A recent discussion on r/b2bmarketing sees one marketer write:
“LinkedIn is not a lead generation tool. It’s an effective way to keep yourself top-of-mind with your target audience through top-quality content …” Reddit
The sentiment is clear: Lead generation on LinkedIn isn’t what it used to be — or maybe it never was. If you’re a B2B marketer (especially in industrial, manufacturing, SME sectors), it’s time to rethink LinkedIn from a lead machine to a relationship Engine.
LinkedIn should be looked at a visibility platform rather than a Lead Gen. In fact, for some B2B businesses, Facebook drives more leads than LinkedIn. Think about it:
– How many times have you responded to a LinkedIn sales pitch?
– Have you met any of your prospects before trying to sell on LinkedIn?
– How often do you follow up on Email with prospects?
– How does your website look? Considering your prospect visiting your website from their LinkedIn profile
Part 1: What’s Going Wrong
Decision-makers aren’t actively “shopping” on LinkedIn
“Most employed people who are key decision-makers rarely visit LI regularly.” Reddit
LinkedIn is filled with job-seekers, recruiters, service-providers — but fewer buyers actively browsing for vendors.
This is what I have observed: Most Leaders and decision-makers are not active on LinkedIn or are busy promoting their stories and motivational quotes. And guess what…
ChatGPT has made it worse…..
Ads are expensive and under-performing for cold outreach
So I asked myself, I don’t have the time to do this organically……..
I decided to do “Paid LinkedIn campaigns” and do an experiment
I spent INR 1000 on LinkedIn ads, but could not spent as INR 2000 is the minimum budget that you need to spend on LinkedIn. I increased it to INR 10,000 for a 3 day marketing campaign.
But, the leads that I received were either Job seekers or a person entering new to business(B2B Example), but no concrete leads after spending INR 10,000.
Organic reach is low, and the feed is noisy
LinkedIn has become more like social media (“a job-board + motivational poster wall”) than a precision B2B sales channel.
If you post generic product pitches, you’ll get lost in the crowd. Yes, now and then, you will find a 60-year-old CEO…going to ChatGPT and generating “The most generic feature post from ChatGPT” and posting it on LinkedIn.
This has created a Huge gap between original content and generic content. You have to put in a great amount of work and time in producing great or viral content in the midst of the “Generic social content”.
Part 2: Where LinkedIn Still Works
Even though many are frustrated, LinkedIn isn’t useless. It just needs to be used differently and implement two basic fundamentals and content strategy has to be developed.
- Unique Opinion
- Original/Better version content
Unique Opinion: Everything you say has to add value. Always give your unique opinion on things. Opinions can be related to your product, your team, or anything related to your prospective customer, giving you an edge over the “Generic load” the people experience nowadays in the form of social content.
Branding + top-of-mind visibility
“LinkedIn works for demand creation and warm retargeting… treat LinkedIn as a content-and-retarget loop.”
Use LinkedIn to stay visible, build credibility, let buyers discover you when they have a need.
Relationship building & networking
Some marketers claim they’ve won deals after months of content + engagement, not from cold ads.
Have you thought about sending a Meme to a prospective customer?
Think about it, That how you build relationships. Complement the customers
Data & targeting engine
Even if LinkedIn isn’t where they buy, you can use it to find who your decision-makers are, then engage them off-platform. Use this data, and connect with them through other channels.
Part 3: A Smarter Approach for B2B Lead Gen
Those who say that they have put LinkedIn on some AI tool and are leveraging, automating, and posting unique or original content on LinkedIn. They are lying to you. Success on LinkedIn can only be achieved when you do LinkedIn marketing consistently with top-quality content.
Here’s a 4-step play you can adopt (especially relevant for industrial / manufacturing / MSME marketers like you):
Step 1: Audience + Intent Mapping
Define your ICP (industry, role, size, region). Use LinkedIn to find where they are and how they engage. But don’t assume they’ll buy on LinkedIn.
Step 2: Lead with Value, Not a Pitch
Create content that addresses pain points, fears, and gains of your audience (e.g., “How a 3PL cut labour cost by 25 %”, “Why IoT tracking drives 10-minute better decision-making”). This ties to your data-driven marketing strength.
Add Originality and a unique opinion in every piece of content that you deliver. That is how you will provide value otherwise you are just on the “Feed” of the user.
If you don’t have originality/unique opinion. Might not post then.
Step 3: Visibility + Engagement Loop
- Post 2-3 high-value pieces/week on LinkedIn. Considering they are unique and original, it’ll work.
- Comment on your target accounts’ posts.
- Connect and engage with your “meaningful touches”.
- Run minimal ads (video-view or profile-view) to build a warm list rather than cold leads.
- Do this consistently………
Step 4: Move to High-Intent Channel
Once you’ve built trust/visibility, move the conversation to a more intent-rich channel: Email, webinar, live demo, niche forum. Use LinkedIn for awareness; use other channels for action.
“LinkedIn is equals Identity data, not attention data.
It’s powerful for targeting, but not for timing.”
Part 4: Practical Checklist for Your Next Campaign
- Audit: Are you using LinkedIn for brand only or expecting instant leads?
- Metrics: Shift from Likes/Views to Profile views, Impressions and Visits to website from LinkedIn
- Budget: Use LinkedIn ads for amplification of your unique content and opinion pieces.
LinkedIn isn’t broken, but many marketers are applying it wrong. If you treat it like a “quick lead-machine”, you’ll waste time & budget. But if you treat it as a relationship and visibility platform, integrated into a broader ecosystem of channels, you’ll get results.
For an industrial SME marketer, LinkedIn can play a key role — but not the only role.
Create unique and original content, share experiences, humor, and education. Build authority through technical content. Stay visible consistently. Then shift to where buying intent lives, look to engage via Email, Phone, Video call etc.
The rest you probably know…….
Bye for now….
