9 Ways to Use Social Media For Successful Lead Management

By Ron Stefanski

Marketers are always looking for newer and more effective ways to generate leads on social media. And, with over 4.48 billion people using social media each day, this channel is an effective way to send leads to your website. 

But, that's easier said than done, much like financial planning,  unless you have the right strategy, you'll find it hard to get a satisfying return on your investment of time and effort on the various social media platforms available these days. 

To help you in that regard, I’ve written this article outlining some of the best tips that you can use. So, read on to discover the various ways that social media can be used to create a successful lead management strategy. 

We'll discuss techniques such as using:

 

• Diverse media (memes, videos, none-meme images, etc.);
• Social proof;
• Paid ads; and
• Diversifying across social media platforms.

Ready? Let’s get started!

 

1. Use Diverse Media 

A lead is simply any information someone shares that can be used to follow up with them. This includes email addresses, names, occupations, employers, job descriptions, and various other types of information that could potentially allow you to generate, nurture, and convert a lead into an actual customer. 

A great way to generate leads on social media is through the use of diverse media, including:

 

• Memes that are designed around your brand culture
• Short videos that entertain while informing viewers about your brand and its services
• Images that are watermarked and optimized using graphic design programs 
• Snippets of podcasts with links to the longer version on your website

...and so on. 

 

This strategy works well if you post high-quality content because, for the most part, generating leads on social media is more reliant on quality rather than quantity. 

With so many businesses vying for attention online, the best way to stand out from all the rest is to post high-quality, well-thought-out, and diversified content. 

 

2. Use Social Proof

Another way to supercharge your social media lead generation efforts is by sharing customer stories and testimonials as social proof. 

People are more inclined to take a specific action if they know that many others have done so before them. 

This study from Wyzowl shows that over two-thirds of people are more likely to purchase a product after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how the brand, product, or service helped someone like them.

Source

 

Pro Tip: You can use a free video editor to create awesome videos for your social media profile. 

By showcasing social proof, you make it more likely that you will be able to get higher conversions on your lead generation campaigns. It also reduces variable expenses associated with creating and distributing new content. While social proof may need to be optimized, the costs of this optimization will be much less than going out and creating a whole new piece of content.

Show how other clients have benefited from your products and services and use their stories as a way to demonstrate your brand value on social media. 

 

3. Use Paid Ads

Paid ads are a great way to generate a consistent flow of leads on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. 

You can use ads to increase conversions on your website campaigns and draw the attention of potential customers to your contact/opt-in form. 

These ads will place your content in front of a wider audience of individuals who are likely to follow your link. 

You can use lead generation ads on Facebook via the Facebook Ads Manager, as shown in the image below: 

Source

 

Alternatively, you can use Instagram ads to share a post with a clickable call to action button. 

On Twitter, you can capture leads from your target audience and other Twitter users by using the Leads on Twitter or Website clicks and conversions campaigns. 

You can also use Twitter Cards, a free and easy-to-use lead generation technique offered by the platform. 

Source

 

These cards are simply an extension of your tweets with media to direct any users who click to an email sign-up page. 

On LinkedIn, you can use Sponsored Updates or Text Ads campaigns. These are ideal for helping you reach your target of LinkedIn leads on the platform. You can also create effective lead generation ads using the Power Editor. 

Organic Vs. Paid

When writing posts on social media to drum up interest in your brand, products, or services, you can either let your posts go out in an organic way or invest some money into getting more from each post. 

Don't get me wrong, organic can work perfectly on its own. It also doesn't cost any money, which makes it a great alternative for small businesses and individuals on a budget. 

But, on certain platforms (particularly Facebook), organic posts could result in you missing out on benefits such as:

 

• Increased reach
• Audience targeting
• Additional CTA options

 

The good news about using paid lead advertising on social media is that it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. 

You can start with as little as $5/day and, as you start to see results from your advertising campaigns, you may want to scale from there.

 

4. Personalize Your Offer

On social media, as with all other marketing channels, a little personalization goes a long way toward helping you generate more leads. 

In addition to that, personalization has also been shown to help improve a wide range of other marketing goals, including:

 

• Increased time on site
• Improved sales conversion rates
• More pages viewed per session
• Faster time to close

 

These days, many marketers put personalization first because they realize that it's pivotal in helping to improve the quality of their leads. However, personalization can also be challenging for some. 

A good place to start is in targeting. You can take advantage of targeting tools such as those available on Facebook, LinkedIn, and various other platforms to help you reach your ideal audience. 

You can run separate campaigns on different platforms to allow you to tailor your messages accordingly. This way, you'll be able to diversify across different social media platforms while focusing on brand salience.

 

5. Create Relevant, Unique Content

There are a ton of different content tactics you might use online, as shown in the image below; 

Source

 

To get the best results from your lead generation strategy, you must create unique, relevant, and relatable content on each of the social media platforms where you are active. 

