How to Generate Leads With Social Media

But how close can any of these activities bring us to generating leads for our business? How can businesses and organizations capture customers from social media and lead them to their websites to make a purchase?

With global eCommerce sales expected to top $6.5 trillion by 2023, this is not a million-dollar question: it is, quite literally, the trillion-dollar one!

An immense pool of potential customers

Almost 4 billion people were on social media as of January 2020. That’s over half the people on Earth—which makes social media a crucial way to reach new customers and clients. And a whopping 74% of them said they consult social media before making a purchase.

Social media lead generation is the best way to identify and attract potential customers and direct them to your website and eshop.

There is fierce competition but also incredible opportunities for business owners to grasp the immeasurable advantages offered by social media. Hiring a professional team to bring potential customers and clients to your business website is a brilliant move to expand your clientele and grow your business.

Social media can evolve your business in several ways. Lead generation is one of the most direct—and profitable—ones. 

What is lead generation?

Leads are potential customers and clients who may be interested in buying your products or services.

Attracting these leads and directing them to your website or, ideally, a particular landing page, is vital for businesses wishing to expand their sales and increase their revenue.

Lead generation is the term encompassing all the marketing approaches used to convince potential customers of the worth and value of your business to them.

Lead generation in the era of social media

Firms place Ads on magazines, newspapers, the radio, and on television. They drop leaflets and brochures into your letterbox. And they make phone calls to offer you something in exchange for purchasing from their shop.

Firms also use email to send you newsletters and other informational and promotional material.

All these promotional and marketing tactics are aimed at attracting people to shops and businesses. However, many of them are now considered relatively ineffective and antiquated, if not downright annoying (robocalls, anyone?).

Searching for better ways to generate leads, firms have turned to social media.

When social media came to our lives, they changed how we perceive brands, businesses, and organizations. With our mobile phones, we are constantly online, digitally browsing shops, restaurants, and reviews. Businesses are establishing relationships with social media users to convince them to buy from them.

This makes social media the ideal candidate for lead generation.

How to generate leads on social media

The most fundamental thing to do is to post interesting, fun, and engaging material on your social media channels.

Even before that, however, you should make sure your social media presence is clear, fresh, and updated.

Update and maintain your social media presence

Your business social media presence should be up to date. It makes it easier for people to connect with you when they know there’s a real person waiting to respond to their comments.

Also, your contact details should be clearly displayed so that people can contact you without having to look through pages and posts. Make it easy for people to interact with you or they may just go to a competitor.

Should I post on all social media platforms?

Unless you have a limitless budget, focus on the platform your audience prefers.

Some users prefer Twitter while others like the visual swiftness of Instagram. Others like video and some use blogs.

When it comes to social media, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. It is best to focus on those social media where you know you will find the right audience for you—the people who best match your products or services.

Stretching your efforts across too many platforms will dilute your message. It is also time-consuming to post relevant and creative information on several social media.

Once you have identified the social media platforms that are more valuable to your business, you should match each platform’s culture and its method of operating.

What should I post on my social media?

No matter how valuable Ads are, organic posting is crucial to your success.

Post whenever your business reaches a new landmark, finishes a project, or launches a new product.

Inform people about your events and engage with your local community: this outreach lowers the corporate boundaries, shows that you care, and displays your rapport with your community.

Allow your customers backstage in your business and give them a glimpse of your culture, people, and values. Post motivational quotes, infographics, photos, videos, memes, humorous content, podcasts, behind-the-scenes photos and takes, and even did-you-know content.

The aim is to give your audience diverse material that catches their attention. The more you post, the more you engage your audience and keep them interested in your brand and business.

Mixing these types of posts will attract people’s attention and present a vibrant and creative business.

Your audience is looking for relevant and easy-to-click information. They want it to be visually pleasing and attractive and as sharp and concise as possible. If you give them just that, expect your reach to grow exponentially even without Ads!

When should I post on social media?

Each social medium has its peak times. AddThis has looked at the peak of the week to see what day and time had content engagement spikes in an average week. Here’s what they found out:

Not everyone engages with all social networks at the same time, so each social network has a different peak day and time. Use this knowledge to maximize your audience engagement and generate the most leads.

Posting creates a relationship with your audience

By posting regularly on your chosen social media, you will start a relationship with your audience.

Once this relationship has been established, you can interact with them, ask questions, and answer their comments.

Through this interaction, users will come closer to your brand and consider buying from you. You will have generated a lead. Multiplying these leads will increase your sales and grow your business. Keeping these leads going will ensure the future growth of your company.

Call-to-action buttons grab people’s attention

Optimizing your profile means targeting the right audience. But you also need to direct them to your landing page or otherwise interact with you.

Add call-to-action buttons such as the Sign-up button on Facebook to encourage people to make a purchase.

There are many other types of call-to-action buttons, such as asking people to book a meeting, reserve a place at a webinar, get tickets, or get a coupon for an offer.

