How to Get Leads From LinkedIn: Strategies And Expert Tips for 2025

Struggling to find quality leads? 💼

Give LinkedIn a try.

It is a powerful platform where today’s professionals connect, network, and close deals. Moreover, a whopping 89% of B2B marketers use this social media to generate high-quality leads. With the right approach, LinkedIn can become your secret weapon for connecting with prospects and turning them into clients.

In this guide, you will find pro tips on unlocking LinkedIn’s full power for lead generation. These proven strategies will help you connect the right prospects and drive real results to your business.

Let’s dive in!

Why use LinkedIn for lead generation

If you’ve never tried using LinkedIn for lead generation, you may wonder why everybody is so hyped about this, as if it’s the only platform for finding prospects. So, let me explain why LinkedIn is an excellent source for quality lead generation.

The numbers speak for themselves: the platform has over 1 billion users in more than 200 countries. But even more important, LinkedIn hosts over 65 million professionals in influential roles and 67 million companies, making it a prime hub for networking, B2B marketing, and business growth.

According to Statista, 44% of B2B marketers choose LinkedIn as the most effective social platform for lead generation. What sets LinkedIn apart from other social media is its professional context. Users on LinkedIn seek industry insights, professional connections, and business opportunities, meaning you’re engaging with an audience already receptive to value-driven content and solutions.

Also, what makes generating leads on LinkedIn more effective is the platform enables precise targeting. Using Sales Navigator or LinkedIn outreach automation tools, you can filter potential leads by location, industry, role, company size, and more, increasing your chances of connections that can drive value to your business.

Finally, you can not only get leads from LinkedIn but also nurture them. Consistently engaging with your connections and sharing valuable content allows you to showcase expertise and guide prospects through the sales funnel. Nurturing your leads helps build trust and turn them into long-term clients.

Setting up for success on LinkedIn

Are you already about to search for leads? Not so fast! 

There are important things to consider before starting your lead generation on LinkedIn. Let’s set you up!

Optimize your profile

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first impression potential leads have of you. So, make your profile convey your credibility and professionalism.

Use a professional photo, create a compelling headline, and write an engaging summary highlighting your expertise and value. Ensure your profile showcases your skills and accomplishments, clarifying why you’re a trusted professional in your industry. 

I also recommend including keywords related to your industry or offerings in your headline to make it easier for prospects to find your profile when searching for a professional like you.

🎁 Learn how to turn your LinkedIn account into a powerful lead magnet with our FREE guide

Define your target audience

To benefit from all the search options LinkedIn can offer, you need to know who exactly you are looking for. Identify the industries, roles, and demographics that align with your goals and match your Ideal Customer Profile. 

The more specific you are about your target leads, the easier it will be to adjust your outreach and create messaging that resonates with their needs and interests.

Tweak your value proposition

Your value proposition is what makes you stand out and attracts potential leads. It should capture attention and convey the benefits you bring and the problems you solve.

Think about your target audience’s “pain points” and address them directly. Communicate a genuine understanding of their challenges and readiness to assist. 

Besides, maintain consistency in your communication: your profile, posts, and messages should reflect your value proposition.

How to find leads on Linkedin

Now that we’ve figured out why LinkedIn is an excellent platform for marketing and sales purposes let’s move to the essentials: how to get leads from LinkedIn. 

Use advanced search

The platform has a robust search engine. Its Advanced search filters are an excellent tool for lead generation on LinkedIn. These filters help narrow your search by job title, industry, location, or other criteria and focus on connections that match your ideal customer profile.

To start using Advanced Search, go to the search bar and click “Enter” or type in your initial request to open the Advanced Search page. Choose from the filters on the top or go to “All filters” to specify your request based on your lead criteria.

For example, you can search for small businesses with 11-50 employees within your region or marketing managers in tech companies in a specific location, ensuring your outreach is highly relevant.

Scrape data from LinkedIn

While LinkedIn doesn’t directly provide email addresses, you can still receive this crucial contact information using dedicated tools. For example, Snov.io integrates with LinkedIn, allowing you to extract email addresses from your leads’ profiles through LI Prospect Finder.

