Here is How to Use Social Media for Lead Generation

All of your business profiles have social media account right? Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, interest? And why do you have them? To post some random cat memes all day? Of course not! The primary objective of starting an online business is to drive social media lead generation. So why do you need social media accounts if you are just looking at who is retweeting it? Look at some of these figures below to understand what it is to worth the social media account.

• 77% of the most quality leads are generated through social media.
• 24% of businesses had shown significant progress in revenue generation by utilizing social media
• 45% of the businesses are benefitted by social media by reducing the cost of marketing.

What do you infer from the above facts? Social media is more than just a way to grow your brand and connect with your customers. It is bringing leads and potential unique +1s every day. Here is a simple guide for anyone who wants to explore how to generate leads through social media.

Before we talk anything further, what are leads?

Lead generation is bringing in people into your sales funnel. They are customers who have expressed some amount of interest in your product or company. Generally, they are not the conversion on the first time. You need to follow the process by giving the contact information that they have given to your sales department, and they will engage them further with their marketing program.

Ideally, most of the companies use their landing page to generate leads, and some through the newsletters online. The more you perceive the value for free; it is directly proportional to collect information for the lead.

Get it started:

You can jump ahead to find what suits the best for you to make conversions. But here are some of the basic tips that you need to consider despite the platform. Consider it a plan of action to get started.

• Who is your target audience?
• What is the channel do they use?
• What are the products you can sell them?
• Are there any challenges? And how are you going to resolve them?
• How can you turn people into paying customers?

These are the right places to start building the plan. If you are able to answer these questions, then you are good-to-go for the significant social lead generation.

How to stay connected?

As the trends change over the internet, even social media lead generation is not the same as before. Collecting surveys, sending out forms are now slowly fading. ‘Gated Content’ is the next big thing. You make people curious with the limited information and them necessarily signup to know more. With this gated content, you can collect them, and it’s easier, quicker to track them for an amazing lead.

Also, the E-mail address is the most popular piece of information to gather leads. Now, Video marketing is booming in the lead generation industry. However, the major contribution to your success in social lead generation is going to be dependent on which social media site you are going to pick.

Facebook Lead Generation:

Facebook drives lead through referrals, and more importantly, since the algorithm has changed, it is difficult for any brand to produce effective organic reach. Hence many people chose Facebook Ads that are budget-friendly and target your local audience a well. There are three important lead generation strategies for Facebook.

• Encourage interaction:

Try to start a discussion with your content. Ask questions and seek people to know what they like to talk. Interesting content is nothing but the best story and set beginning for the social media lead generation. You also want to share posts that can dramatically increase your audience. Here is a way out! Check out the various contests you can run through Facebook. They have been hit on Facebook for years, and they draw more than attention and act as a great technique to collect leads.

• Creating Community:

Facebook shows an effective number of groups. It sets a platform inside the vast area of interest. Group posts appear on the feed compare to the brand posts. Stop looking at your pages that generate like. Shift them to a lead generation tool that gives a significant impact on the content that you post. Pick a broad idea for the business content and target your audience to talk and discuss.

• Optimizing and Customizing:

Treat your Facebook page and group just like the website. Stating from the contact information form to the email interaction tab, optimize anything that works to generate leads. You can quickly sell through it and make it accessible for the people. Create custom tabs like Sign-Up, Find the nearest store and make it a perfect “call-to-action” because every page has a purpose rather just branding.

Instagram Lead Generation:

Instagram is open for the possibilities, and currently, they see 800 million users being active monthly. Hence it’s difficult to generate easy leads and does not cater marketing purpose. That does not intend that you cannot be generating leads. Here is what you need to understand about how to sell on Instagram:

• Play it Visual:

Instagram needs a quite lot of engagement, but that does not mean you need to keep on talking or bragging. Look at what you are selling and picture them exactly for your audience. For example, create unique content like video, posters, and GIFs that will attract the audience visually. Include button like learn more, contact us, Tap here, and see below tabs on your posts and make it visually appealing.

• Hashtags- Real king:

We have always been hearing that Content is the King, but when it comes to Instagram Hashtags are the real king. Include hashtags that can make the content trending, viral and put you in front of the interested parties. For which do not add hashtag pointlessly, make it worth for the feed. People actively search for hashtags and if you had got that already it will be receptive for social media lead generation.

• Never ignore comments:

That’s where the sales started. Instagaram is not about vanity; hence keep up with the comments. If people understand that you are accessible and engaging automatically, they turn for you. We all know that Instagram is not remembered for deep conversations but never miss out comments as it creates a brand image and increases possibilities to buy from you.

Twitter Lead Generation:

Before twitter card came into play, it was challenging for the brands to trace on how to generate leads through Twitter. A lot of business no idea on how to rack the business but now if you notice there are numerous promoted tweets you can come across. For your reference, Twitter is one of the best platforms for B2B lead generation. Follow these simple tips to get the leads:

• Brand Mentions:

If you are still not listening to people what they are saying about your brand on Twitter, you are missing out the great leads of the era. Set up a social media monitoring tool that can help you to find the conversation about the brands and industry. Common misspelling, industry-related keywords, competitors are some of the essential things that you can take down in the business.

• Twitter cards:

Twitter cards are an eye-catching image that precisely explains what you are trying to sell to the audience. These cards can make statistics help to find out the insights on how many people had clicked on the image, and they can be your interest group as well. However, social media lead generation begins when they use t for shopping or purchase. But you need to know, as usual, there are only 140 characters left for you to market.

• Creating Events:

In twitter creating, events have the purpose of Call-to-action, and they are time-bound. By hosting a Twitter event, you will be able to see a lot of interaction and likeminded people coming together. Here is the real sale. Twitter chats, ask me anything elevate the campaigns and help you find the right community for you to pitch for the sales.

LinkedIn Lead Generation:

LinkedIn already sets a landmark by being a platform open for the business stalk, and many use it a useful tool for finding new tools and products. It is an excellent platform for B2B sales and here is how the brand is directly approaching people for generating leads in LinkedIn:

• Set the target right:

The edge over LinkedIn Marketing is that you can target the posts even if they are not paid. By clicking on position, you can further see a lot of option underneath for the creator to post for the people based on their jobs, location industry, etc. this means that you can customize the posts without annoying every people from your profile.

• Questions are Algorithms:

LinkedIn loves people to interact and engage them for conversations. Especially, there are experts and professionals out there who will be able to engage and open possibilities for social media lead generation. Post a question and acknowledge the opinion of everyone. Be a strong moderator, and it will increase the reach automatically.

• Make it Useful:

Create contents that are useful, like tips and advice. A lot of people on LinkedIn love to learn, and you can make it better with good lead generation strategies you can drive for the most actionable insights and share them everywhere. These are the valuable audience, and you get them straight on board for your sales.

Takeaways:

• Leads are business information and potential sales. But every lead does not produce effective sales.
• There are multiple channels out there; you need to pick the right one.
• Develop a strategy for your business depending upon the platform
• Make research on your audience to find the target sales
• Focus on the content: make it consistent and be a master
• Engage and create interactions and hold up for conversations
• Promote and track results with analytical tools and insights
• Do not lie or fluff, make it useful for effective lead generation.

Social media lead generation is a gold mine, and it can take your online business to the next level. They are not about just branding anymore. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn are more valuable to generate leads and make good conversions. Now how are you going to generate leads through social media? Just use this guide to be on board.

Guest article written by: Billy Lucas is a passionate blogger sharing business tips on behalf of EngageBay. He writes primarily on SEO, social media, CRM, marketing automation and covers the entire gamut of marketing.