All these activities are a step toward engaging people with your business and your brand and turning them into clients.

What types of social media posts generate leads?

People are interested in content that is valuable to them and gives them added value.

By offering this kind of incentive to your audience, you attract them to your business and lead them to your website.

Social media contest

By organizing social media contests, you grab people’s attention. They will want to participate and will share the opportunity with their friends, providing you with even more leads.

Many businesses sell products or services that lend themselves to photography—e.g. ice creams, shoes, or clothes. If you are a restaurant, a shop, a café, or a landscape architect, organize a photo contest. Ask people to take a photo of relevant products—either yours or by others—and post it. Again, you will be engaging people in something fun, increasing the chances of them sharing this with their friends and connections.

Remember that the more personalized the content, the more interested people will be. Targeting the right audience will save you time and effort. Even more importantly, people who see information that is irrelevant to their needs will reject the whole company and form a negative idea about you. 

Offer a discount  

Offer time-limited discounts to people visiting your website from social media.

Time-limited discounts create a sense of urgency for customers. Few people can resist an offer, especially if it’s well-targeted to match their needs. It is pointless to sell diapers to teenagers or college students: targeting the right audience is essential to get real value out of your lead generation.

Organize a sweepstakes

Decide upon an award—relevant to your business—and organize a sweepstakes.

People will take part in the contest in the hopes of winning the award. Again, this can create engagement from people learning about your business. Some of these may follow you and become customers.

More directly, ask participants for their email or other contact details to reach them in the future, thus strengthening your relationship.

Run polls and surveys

People love telling their opinion and sharing their ideas! There is no better way of getting to know your audience than asking them about their views on a matter.

Run polls asking people to name a new product or line of products you are thinking of introducing. Or ask them which color they prefer if you are redecorating your office. This gives them an opportunity to engage with you and to start a conversation or even share a laugh. People particularly like such behind-the-scenes interactions because it gives them a glance into something more personal.

These types of interactions humanize your brand and give it a personal and approachable feel. Nowadays, customers love knowing more about a business, how it is run, and who works there. Offering some intimate snapshots will keep your audience engaged, lead them to your website, and encourage them to become your clients.

Paid advertisements

While organic reach has many advantages, paid advertisements offer a great way to generate leads by targeting your audience according to specific criteria, such as age, occupation, location, or interest.

In addition to generating leads, paid advertisements can extend your brand’s reach to new customers, even if they don’t buy from you right away. They will see your Ads and keep you in their mind for whenever they need your products or services.

Use paid Ads reports to improve

Social media usually offer great reporting systems. Using these will provide you with unrivaled information about your customers’ age, gender, and interests.

These analyses are valuable not just because they show you how successful your paid campaigns were, but also because they will tell you which users visited your website and if they made a purchase.

By analyzing your advertising campaigns, you gain crucial insight into your customers and their preferences. Use this to form your future campaigns and even your products and services.

The Facebook pixel

Facebook pixels can be installed on your website to let you retarget specific customers every time they are on Facebook.

The Facebook pixel is a piece of code you can place on your website. It tracks your visitors and notices which pages and products they have visited. This lets you show them a relevant Ad next time they are on Facebook.

Use the Facebook pixel to determine which Ad is successful in bringing you the desired revenue. It will also help you identify which audience is more receptive to your message, according to age, location, and other criteria.

Most importantly, the Facebook pixel lets you remarket your products and promote them to the best kind of targeted leads: shoppers who have already interacted with your website and are already receptive to your message.

Gated content

Gated content is content that is not freely and publicly available. Instead, it is controlled by you and only a select few can access it.

As a business owner, you get to create spaces in social media where you can invite specific audiences to enjoy selective information, prepared especially for them.

Gated content makes people feel special. It is also highly targeted, as it addresses people interested and engaged with your product and who would like to know more.

Examples of gated content include invitation-only webinars, private Facebook groups, whitepapers shared to a few select users, and content that has important industry value like statistics, news, analyses, or information on an upcoming product.

Sorting social media according to their targeting

Most people engage on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Let’s take a look at how each of these platforms can help your business expand its lead generation.

Facebook lead generation

Facebook is great for conversations and casual interactions with users. Photos, memes, videos, and small texts are great as a hook to start a conversation with your audience. So is gentle and inoffensive humor.

Facebook’s strength lies in groups. Join them to start conversations with a potential audience and lead them to your product. By joining groups relevant to your business you meet people who will be genuinely interested in your products. For example, if you are a garden center, joining a group about nature and the environment could offer great benefits.

However, don’t start selling the moment you join a group! This is the most common mistake firms make and turns people off faster than you can say “salmonella.”

Instead, start by offering help, tips, and advice. Be fun and positive. Build others up. Make sure you comply with each group’s code of conduct and be supportive of other members. All this is not just good Karma; it will naturally bring people to you and build up your brand in the best possible way.

