Social media has not only changed how we communicate but also how businesses interact with their customers. With a user base of 3.78 billion people, social media creates new opportunities for businesses to generate lots of qualified leads. In fact, over 90% of marketers report social media to be a crucial part of their digital marketing plan.
These days, most social media users aren’t exactly happy to be sold to and are becoming more wary of ads. How can you successfully generate leads from social media and grow your business? In this post, we’ll look at the four most effective ways you can leverage social media for lead generation:
1. Run Social Media Ads
Running social ads is one of the most effective ways to generate quality leads through social media. These days, nearly every social platform offers lead generation opportunities through ‘lead generation’ ads. Running these paid lead ads helps you collect direct leads from social media users directly on the platform.
The great thing about these ads is that they don’t redirect users to a landing page to fill out a form. They need to only click on the form and fill it right on the platform, making the process simple for any social user. In return, you give them free access to gated content or an ebook. This allows prospective leads to quickly provide you with their information, helping you generate more qualified social leads.
2. Partner With Social Media Influencers
Apart from social ads, another proven way to generate leads using social media is by working with influencers in your industry. Reach out to your favorite influencers about potential partnerships for your campaigns. Once you’ve chosen your influencers, ask them to create sponsored content, reviews, or contests to promote your brand. They can also offer exclusive discounts and deals for subscribing to help you get more signups.
Having your audience’s favorite influencer talk about your brand on their social media channels can significantly help rump up your lead generation rates. You can also repurpose influencer-generated content and use it for your emails, marketing materials, and your website to bring in even more social leads.
3. Run Social Media Contests
Running a giveaway or contest on social media is an inexpensive yet effective way to generate quality social leads. Through the contests, you can offer participants giveaways and prizes from your store or even feature them on your Instagram stories. This will help entice more people to participate in your contests, increase your brand awareness, and generate more leads from social media.
Be sure to include an entry form in your contests to help you collect crucial lead data. Apart from gaining more leads, running social media contests can also get the participants to share their positive experiences with their friends and family, helping amplify your contest’s reach further.
4. Promote Gated Content
Sharing gated content on social media is inarguably one of the easiest ways to generate social leads. Create informational content about your industry or valuable information about your product and place it behind a gate. You can then share links to your gated content on social media platforms, so people can provide you with their contact information to gain access to the content.
Your gated content should provide valuable information also to help convert your leads to buying customers. Be sure your content addresses the main challenges and problems your prospects are currently facing.
Endnote
Implementing the tips mentioned above to your digital marketing strategy can help you take advantage of the growing social media user base to create brand awareness and generate quality leads. An increase in leads also translates to more sales and referrals for your business. Be sure to monitor each tactic’s performance to get valuable insights for future marketing campaigns.
