How to Use Linkedin Lead Generation to Target Gen Z

After struggling with a bout of writer’s block, I decided to post something on Linkedin, asking my audience what they would like to read about  Linkedin lead generation.

Interestingly, someone mentioned how LinkedIn’s interface seems old-fashioned compared to other social media platforms, and might not appeal to younger generations.

So, this made me wonder, if younger generations, specifically, gen Z and millennials, would prefer to use other platforms because they might feel Linkedin is outdated and only for older people. 

This brings us to the question… 

Is it worth using LinkedIn to target Gen Z and millennials? Or would it be a waste of time?

And if it isn’t a waste of time what would be the best way to use Linkedin lead generation to get actual results. 

I decided to do a bit more research, and find out if younger generations don’t actually use Linkedin. 

This can also help sales teams and founders know if generating leads with younger generations on Linkedin is worthwhile. 

Therefore, if you are a founder or sales rep who would like to target millennials or gen Z, and you need high-quality leads fast, this article is for you. 

We will look at stats about why LinkedIn is a great platform for lead generation and how you can use it quickly to get people interested in your product or service. 

Who Uses LinkedIn?

Most people think of LinkedIn as a networking platform, a platform for recruitment or even just a place to find interesting information on businesses.

You might not see it as a place to actually generate high-quality leads. 

Yes, the interface might look traditional and out of date, compared to Instagram or Tik Tok, but many people that I asked about this, said that for them, the older interface establishes trust and professionality.

So we can keep this in mind as we continue…

You might also think that it’s only older generations that use the platform; Like big-shot CEOs, or people who have been working at a business for years. 

But interestingly, stats paint quite a different picture.

Have a look below:

According to Statista, most LinkedIn users are Gen Z and Millennials. 59.1% of users are between the ages of 25 and 34, and 20.4% are aged between 18 and 24. 

You might wonder, though, if you, as a founder, decide to use LinkedIn to generate high-quality leads, would your ideal target audience be on the platform?

Well, that’s the great thing about LinkedIn. 

Did you know that more than 55 million companies are listed on the platform?

Plus, according to LinkedIn, Gen Z seems to have more wealth.

What does this tell you?

As a founder, if you aren’t using Linkedin for outreach, you’re making a huge mistake. 

Why? 

Because you have a HUGE pool of potential customers, in various age groups, in various industries, demographics, and job titles that you can target. 

Making use of Linkedin is a no-brainer when it comes to generating outbound leads. 

Oftentimes, founders might think that social media marketing and content marketing are prize number one.

Because if your website is on the coveted page one of Google, you will most probably get more calls, which is true. 

(Note the above stats are from Oberlo and Inter Growth.)

And we have also seen that, if your brand is constantly in front of your ideal audience, then the chances of them contacting you, will be greater.

Interestingly, customers have to see your brand more than 7 times before you begin closing deals.

BUT…

What some people are not always aware of, is that content marketing takes time. 

Building an SEO strategy, or a social media presence takes time. In some cases, even years.

Therefore, if you would like more sales right now, trying out a more aggressive approach like outbound, might be a good hybrid option for founders and sales teams that would like to target millennials and gen Z. 

We suggest using a mix of outbound and digital marketing for best results.

Not only will you have a long-term marketing plan, but also an immediate lead generation strategy to get more sales in your pocket.

So, we have established that there are many millennials and gen Z users on Linkedin and that they view the platform as a place for business. 

We have also established that there is a huge pool of prospects to tap into on Linkedin, 

LinkedIn Lead Generation Can Get Immediate Results

With the above statement, we aren’t saying that platforms like Instagram or Tik Tok don’t have their place. 

For example, if your marketing is solely based on visuals, Instagram would be one of the best platforms for marketing, and getting inbound leads. 

Many photographers make use of Instagram to generate leads, because of the visual aesthetics of the platform.

So this makes sense. 

But let’s say, for example, you would like to sell a fintech product, to CEOs and founders in the health and fitness space.

Linkedin would be the better platform to use instead of Instagram for finding leads. 

Remember, use the platform where most of your potential buyers would be.

Especially if you are selling to businesses, LinkedIn would be better for B2B lead generation. 

And many younger founders are on this platform. Read this article from Linkedin itself that shows how many under 30 millionaires there are on Linkedin.)

Why? 

Because you can use Linkedin to filter through specific criteria to find qualified leads AND reach out to these prospects directly, through LinkedIn messaging or InMail. 

