a presence on LinkedIn (whether through your personal profile as a thought leader or through your company page) remain active and engaging. Post articles to Pulse, share articles written by others that you find relevant and can tie back to your own content, and comment on related postings and articles. Engage in conversation. Make sure you don’t let several days or weeks go by without making some kind of a mark. Inconsistency will only cause you to be overshadowed and pushed down the page by those who post regular writings and commentary.

Join groups. The best, and quickest, way to find a target audience is to research and join discussion groups that are formed around central topics pertinent to the content you are creating and sharing. This puts you in a more intimate space of communication and engagement, and can be an excellent form of B2B lead generation by attracting interest from a) potential prospects or b) influencers whose ear you might catch and who can help get you additional attention by commenting on your behalf.

Allow newsletter signups via your social media presence. Newsletters have always been an effective method of B2B lead generation, but finding engaged subscribers has been a bit of a struggle. Why add scraped contacts from database queries and add them “cold” to your newsletter distribution when you can have “warm” recipients actively opt in via social media registrations and collect leads that are ready to talk to you?

Distribute video content as tech talks. YouTube, with over 1 billion viewers, is a heavy hitter in video distribution, and many businesses have created channels of thought leadership video media to convert viewers to their websites. The problem is that the YouTube platform has become noisy—diluted by skateboarding antics and top ten lists of who is more famous than whom. I urge you to explore Vimeo (170 million viewers, a fifth of the audience of YouTube), which has a much higher percentage of business-minded viewers and more of a collaborative audience who view Vimeo as a thought leadership syndication platform. B2B lead generation is likely to be much more effective on Vimeo. The channel categories remain cleaner and content is more focused on in-depth tech talks and industry dialoguing.

Funnel back to your website. Of utmost importance in your B2B lead generation strategy is to remember that every bit of syndicate content you push out through any of these social channels and platforms must have links and references to drive people back to your website. The social media presence you create will not generate your leads alone, they will only stir up interest—it is your website that is the final destination to convert leads and be your best salesperson. Make sure that everything out there generates interest and funnels people back to the site as the great closer!

“Take” the Lead: Tips for Attractive Content Marketing

Properly presented content will be your best weapon in conquering the B2B lead generation castle by storm….

Publish surveys and research reports. EBooks are great, although many marketers are opting to call them “handbooks” or “guides” to avoid confusion with paid eBooks on sites like Amazon, and blog articles are informative and fantastic for SEO placement. However, nothing packs a value punch like putting out a survey or report. These are the best vehicles for thought leadership, as they are generated from facts-based data and actionable metrics rather than opinions or conjecture on the part of the author.

Provide educational or resource-rich content. Make sure all your content —whether blog articles, videos or PowerPoint decks via SlideShare—is positioned to speak on trending topics, pain points and issues relevant to your target industry. Instead of serving up diatribe, be educational and deliver solutions. The more value you add in becoming a resource in your content area, the more your B2B lead generation conduit will open up to prospects who see your product as a solution and want to review your site for more information.

Stay visual when you can. As great as eBooks, reports, white papers and the like are, and as informative as they can be, nothing captures attention like an effective visual. Why put out a dry white paper chock full of charts and percentages when you can create a fun infographic? Why include a lined chart of numbers in your PowerPoint deck when you can create an iconographic representation? Pictures paint a thousand words, and people will respond to them more readily. Pictures are immediately and easily absorbable, whereas pages of text take too long to digest. Sell to the fast food culture we live in and watch your B2B lead generation efforts yield more prospects!

When it comes to B2B lead generation, remember to stay alive, stay relevant, stay focused, chose the right channels and let your solutions be seen with compelling visual imagery. By putting the right message in front of the right people in the right way, you can capture much more effective traffic. I would rather have 10 genuine hot leads visit my site every day than 1,000 looky-loos who have wandered in through some vague digital marketing pitch. B2B lead generation that is about speaking to targeted industry audiences—in small, interesting ways—is much more powerful than spreading a message across the universe that falls on mostly deaf ears.

For more information on marketing automation or demand generation services, please visit us at ZINFI.com.

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What is the most important part of your job as a B2B marketer or business development professional in the tech space today? Generating leads! They are the lifeblood of your business model and the food that feeds your revenue pipeline. It’s a lot like a restaurant: Marketers get the public to take notice and walk through the front door, business development gets them to sit at the table and sales takes their order and serves them their dinner. But if the marketers can’t find potential customers with an appetite, there will be no sales.

B2B lead generation is dependent on good digital marketing strategies. Inbound marketing has the staying power of unlimited presence and searchability on the web, whereas outbound marketing is usually time-restricted, expiring when the budgeted funds run out. That’s why you need a good strategy that helps you find the best prospects. If done right, your digital marketing can net you targeted audiences and response to conversion. Here are some tips to follow when deciding how to structure your B2B lead generation approaches:

Be a Social Media Wizard!

Social marketing can be a powerful tool, if done correctly and if platforms are chosen wisely….

* Choose an effective social platform. Social media is a sea of potential. There have been many studies done in the B2B space about the effectiveness of social media in B2B lead generation. Some reports proclaim excellent lead conversion on sites like Facebook and Twitter, and some warn against the waste of advertising dollars on these platforms due to non-targeted click-throughs and inflated analytics. The overwhelming consensus is that social media is an excellent medium for outreach, generating much discussion and brand awareness—but very few actionable leads. Out of all the social platforms, LinkedIn is far and away the best for B2B lead generation. It’s the site where you should focus your digital marketing efforts. Although there is plenty of casual social chatter and personal posting bubbling up on LinkedIn these days, it has remained very focused on B2B connections and communications. The percentage of external non-business content represents only a small fraction of the cat pictures and infernal “I’m at Starbucks!” selfies on Twitter and Facebook. LinkedIn remains a viable source of genuine lead-generation potential. Two tips to using it correctly:

* Be active. Once you establish a presence on LinkedIn (whether through your personal profile as a thought leader or through your company page) remain active and engaging. Post articles to Pulse, share articles written by others that you find relevant and can tie back to your own content, and comment on related postings and articles. Engage in conversation. Make sure you don’t let several days or weeks go by without making some kind of a mark. Inconsistency will only cause you to be overshadowed and pushed down the page by those who post regular writings and commentary.

* Join groups. The best, and quickest, way to find a target audience is to research and join discussion groups that are formed around central topics pertinent to the content you are creating and sharing. This puts you in a more intimate space of communication and engagement, and can be an excellent form of B2B lead generation by attracting interest from a) potential prospects or b) influencers whose ear you might catch and who can help get you additional attent...