The ultimate guide to prospecting with Salesforce and LinkedIn

This guide will give you more than a mere set of instructions. 

This is a path to becoming a prospecting superstar for your team (while saving loads of time and enriching your CRM with accurate data).

We've crafted this guide to cover all key aspects of integrating Salesforce with LinkedIn's powerful tools, like LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration to Salesforce and LinkedIn Ads. From importing LinkedIn contacts into Salesforce to syncing LinkedIn messages to Salesforce, we've got you covered.

Grab a cup of coffee and gear up. You do not need to be an expert in Salesforce, but if you need some training before, check out our blog.

‍Let's get started!

Why Connect LinkedIn With Salesforce?

You mean you enjoy copy and pasting every DM into a note on a Salesforce contact record?

We do dailya fair share of LinkedIn prospecting ourselves. That's how we scaled Hublead to over 8,000 users after all. And the ability to sync LinkedIn messages directly to each contact record has been a game-changer for our team (and happy customers!).

Here’s why I recommend using Hublead:

• You’ll save loads of time: We estimate that using a tool like Hublead could save you up to 10 hours per month. With an extra few hours each week, imagine how much more you could get done!
• Less room for error: Syncing messages to Salesforce keeps everything in one place, so no important details are missed.
• Less context-switching, more closing: All your LinkedIn conversations get automatically saved to your contact's record in Salesforce , so you always have the full context. This also makes it easier to follow up and helps you stay on top of client relationships.

How to connect LinkedIn to Salesforce

When it comes to integrating LinkedIn with Salesforce, you have a few options:

1. The Sales Navigator Embedded Profile (read-only, inside Salesforce) (the oldest version)
2. Sales Navigator CRM Sync (Advanced Plus only) (the newest native option)
3. Hublead (a third-party solution that works with any Salesforce edition and any LinkedIn plan)

You could use the native Sales Navigator integration, but it comes with a caveat: the real CRM sync needs Sales Navigator Advanced Plus subscription and either Sales Navigator Advanced Plus or at around $1,600 per seat per year.

Not using those? Don’t worry, there are a few excellent tools available to help.

The best tools and integrations for connecting LinkedIn to Salesforce

Hublead is a Chrome extension that seamlessly integrates LinkedIn and Salesforce, allowing you to automatically add prospects, log conversations, and enrich contact data in one click on LinkedIn.

No tab changing, no context switching, no duplicates, just your valuable time spent on prospecting.

Hublead can help you with the following:

• Import LinkedIn contacts
• Enrich Contacts
• Edit within Salesforce
• Sync conversations
• Track connection requests
• Build Salesforce lists based on LinkedIn data
• Report on performance and ROI

Hublead isn't the only third-party integration that connects LinkedIn to Salesforce:

• LinkMatch makes it easy for users to import LinkedIn Sales Navigator information.
• Surfe is limited to importing contacts; you pay according to the number of contacts you want to import per month. And does not support LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• LinkPort: Import only contacts.

But time and time again, sales reps love Hublead for its time-saving features, data enrichment capabilities, and seamless connection between LinkedIn and Salesforce.

How to Import Contacts from LinkedIn to Salesforce

You've got a taste for your options, so now let's look at one of the top time-saving benefits of integrating LinkedIn with Salesforce: importing contacts.

You have three options to import contacts from LinkedIn to Salesforce:

1. Manually import from LinkedIn with a CSV
2. Sync leads from Sales Navigator
3. Automatically import using a Chrome extension (like Hublead)

If you opt for the manual route, you will need to set up an import file (based on either an export of LinkedIn data or a manually created file) and then map the fields to Salesforce, importing them into your CRM with the Data Import Wizard. This can be an incredibly time-consuming process (and not to mention the constant threat of errors), which is why an extension like Hublead can be a better choice!

With the Hublead’s LinkedIn Chrome Extension, you can:

• Verify if a LinkedIn lead already exists in your Salesforce CRM.
• Import LinkedIn connections directly into Salesforce with all contact information.
• Creates matching company records in your Salesforce account for each contact with an email or domain name.

Hublead also prevents duplicate contacts in Salesforce as well as duplicate companies. All you need to do is sign up for Hublead (you can trial it for free here, or check out our paid plans), connect it to Salesforce, and voila! In less than five minutes, you've successfully integrated LinkedIn with Salesforce.

What Data Fields Can be Synced From LinkedIn to Salesforce?