LI Prospect Finder is a free Google Chrome extension that enables gathering emails directly from LinkedIn pages. All you need to do is install and apply it once you’ve identified a potential lead.

What’s more, LI Prospect Finder supports bulk search, allowing you to collect pre-verified emails from search results, events, and company pages. Collect leads’ profiles with details such as job titles, company websites, locations, and more, and elevate your LinkedIn lead generation.

💡 Expert tip Use collected email addresses to enhance your outreach Once you’ve gathered emails from your LinkedIn leads profiles, move your outreach to email. This channel opens up the possibility of more direct and personalized communication. To make your prospecting even more effective, combine emails and LinkedIn interactions, especially when you can put your multichannel outreach on autopilot with Snov.io.  Snov.io lets you create personalized email campaigns and add LinkedIn touches to them. You can incorporate automated post likes, profile views, connection requests, and messages (including InMails!). Collect emails with LI Prospect Finder in seconds and create compelling multichannel campaigns to move your prospects through your sales funnel more effectively.

Explore your competitors’ audience

One often overlooked method of generating leads on LinkedIn is analyzing your competitors’ audience. Your competitors likely have similar prospects, so their followers and connections can be your target leads.

Review your competitors’ company pages and employee profiles. I recommend paying attention to the LinkedIn members who follow their page or engage with their posts. These people have already shown interest in products or services like yours, making them worthy candidates for outreach.

You can also monitor your competitors’ content and identify posts with higher engagement. Firstly, by exporting profiles engaged with the content, you receive a list of your possible LinkedIn sales leads. 

→ Learn how to use LinkedIn’s private mode while browsing your competitors

Secondly, this analysis gives you an understanding of your prospects’ interests and pain points, enabling you to adjust your communication with leads according to these insights.  

Leverage LinkedIn groups

When using LinkedIn to generate leads, make sure you aren’t underrating groups. It is an excellent way to find leads by engaging with like-minded professionals. LinkedIn groups are centered around specific industries, topics, interests, etc. 

Find and join LinkedIn groups related to your field and actively engage there to attract prospects and build meaningful connections. You can share industry insights, participate in discussions, or provide related content to showcase your expertise and value.  

One more effective way to generate leads from LinkedIn groups is by extracting data from members’ profiles. Find the group whose audience can be your target and apply LI Prospect Finder to the list of its members to gather leads.    

Gather leads from events

Events are also a good opportunity to generate leads on LinkedIn. Participating in conferences, webinars, or other events related to your niche, you access the list of members who visited the event, which can be a valuable resource for prospecting.

After the event, export the attendee data to build your lead list and start reaching out. Create an appealing follow-up message referencing the event to start the conversation. Ensure your follow-up is tailored to the recipient to increase the likelihood of a response.

Export post likes

Ready for one of the most non-obvious sources for generating leads on LinkedIn? Here it comes — likes! Likes on LinkedIn posts can reveal active prospects. When someone likes a post relevant to your industry or expertise, it indicates interest and provides an opportunity for outreach. 

Review the list of people who’ve engaged with posts in your niche. Once you have the data, send a personalized connection request to the prospect referencing their interaction with this post. Make your message sound natural so that your approach feels organic and relevant.

Proven strategies to generate leads on LinkedIn

Automate your prospecting

Lead generation on LinkedIn may seem overwhelming, so why not leverage automation? Automation tools can significantly streamline your prospecting while saving time for more priority business tasks. 

These tools allow you to automate LinkedIn actions, helping you scale outreach and maintain a consistent presence. With intelligent software, you can also create automated follow-up sequences to ensure no prospect slips through the cracks.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Ensure the security of the automation tool Automated actions made inappropriately can lead to severe restrictions or even bans. So, when choosing extra software for lead generation on LinkedIn, prioritize security to protect your account. Consider the tools that comply with LinkedIn policies and use secure data handling practices that safeguard your personal information. For example, the Snov.io LinkedIn Automation Tool provides the highest security standards to protect your business data and ensure the integrity of your outreach efforts. By choosing Snov.io for LinkedIn outreach, you can ensure that your tool: Uses location-based proxies for each account, making your automated actions indetectable Follows safe daily limits with realistic delays to act like a human Guarantees complete security by using cloud-based servers

Engage with your network

Engaging with your connections is crucial for building relationships that can drive sales or contribute to your business growth. Regular interactions, such as comments, post likes, reactions to updates, etc., help you stay at the top of your mind in your network.