This means that you can get immediate results.

If you aren’t a fan of cold calling, then try Linkedin outreach. 

When you know how to reach out to prospects in the right way, you could easily get 1 qualified lead per day. 

This means that within a month, you could have 20 new leads. 

And if you target correctly and your product/service solves your ideal prospects’ pain points, then you’re going to be hearing that “Ka-ching” sound as the money rolls into your bank account. 

Our LinkedIn lead generation stats for last year

Besides this, (along with cold email) we generated nearly 7000 qualified leads for our clients in the past 24 months by using Linkedin.

If you would like immediate qualified leads, here is our LinkedIn lead generation strategy that guarantees 1 lead per day.

Step 1: Have a look at your LinkedIn Profile

Before you can create an outbound campaign on Linkedin, have a look at your LinkedIn profile. 

If it looks like this:

It’s time to relook at your profile and make it look professional. 

Why?

Because if your profile looks unprofessional, or reads like a resume, prospects aren’t going to be interested in replying to your messages. 

Think of your Linkedin profile as a sales page. Write about how your product or service solves your ideal customer’s pain points. 

Below is an example of Neil Patels Linkedin profile.

Notice how he addresses the pain points he solves at the outset of this profile. His photo is also clear and it takes up at least 60% of the frame. 

His “about” section also has a very clear call to action on how to contact him, or how to set up an appointment. 

Notice, that the about section does not read like a resume, but rather lists achievements that impress the reader.

You could even write a creative story on your journey, that would entice the prospect to read more. 

Your LinkedIn profile is the first point of contact between you and the reader. 

If it’s bad, you can say bye-bye to new leads. 

Step 2: Figure out who your ideal customer persona is

How can you do this? 

At Salesbread we believe in a data-backed approach to list building. Therefore, we suggest looking at who has purchased your product or service within the last 6 months. 

By doing this, you should be able to see certain patterns emerging. 

Such as:

• Are all your buyers located in a specific area? Florida? 10 miles from New York?
• Are they all in a certain industry? Health and wellness? SaaS? Tech?
• Do they all have a similar number of employees? More than 10 or less than 50?
• Are specific job titles or decision-makers buying from you directly? The CEO? Marketing manager? VP of sales?
• If they are in the healthcare space, ask yourself which types of divisions are buying? Is it hospitals? Insurance? Dentists… etc
• What departments/employees do they currently have/not have on payroll? (Marketing, Social Media, CNO?)
• Are they all part of the same LinkedIn groups?

At Salesbread we analyze your current customers using 34 business attributes and “signals” so that we can detect “Buying Patterns” and uncover your “Look-A-Like” customers that, based on data, will need what you are selling. 

Below is a video of how we do this:

Once you find patterns between your paying customers, it will be easier to build a list of prospects who need what you are selling. 

PRO TIP: Don’t buy a random list of data (prospects). Why? Because if your list isn’t ultra-targeted, you aren’t going to get results. 

There is no point in having a list of 2000 prospects in the healthcare space, but your buying customers are only gyms and fitness for example.

There would be no point in reaching out to hospitals because they aren’t buying from you. 

Rather have an accurate list of prospects because this will guarantee more sales.

The spray and pray method doesn’t work. 

Step 3: Find your prospects on LinkedIn

Once you know who you need to target, (For example: CEOs in the gym and fitness space, that have 50 employees in the USA.) you can start by using various tools to build a list of prospects for your lead generation campaign. 

You could use the following lead generation tools:

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Crunchbase
• Bombora
• Zoominfo

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is great for finding people who work at specific companies, but it isn’t ideal for finding the information on companies. 

Why?

Because if you are saying:  “I need clients in the healthcare industry” and you are trying to find the info on LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you are going to run into a wall. 

The reason?

So we suggest actually going off Linkedin and using third party data providers for more accurate data. You can use a tool like Crunchbase to find the exact information you need. 

See the example below:

If you need to find the information of companies, use Crunchbase. 

They have various filtering options and provide contact information. 

You can then plug this info into Linkedin Sales Navigator, for example, and reach out to the right people at these companies via Linkedin. 

Step 4: Filter your list by your second-degree network on Linkedin

Once you plug your list into Linkedin Sales Navigator, you can then filter it by your second-degree network.

You can also use various filters to find the right people to talk to at these companies. For example, you could use the keywords CEO, or HR, or Marketing. 

