Marketing used to be a thing on the street. Marketers would jump from block to block, convincing prospective customers to try their products and services.
While this traditional procedure achieved a lot of results, there’s something better and easier in town.
Social media marketing has eased the pressure of moving about searching for that customer that needs your product.
Since everyone is now on popular social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., you can quickly reach them with your products and services.
Of course, you are not the only one using this medium. As such, it is not just about engaging in social media marketing, but about doing it the right way.
Without increasing and converting your leads, clicks, sales, and followers on these platforms, you are not engaging in social media marketing the right way.
This article will help you improve your sales and convert more leads with social media marketing.
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The Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing for Business
Why worry about social media leads?
As a marketer, your goal is beyond creating awareness about your product. Yes, you need engagements, but these are just the basics for the final destination.
Only when you collect leads can you truly find individuals interested in using your company’s products or services.
When you collect leads, it will be easier to communicate and stay in touch with individuals that are ready to use your services.
Introduction to social media lead marketing
Here is some of the essential information you need to know about lead marketing before you commence:
Social media lead generation
Lead generation refers to all activities you undergo to accumulate leads on social media.
Social media lead nurturing
After generating leads on social media, the deal is not complete. There is a need to always follow up and nurture the lead. You need to walk them through your company’s process or the sales funnel.
Social media lead conversion
Having nurtured a lead, you can then turn a prospect into a customer.
What platform can I use for social media lead generation?
Use platforms that contain prospects that need the products or services you are selling. One of the most popular options you have is Facebook. This platform offers you diverse means for successful social media lead generation.
Image Source: Oberlo.com
Facebook has more than 2.45 billion users every month. This population means that you have a higher chance of meeting your desired audience within the shortest time.
Most B2B marketers have also enjoyed rich results from LinkedIn. The record shows that around 80-90% of B2B marketers make use of this platform.
Hence, you need to consider the type of products and services you offer. You can then target the right audience that will help you reach your desired goal.
Understanding all platforms’ demographics will make it easier for you to pick the right one for your business.
Now, let’s get to the details!
Tips to increase and convert leads with social media marketing
These detailed tips are designed to help you with your lead generation and conversions:
Hone your profile
The first step to reaching your desired destination of generating leads is to improve your social media profile. Collecting more leads organically depends on the details in your social media profile.
The basic standard is to include a medium where your prospects can contact you or gain access to your newsletter. If you sell products, you can also include a link for shopping.
Providing your contact information will ensure that customers can get support from you when needed. Valuable options include your email, your phone number, your WhatsApp contact, Messenger, etc.
Adding a call-to-action button to your website will increase your chances of generating leads. Most platforms have more than one call-to-action button. Try exploring the one that works best for your industry.
If you want to move your leads to your company’s website, consider adding a direct link to your profile.
Develop a strategy
Without having the right strategy, you can only achieve little results. You need to consider how you will reach your audience, who your audience is, and how you will get them engaged with your posts.
Before you post, be sure that you have the right content that your prospects are expecting. The sort of message sent can motivate or demotivate the reader.
Carefully pick the right platform to meet your audience, then prepare your posts with your audience in mind.
Your message cannot reach all users on these platforms. Even if it does, the chances are high that many will not pay attention to these posts. Hence, you need to be specific to your audience.
You need to know: What gender needs the service you are selling? Is your product age-specific? Who are your competitors targeting? Is your offer seasonal? When you find answers to questions like this, you can then work on reaching your desired customer.
Additionally, you can speak privately with some of your customers and seek their opinion on your products or services. Ensure that you are selecting the right audience, and the result will be optimal.
Work with clickable content
If your content is not compelling enough, lead generation will be impossible. Your business is not the only thing competing for an audience in the social media space. Your prospects are all searching for attention too.
Distractions will always come in the way of your customers. Unless you have valuable content to tie them down, they will be off in a split second.
You might need to seek the help of a professional at the onset. Make sure that your content is well-tailored and detailed to touch the mind of your prospect.
Your clickable content will yield no result if it does not hold values that compel a customer to click it. Hence, work on the details of your content.
Then add links with calls-to-action like, click here for more, learn more here, discover the secrets here, etc.