By sharing content that provides value for the audience, you can build trust and showcase your offerings, gradually converting your cold LinkedIn sales leads into warm prospects. 

Engagement is also an excellent way to gather insights about your audience. With the knowledge of the topics they care about and the challenges they discuss, you can tailor your value proposition accordingly and gain even more results. 

Leverage InMails

LinkedIn InMails are paid messages that enable writing direct messages bypassing the connection request step. Thus, you can reach out to your leads faster and ensure your message comes right into their inbox, enhancing the likelihood of being noticed and getting a response.  

However, depending on your LinkedIn premium plan type (Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Premium, or LinkedIn Recruiter), you have from 10 to 150 InMails you can send. So, it’s quite a low amount to make InMails your primary tool for LinkedIn lead generation.

The most optimal approach is to use them as a “plan B” or an extra step when other outreach efforts have appeared ineffective. The best strategy is to complement your cold email campaigns with InMails to increase the chances of a response.

→ Compelling cold email templates for lead generation 

Send personalized messages

One of the most common mistakes when generating leads on LinkedIn is reaching out with generic messages. 

My expertise shows that such messages are often overlooked and rarely deliver the desired results. Worse, they may seem spammy and irritating, damaging your reputation or even closing the door to future communication opportunities.

Personalize your outreach to optimize your prospecting and gain more results. Use your leads’ data to tailor your messaging. You can reference shared interests, mutual connections, or other details that will help you show your genuine interest and convey a sense of exclusivity.

🧐 Did you know? With Snov.io, you can automate your outreach messaging while still maintaining a personal touch. Create highly personalized emails, LinkedIn messages, and InMails using intelligent customization features.  Use Variables like name, company name, location, industry, and more that are automatically generated from your leads’ profiles. You can also create custom variables for a more personalized approach. Try Spintax, which lets you create unique copies for your messaging automatically or add Dynamic Content to tailor the content to recipients depending on specific conditions you set.

Give and get referrals

Referrals are a powerful way to generate high-quality leads on LinkedIn. Prospects who come through a recommendation from someone within your network are more likely to convert, as personal recommendations create a sense of credibility and trust.

Wondering how to get leads on LinkedIn through referrals? The answer is simple: ask for recommendations. 

To get referrals, identify mutual connections who can introduce you to potential leads. Reach out to them with a polite and clear request. Explain why you believe the connection would be mutually beneficial. 

Note that giving referrals is equally important. This is not only because it demonstrates your support and positions you as a helpful and trustworthy professional; it also encourages others to reciprocate when you need a referral in the future.

Use Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator is LinkedIn’s premium tool for lead generation. It enables more advanced and highly targeted searches with various filters included. Besides, this feature also provides recommendations on leads and helps you quickly identify users who better match your ICP.

With Sales Navigator, you can create lead lists and save your search to track new opportunities. Plus, Sales Navigator provides real-time updates about your leads, such as job changes or company announcements, which you can leverage for more personalized and relevant outreach.

Run lead-generation forms ads

LinkedIn’s lead-gen ads can also be a good approach for prospecting. Unlike standard ads that direct users to an external landing page, lead-gen ads allow users to submit their details without leaving the site.

This advertising usually includes pre-filled forms with information from users’ profiles, such as name, email, job title, etc., freeing prospect’s time to fill in further details rather than spend it on repeating contact info. 

Lead-gen ads let you generate leads from LinkedIn with minimal effort. To maximize results, offer something valuable like a free ebook, webinar, or exclusive insights. Besides, ensure your ad copy is clear, concise, and focused on leads’ benefits.

Once you capture the leads, create effective follow-up campaigns to turn them into clients. You can optimize this process by integrating it into your CRM to ensure consistency in prospects’ nurturing.

Key takeaways

I hope this guide has fully clarified how to get leads from LinkedIn, and now you are all set to start your prospecting. 

Need a little confidence boost? Remember that Snov.io is always there for you. Leverage our dedicated LinkedIn automation tool to boost your lead generation and drive more conversions to your business.