Zohaib Hassan is the founder & CEO of LeadOrigin, a growth consulting firm focused on digital marketing & data intelligence.
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Social media isn’t just for conversations with people you already know. It’s also a great place to reach potential customers who’ve never heard of your business before. With almost 5 billion people around the world using social media, engagement is incredibly high, making it a fantastic medium to market almost any type of business.
Using social media platforms to collect qualified leads or potential customers is called social media lead generation. One of the best things about it is how accessible and measurable it is. Here are nine ways to generate leads on social media.
1. Use Social Proof In Your Posts
Track your customer testimonials and reviews by regularly monitoring social media platforms and review sites (such as Yelp, Google and Facebook) where customers are likely to post their feedback. Then, you can ask satisfied customers directly for testimonials or reviews and incentivize them by offering rewards.
Once collected, you can use these testimonials and reviews as social proof by featuring them in your posts. This can help you build credibility and increase trust among potential customers.
2. Use Lead Magnets
Using lead magnets is another effective way to attract leads through social media. This involves offering something of value for free to your leads in exchange for their information, such as their email addresses.
Some examples of lead magnets include:
• E-books: Offer a free informative guide or report on a topic related to your business.
• Free trials: Offer a free trial of your product or service.
• Webinars: Offer your target audience a free educational webinar on a topic of interest.
• Coupons: Offer a discount or coupon code for your product or service.
• Checklists: Offer a free downloadable checklist that’s relevant to your target audience.
• Templates: Offer a free customizable template related to your business.
• Quizzes: Offer a fun, interactive quiz about your business or industry.
• E-newsletters: Offer a free regular email newsletter with valuable content and tips.
The key is to choose a lead magnet that is valuable or relevant to your target audience but still aligns with your business goals. With the collected information, you can proceed to the next phase where conversions happen easier.
3. Use Targeted Ads
Another way to accelerate your lead generation is to use ads. These are paid promotions that precisely target your audience according to their online behavior so you get the most out of your investment. You can target leads based on their age, location or online behavior (clicks, sites visited, recent purchases, etc.). This way, you only reach the people who are more likely to take interest in your brand, product or service.
4. Host Your Own Webinar Or Conference
Hosting webinars or conferences on social media is an excellent way to generate leads because you attract people who are interested in the value that you provide. Along with this comes the exchange of information such as your leads’ contact information that you can use in the future for other marketing campaigns.
5. Use Retargeting Ads
Retargeting ads are promotional messages you can show leads who fail to complete an action (such as making a purchase) on your website or landing page. Retargeting ads help you reengage leads and encourage them to come back and complete their unfinished business.
6. Use Sponsorships
Consider sponsoring popular blogs, events and even relevant social media influencers who can promote your business to their own communities. This allows your brand to make an appearance on your target audience’s social media feed from another perspective.
7. Create And Run Referral Campaigns
Word gets around fast on social media. This makes referral campaigns a very promising way to generate leads. By offering incentives to your followers when they successfully refer your products or services to others, you can encourage them to spread the word about your business, helping you reach more people organically.
8. Perform Social Listening
Being on social media helps you monitor what is on trend and what people like to hear or see. This is called social listening. By keeping track of the conversations among your target audience, you get more ideas on how to relate to them and how to create more relevant campaigns.
9. Add A Human Touch
The more relevant and personal your brand is, the more appealing it usually is to prospects. It’s always easier to trust a brand knowing that there is a human behind every ad or message. Social media is an amazing platform where businesses can be more relevant and likable. Hop on trends your target audience can participate in, or engage with them directly through posts and threads.
Take Advantage Of Social Media Lead Generation
Almost everyone is on social media. Don’t get left behind.
There are vast opportunities for every type of business when you take advantage of social media platforms and the conversations that take place there. If you wish to generate more leads and grow your business, social media is the best place to engage with your target audience.
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