1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Rated among the top 10 LinkedIn tools for business, LinkedIn Sales Navigator connects buyers to sellers. The use of an advanced algorithm helps you find the prospects best aligned with what you have to offer. LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers you sales insights so that you have the best information available before you make a decision. It also introduces to a number of relationship building tools, allowing you to move closer to your sales target. The best part about LinkedIn Sales Navigator is that LinkedIn keeps adding new features to the sales navigator on a regular basis, giving you ample scope to play around.

2. LinkedIn Plug-in: To use LinkedIn plug-ins, you need to add LinkedIn functionality to your website. This will give you an opportunity to share a company profile with visitors to your website. You can give a better idea of what your organization is all about, and include the core people associated with it. Some of the more commonly used LinkedIn plug-ins are:

• Share
• Follow Company
• Company Profile
• Member Profile
• Alumni Tool
• Company Insider
• LinkedIn AutoFill
• Jobs and Job Titles You Might Be Interested In

3. Crystal: Counted among the most popular LinkedIn tools for business, Crystal gives you access to millions of LinkedIn personality profiles by reviewing their premium accounts and provides feedback and insight into a person’s personality. Widely known as a personality assessment platform, Crystal helps you understand the personality differences by comparing LinkedIn profiles. It also helps you predict the personality of any customer or prospect using their LinkedIn profile.

4. Discover.ly: Discover.ly is a smart Chrome extension which helps in getting detailed information about an individual when using LinkedIn. When you’re on their profile, you can see a “green” icon that also shows you their Facebook and Twitter data. Getting the additional data can speed up the process of filtering your business contacts. Discover.ly is one of the popular LinkedIn tools for business.

5. Salestools.io: Salestools.io allows you to download lead lists from LinkedIn to Excel. Ranked among the top 10 LinkedIn tools for business, Salestools.io means more than exporting contacts; the Sequences feature in Salestools helps you efficiently personalize outreach messages. Also, you can track your activity as a means of pushing leads through your sales funnel.

6. eLink Pro: If you want to grow a bigger network in LinkedIn, start visiting new profiles every week. You are most likely to get interested people to visit your profile soon. If you want to visit 800 profiles daily, use eLink Pro to automate your visits. Though it has a slower turn around than other LinkedIn tools for business, eLink Pro speeds up the process of getting qualified leads.

7. Rapportive: If you are a Gmail user, this is the best LinkedIn marketing tool you can lay your hands upon. Rapportive may be used as a Gmail add-on, or you may download the extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Rapportive allows you to see all the information you need about a potential lead. It gathers information such as company name and title, shared connections, and location from their LinkedIn profile and delivers them straight to your Gmail inbox.

8. LeadFuze: LeadFuze, one of the most popular LinkedIn tools for business allows you to quickly create a list of leads and target accounts through a simple search. Moreover, it gives you access to contact information, including email and phone number, making it simple to begin the sales process. This all-in-one lead generation also helps you send automated personalized emails and follow-ups.

9. LinkedIn Small Business: Targeted at the vastly growing small and medium businesses in India, LinkedIn Small Business is one of the top 10 LinkedIn marketing tools. Its three-step approach helps enterprises in social selling and increase sales. It helps in creating a strong brand presence, connect with the target segment, and engage in content marketing. LinkedIn Small Business is rolling out new features every month. So, keep reviewing the tool.

10. Dux-Soup: This database-building tool is a favorite with most G-mail users. Dux-Soup is great for tracking LinkedIn profiles you have viewed. Simply go through all the profiles, and the tool will compile the profiles into a .CSV file for later reference. Also, Dux-Soup gives you complete information on the profiles you visited, from their contact numbers and email addresses to their company affiliations and locations.

Start maximizing your content marketing and lead generation efforts on LinkedIn and see the results for yourself. Want to share more insights on LinkedIn tools for business? Feel free to share them in the comment section below.

Redefine yourself on your LinkedIn page

The LinkedIn page of a startup should not define the startup owners. In fact, it should be just the inverse. If you are the startup owner, update your profile regularly, post interesting updates, and share content in such a way that it defines you, and in the process your startup. Most CMOs make this mistake: of making the company’s LinkedIn page an extension of their own LinkedIn profile. They must always remember that people connect to people, and not pages. Three most important action items for effective LinkedIn marketing:

• Connect with the right people (find the right people from a similar industry, similar groups, and influencers you are following)
• Pitch them the right message (not overly formal, but a friendly affable message, introducing yourself)
• Follow-up without annoying them (follow-up means staying in touch not bugging them every single day. Do not message not more than twice a month. Say hi and follow it with an invitation)

Grow your Network

Add more and people to your network. Do a thorough check for second-level and third-level connections. Send invitations with a friendly note, if you have not met them outside LinkedIn. Watch out for C-level connections in the same industry, following the same discussion you just commented on, and more so. Ask for e-mail addresses when you meet someone at a tradeshow or conference. Exchange numbers. Not everybody is willing to add you on LinkedIn. But if you have their mail address or phone number, LinkedIn gives you an option to pitch in better than millions of unknown faces out there.  

Share Useful Content on LinkedIn

Now that you are already a known face in LinkedIn, be a face (please read LinkedIn profile) that your connections can remember. Startups must work actively towards building credibility and your brand with their connections. The best way to do is to share relevant and valuable content with which people can relate to. For example, at Pixel Solutionz, I am helping enterprises find the right outsourcing partners. So, it makes sense to connect to founders, CEO, and CMOs of promising startups. Similarly, if you are the operating manager of a startup, share informative (containing useful tips as well) marketing content for startups.  

Join groups and create groups on your own

Many startups find success on LinkedIn by being active participant in groups or discussion forums. LinkedIn groups are a great way to foster relationships with like-minded individuals from the B2B world. Approach each group as an expert in the field and not a salesman, posting promotional content, every week. You can easily connect and interact with your target audience. Create one or two groups where you can invite like-minded people and targeted users for live updates and useful discussions. You can also discuss your business challenges and who knows, you might even find someone out there, with a solution for you. He or she might be looking for someone like you with a problem.    

Use LinkedIn Premium Membership for a bigger impact

Even though LinkedIn gives you enough scope for growth, you will need the premium package for some additional benefits. Start with the Sales Navigator. Make use of the free 30 day trial of Sales Navigator do the maximum work of connecting with people in this month. Again, use the 15 free InMails/month to send messages to people for business. Also, make use of important filters like company size, keywords in job role, advanced location targeting and industry in the premium pack to laser down the exact leads that match your client base. These were some of my growth hacks for LinkedIn marketing. Which ones are you going to try? Let us know.