This will then bring up a smaller list of people that you can reach out to directly. 

But we also take this list a step further and filter by recently posted.

If someone isn’t active on Linkedin, there is no point trying to send them a message on the platform; you could rather send them a cold email, or an SMS. 

If you have a look at the above profile, you can see that Kyle Farah wrote an article called The Future of Social Media. 

You could then read the article and compliment Kyle on it. 

Example: Hi Kyle. Loved your article on The Future of Social Media. Especially the part on XYZ… Do you mind if we connect here?

Have a look at this article for more templates.

Step 6: Follow up and ask for a meeting

One thing about younger generations is that they were raised with technology.

Which means, if you wrote an intriguing follow-up, they would most likely be happy to reply. 

So if your target audience is younger, sending them messages would get a better response, than for example cold calling.

But again, they are bombarded with messages daily. Therefore, your follow-ups need to be to the point, personalized, and interesting. 

You should also have a clear call to action, which allows the reader to know exactly what you want from them. So, if you would like to book a meeting, tell them that.

This template was used mainly for an email outreach campaign. But the same principles apply to Linkedin outreach. 

Notice that the messages are brief, there are compliments, and the messages are super simple to reply to.

There is also a high-value proposition because the prospect has been asked to be interviewed on a podcast (which is free advertising.). 

Your value prop is really important. Don’t think about “What’s in it for me?”

RATHER think about what’s in it for the prospect.

If you can change your perspective by seeing how you can help your prospect, instead of how much money you can make, the chances of you gaining that sale will be greater. 

Also always ask for a meeting.

This can be as simple as:

“What does your calendar look like in the next week? Let’s book a quick 10-minute call on the 17th of June at 10:00 am.”

What not to do in a follow-up

• Don’t write an essay – Keep it brief.
• Always be kind and don’t bash the prospects.
• Don’t use an ambiguous in your call to action
• Don’t spam prospects with hundreds of follow-ups, rather wait 3 days between each message. 
• Don’t just send out automated messages. Try to personalize them and reply in real-time.

What about Content marketing, Ad campaigns, and LinkedIn Lead Gen forms?

If outbound isn’t exactly your cup of tea, you could always try to generate leads by using content marketing and LinkedIn ad campaigns.

As we mentioned earlier, using both a mix of outbound and inbound marketing would be ideal.

Content marketing and Ad campaigns luckily don’t have to be too expensive.

With content marketing, you could either hire a freelancer to help you out, or you could try to do it yourself, depending on your budget. 

Below are some ideas for content marketing on Linkedin:

Linkedin marketing can also be affordable in the sense that you can set your budget when it comes to ads. 

Here is an example of how Grow and Convert use content marketing on Linkedin:

As you can see, they have shared a link to one of their recently published articles. 

They also mention what’s in their article. 

LinkedIn ads

When it comes to LinkedIn ads, you have a variety of options. You first need to choose the objective of your ad.

Your ad can either create brand awareness, engagement, or website visits. 

Next, you can then select your target audience:

You also have the option of choosing which Ad format suits you best. Linkedin has a few different options to choose from; such as carousel ads, video ads, sponsored content, or Text Ads.

Lastly, you can choose your budget.

LinkedIn lead gen forms

Linkedin says:

“When a member clicks on the call-to-action button on a LinkedIn ad with an attached Lead Gen Form, the form is automatically filled with their contact and profile information.”

They can then submit their information to companies through the form without having to manually type it in.

With Lead Gen Forms, advertisers can collect leads at conversion rates that typically outperform the LinkedIn benchmark.

Lead Gen Forms are available on both mobile and desktop for Sponsored Content and Sponsored Messaging campaigns.

Once members have engaged with your Lead Gen Forms, you can create Matched Audiences Lead Gen Form audience segments to retarget engaged members in future campaigns.

There is no additional cost for LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms outside of the costs for the associated ad campaigns.”

Here is a video explaining: 

Need more qualified sales leads?

If you’re done with not getting enough sales, and are frustrated by your results, why don’t you get in contact with us?

With over a decade of experience in lead generation, (specifically with b2b companies) we can help you target millennials and Gen Z prospects, with our super-defined LinkedIn lead generation campaigns. 

We guarantee 1 qualified lead per day or your money back… And the best part?

All of this for less than the price of hiring a full-time SDR.  

Get more buyers in your sales funnel today.