There are no mandatory fields to sync to Salesforce contact fields. That said, we think it's better to have the following properties set up in your file to sync:

• First Name (Do not forget to remove smileys/emojis!)
• Last Name
• Email (Remove the free mails, here is a list of free email providers)
• Company Name

LinkedIn provides a few additional fields in the export:

• LinkedIn URL
• Job title
• Connected On

You can also manually add:

• Connection degree (Obviously, everyone will be 1st)
• Contact source (Your network or other people's network in your company)

How to sync messages from LinkedIn to Salesforce

Again, there are two routes you can use to sync LinkedIn messages to Salesforce:

• Sales Navigator's Native Writeback: Sales Navigator offers limited, InMail-centric activity writeback on the Advanced Plus tier: the LinkedIn Sales Navigator integration and the LinkedIn CRM Sync integration. These integrations can sync inMails and other activities, but it’s worth noting that they only work with Sales Navigator Advanced Plus and require Sales Navigator Advanced Plus subscriptions as well.
• Hublead: Hublead is a Chrome extension that integrates LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Salesforce. Hublead syncs connection requests, acceptances, and messages to give you a seamless transition between the two platforms. You can even send DMs from the Salesforce contact record!

Are we biased? A bit. But having worked with 7,000+ happy users, we think it's fair to say that Hublead is a timesaver for sales teams of all sizes and a great way to sync your LinkedIn activities to Salesforce. Next, we'll explore Hublead a bit more closely.

How to report or trigger automations based on LinkedIn activity in Salesforce

Firing off DMs is one thing, but you also need to measure your performance (and report on your activities to your team and leadership). Fortunately, Hublead can help there, too.

Thanks to Hublead, with the LinkedIn data in Salesforce, I've been able to create reports and dashboards that provide real insights into how my LinkedIn engagement is performing.

For example, with Hublead, I can easily configure various reports to track:

• New Conversations: It’s helpful to see how many fresh leads I’m reaching out to.
• Daily Conversations: This provides me with a clear picture of how actively I engage in outreach on a day-to-day basis.

• Team Performance: I can compare individual and team performance metrics to see who’s excelling and where improvements are needed.
• Engagement with the Same Company: It’s useful to know how many conversations I’ve had with different leads from the same company and with related leads—it helps me refine my approach.

LinkedIn Ads and Salesforce: Why it matters

LinkedIn Ads aren't just another traffic source, they're a strategic lead engine that can feed your Salesforce CRM with high-quality prospects and amplify your outbound efforts.

With LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms and Salesforce connected, every ad conversion flows directly into your CRM without CSVs or manual work. That means faster follow-ups, smarter segmentation, and better reporting.

In this article, we’ll show you how to:

• capture LinkedIn ad leads in Salesforce automatically,
• measure ad performance alongside your pipeline metrics,
• trigger follow-ups and workflows based on ad engagement,
• and combine paid signals with organic LinkedIn activity for complete visibility.

Whether you’re running sponsored content, message ads, or lead gen campaigns, this guide helps you turn LinkedIn ad spend into real, measurable CRM value.

LinkedIn and Salesforce Integration Best Practices

LinkedIn may be the best prospecting channel, and Salesforce may be the best CRM, but that doesn't mean you can simply fire off connection requests and DMs and leave it at that.

Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

• Optimize your own profile first: Before reaching out to prospects, make sure that your LinkedIn profile is polished and sells for you. Prospects will likely check your profile after receiving your message, so make sure your headline, summary, and recent activity demonstrate credibility and expertise in your field.
• Do your homework: Take the time to research your prospect's background, recent activity, and company news before reaching out. You don’t need to spend hours, but even five minutes to review their LinkedIn profile, recent posts, and company updates can help you find relevant conversation starters. 
• Write a good opener: Write a concise, personalized message that focuses on value for the prospect rather than your own needs. We recommend that you choose something specific from their profile or recent activity and clearly state why you're reaching ou. Keep it under 150 words and avoid heavy sales language.
• Follow up (and follow up again): Don't assume silence means disinterest. Send a thoughtful follow-up message 5-7 days after your initial outreach, perhaps sharing a relevant article or industry update. If still no response, try once more after another week with a different angle. It helps to mix in other channels too, like email, phone calls, or comments on their posts

Level Up Your LinkedIn Prospecting With Hublead Today

Time is a sales rep’s most valuable resource. 

That’s because the more time you spend prospecting and reaching out to leads, the luckier you will end up being and the more pipeline you will generate. 

Even CRMs as great as Salesforce can be a time sink, which is exactly why we built Hublead. Hublead streamlines your prospecting flow and perfectly syncs LinkedIn to Salesforce so that every connection request and DM automagically links to the right contact in your CRM. With advanced reporting, you can even show off your results to your manager and team.

Click the button below to try Hublead for free and see how much time you save in the next week.

‍