LinkedIn lead generation

LinkedIn is great for professionals and businesses interested in linking with other businesses and companies. B2B firms, in particular, are ideally suited to use LinkedIn for lead generation.

LinkedIn offers an option to display your post only to people who you think will be interested in its content. Use this option to customize different posts depending on the audience you are targeting.

LinkedIn is also great to start a conversation with a question around your industry: this is a way to engage people and demonstrate your valuable input and knowledge. Again, politeness and positivity are key.

Instagram lead generation

Instagram photos and stories are great ways to generate leads. However, some businesses lack a product or service that photographs well: think of plumbers or accountants, whose professions don’t offer Instagram-able products like mouth-watering ice cream or a cool drink.

Even for these businesses, Instagram can be used to display the people behind the brand rather than the product or service itself. You can also use it to show your commitment to your community or your dedication to a cause.

Whatever your business, use Instagram hashtags to attract people interested in a particular subject.

Twitter lead generation

Twitter is great for entertainment and quick information due to its limited length of text. People will check their Twitter feed on the go, catching up on the latest news or gossip.

Posting interesting, sharp, and quick information on Twitter can grab people’s attention and lead to an interest in your business, especially if you combine witty text with snazzy images.

Lead Generation Ads

Most social media platforms have lead generation Ads—Ads aimed specifically at generating leads. Such Ads collect valuable personal information that you can use to target your Ads, lead your audience to your website, and even improve your products and services.

Facebook’s lead generation Ads let you create forms addressed to people interested in your business. By using these forms smartly, you can gather a lot of information about your audience.

Lead generation Ads on Facebook show up as pre-filled forms so that users have very little information to complete.

Use these Ads to collect subscribers’ personal information and send them emails. You can even ask for their phone number, or tap on their interests and tastes to understand how you can better approach your target audience with an Ad in the future.

Affiliate posts and influencer marketing

“Oprah’s Favorite Things” let Oprah help businesses. Brands like DreamTime, a brand that produces aromatherapy slippers, had their sales going from 3,000 pairs per month to 20,000 because they made Oprah’s list.

This is the power of influencer marketing. Affiliate posting and influencer marketing can be great ways to reach a new audience.

Simply put, influencers are people whose opinion matters. They have thousands—or even millions—of followers who will be influenced by the influencer’s preferences.

With half of browsers using Adblock technology, influencer marketing can be the only way to reach a new audience and grow your customer base.

To take advantage of influencer marketing, reach out to influencers in a specific corresponding industry and ask them to post about your business or products to their followers. Depending on the influencer’s relevance and follower-base, you can potentially generate a significant amount of buzz and new leads this way.

While influencers with a large following often charge per post, sometimes, all it takes is to send a free product or service to the influencer and they will post about their experience with it. Depending on your budget, you may choose an influencer who doesn’t charge or charges less. You might even negotiate a per-sales commission with the influencer, to avoid paying upfront.

How will the influencer generate leads for my business?

An influencer’s endorsement offers clout to your business and introduces your products to new customers.

You can provide influencers with exclusive coupon codes that the influencer can give to their followers. Or you may ask the influencer to use a free product to make a testimonial video. You can then use this video as marketing material which you will share across your social media accounts.

Video is particularly effective in influencer marketing. YouTubers are 17 times more engaging than mainstream stars, with emotional attachment 7 times greater than to other celebrities.

However, not every influencer will be a good match for you. If your business is medical cosmetology, an influencer keen on video games will be a mismatch, offering poor results.

How do I find influencers?

There are platforms dedicated to connecting influencers with businesses looking to promote. This way, finding the right influencer doesn’t have to involve scouring social media to find the ones who are the best fit for your business’ needs.

When reaching out to an influencer, keep in mind that only a quarter of them are motivated by financial compensation and a mere 14% of them said that being paid well is the main reason why they’ll endorse a product.

The rest are genuinely interested in sharing hot tips with their followers, even if two-thirds of them expect some form of rewards, such as a free product or subscription. This is why 40% of influencers are in long-term partnerships with businesses.

Even influencers with relatively few followers can help with lead generation: so-called micro-influencers, those having between 20 and 50 thousand followers, deliver 60% higher engagement rates. Their campaigns are almost 7 times more efficient than those with larger followings!

Importantly, hiring an influencer doesn’t have to break the bank. Here are the standard prices per follower on three of the most popular social media platforms:

How can I generate leads with social media?

Social media have billions of people posting and exchanging ideas with each other on a daily basis. Tapping into that immense pool of potential customers is crucial for firms looking to expand and attract new clientele.

Depending on a company’s line of work and business culture, there will be a social media platform with the right audience for its products.

Several tools exist to identify and attract these potential customers to your business. The key is to identify the combination of posts and publicity that will be the best match for your business and have the most beneficial impact on your sales.

Do you need help generating leads with social media? KCV Strategic is a digital marketing agency that markets for businesses of all sizes. Contact KCV Strategic today online or call us on (913) 717-6222 and boost your lead generation the social media way!