You can get the right call-to-action on most platforms. Make use of these options.
Try social lead ads
You can only achieve minimal results on your own. As such, when your organic content has generated all possible results, at least at the moment, switch attention.
Most social media platforms provide social lead ads to help you reach more audiences.
To make your ads stand out, you need to communicate in a clear and simple pattern. Viewers should understand why they see your ads.
Providing too much information for viewers who are not patient and attentive to details will do you no good. Hence, let your point be brief and stand out.
Asking a few questions and providing a clear and straightforward answer will result in generating leads easily.
Let’s talk about some of the platforms you can use:
Facebook lead ads
Lead ads provided by Facebook are delivered in several forms. You can then analyze them easily and evaluate the results. It also comes with retargeting tools that make nurturing a lead possible.
Instagram lead ads
Instagram lead ads allow you to collect information from your prospects. You can also use forms to seek their opinions and answer their burning/crucial questions.
LinkedIn lead gen forms
You can also engage in lead generation with the LinkedIn lead generator form. User profiles are used for pre-filling sections of the ads. Ads are presented in the form of sponsored InMail or Message Ads.
Make your landing page user friendly
If your content and call-to-action are detailed and catchy and distinct, you are likely to get frequent visitors to your company’s website.
Converting leads will be impossible if your landing page is not user-friendly. Hence, your ability to convince a prospect to click your content must also be used in designing your landing page.
The landing page needs a lot of valuable and useful content. If the details are irrelevant, people will close the page. Since other resources battle for attention, they may never consider you again.
Have you brought them to your website to see the products you are offering? If yes, ensure the landing page provides information on getting the product or leading them to the product directly.
By merely scanning your landing page, they should be able to grasp the idea you are painting. The content should not be vague. It should be as detailed as possible for your audience to benefit from.
Will they need to fill in forms upon reaching your landing page? Then make it snappy and straight to the point. Please don’t go too personal on the details. Basic information is sufficient.
A unique landing page will help you get more results from the prospects you attract to the page.
Deliver mouthwatering incentives
Who doesn’t love a box of ice cream added as an incentive for buying small chops from their favorite eatery?
When your prospect sees what they stand to gain from you, they end up sharing your services with others. You need to be careful and pay attention to the type of lead you want to generate.
You can go the contest way on social media. When you host a contest, you generate leads effortlessly. You might give them a simple and essential task before they can join the contest. You can also seek their opinions on why they are joining your company’s contest.
Work with influencers and brand partners. Influencers on social media have thousands/millions of followers. They can be the key to reaching more audiences that need your product and services.
Do you know providing a prospect with a discount code for signing up for your newsletter can help you generate more leads on social media? But make sure leads generated can be nurtured and converted with follow-up emails.
Other forms of incentives include giving out whitepapers, webinar invitations, or granting them free access to closed groups. When they can see how beneficial the incentives are, the engagement improves.
Personalize your offers
A key to generating more leads through social media is by personalizing your offers. Personalizing makes reaching your target easier.
Most social media platforms offer tools that make targeting the desired audience easier. You can target them by age, occupation, gender, or social status.
Ensure that your offers are designed for each individual that comes in contact with the ads. As such, they will be able to interact and subscribe to your service.
Monitor your progress
It is best to monitor your lead generation process. There are numerous analytics tools provided by social media platforms. Do your research and find the one that works well for you and your brand.
One of the most popular options is Google Analytics. It makes tracking your leads easier and detailed. From your website, you can easily track where your leads are coming from.
It is best to start with multiple platforms. When you detect the one bringing more results, you can then focus on using that platform.
Wrapping up
Generating leads is a continuous process. Your skills and effectiveness will improve over time. The details provided in this guide will help you better understand how to get good results from your social media marketing endeavors.
Remember, your posts must be detailed and clear. They should be straight to the point. Your audience should see how it is relevant and what they stand to gain.
It’s up to you to decide the results you want. Digest the information in this guide, and you will see massive improvements.
Social media lead generation works, but it must be done the right way.
Guest author: Michael is an Online Marketing Consultant, Tech Pr Expert, and also the COO of Visible Links Pro. He shares actionable content which assists businesses to thrive online. He can be reached on Twitter, and Linkedln.