The challenge is to generate content specifically for each platform without diverging from your brand identity while also funneling users toward platforms where they can make a purchase from your brand.

One of the best ways to do this is to create a piece of content that is unique and engaging with a link to a site or platform where conversions occur. For example, you can use a webinar platform to host a webinar and share the link on your social networks.

If the link is sitting by itself with no engaging content to draw people in, it's pretty ineffective. So throw in a meme that is relevant to the webinar and makes people want to click to view. You can also do this with podcasts, blog articles, and all sorts of content.

The point is to capture their attention with unique content that encourages them to click elsewhere where they will discover more unique content and the ability to purchase whatever it is you’re offering.

And don’t forget to include the hashtags!

 

Use Hashtags

All the work you put into creating high-quality content may go unnoticed unless your target audience can find your posts easily. 

Hashtags will help you put your social media posts in front of the relevant people who are searching for your information, brand, products/services. 

You can use hashtags on any social platform as a way to increase your lead generation ROI (return on investment). 

Furthermore, platforms like Instagram allow users to follow trending hashtags, which can work to place your content in the limelight and ultimately lead to more exposure.

 

6. Integrate other Digital Marketing Channels

Using social media for lead generation can often be a frustrating process. But, you can make your work a lot easier and more effective by integrating other parts of your digital marketing funnel, including: 

 

• Blogs/Content Marketing
• Email marketing
• Video Marketing
• SMS Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization
• Paid Search or Display Ads 
• Web Personalization
• Events or Webinar Marketing

… and so on. 

 

This way, you make it more likely that this will turn into an evergreen source of leads for your business.

 

7. Create a Killer Profile

Your social media profile is just as important (if not more important) than your posts. It draws attention to the value you offer and gives your audience more information about your business and brand, such as your name, email, etc. 

Your profile can also contain a call to action (CTA) button, as well as direct links to your opt-in or contact form. This is particularly important for sites like Instagram accounts where you can't include clickable links within your posts. 

So take the time to create a well-thought-out profile with all the information your potential audience might need.

 

Use Your Header Image

While on the subject of creating a killer profile, you must also use a great header image that summarizes what you have to offer. 

Make sure you add a short, easy link to the header image on Twitter, Facebook, and other relevant platforms.

 

8. Use Gated Content

Yet another effective way for generating leads on social media is to use gated content. 

This lead generation technique works so well because it specifically targets any of your customers or prospects who haven't yet made a purchase by offering them free content or access to your product/service in exchange for completing an action such as signing up for your email list. 

On the other side of the gate, you can offer anything of value to your audience, such as:

 

• Access to an invite-only webinar
• A free ebook/whitepaper download
• Free samples of your product
• A free trial/demo, etc.

 

Gated content not only allows you to supercharge your lead generation efforts, but it also helps to qualify prospects, making it more likely that you will be able to convert them into paying customers easily. 

All you have to do is offer a valuable incentive for the relatively small price of their name and email address.

Here is an example of what that might look like: 

Source

Pin a Post to the Top of the Page

On sites like Twitter and Facebook, you can pin a post on top of the page so that it's the first thing your visitors will see. 

This post can be anything you choose, such as a contact form, or, in this case, you might use an opt-in form to get people to give you their email address in exchange for access to gated content. 

 

9. Use Social Listening

Social listening is an area of social media marketing that is often overlooked. But, if you want to get people interested in your content, rather than simply relying on sending out the posts yourself in the hopes of attracting an audience, you can get proactive and set out to find your audience instead. 

How? By using a social media monitoring tool. There are a ton of free and paid tools to choose from that will give you the desired results. 

But, whichever tool you choose, the technique is the same. You must select some of your business’s most important keywords to track, and then when people post content including those keywords, you can decide whether or not it's a viable lead. If it is, you can take the appropriate action. 

For instance, a company that deals in post-scheduling software for social media might track terms like "post scheduling software", "social media scheduling tool", etc. 

This can be great for finding opportunities where someone is asking questions or looking for suggestions. 

Just make sure that when you do find leads, you don't bombard them with too much content in response to their query or comment. This can be overwhelming and, quite frankly, spammy. 

Look for the best ways to communicate with your audience. A social media marketing proposal is a great way for you and your audience to connect. It can help your company to grow by using a variety of platforms.

 

For the most part, replying to their tweet or Facebook post is enough. There is no need to send additional links and content. Also, consider the type of language you use. If you don't feel it’s sufficient to reply through the brand account, you may want to get a salesperson to contact the lead on their account. 

Keep in mind that these people's posts are meant for their followers, and not a brand that is tracking specific keywords. So, your aggressive appearance (seemingly out of the ether), isn't likely to go down well with them.

 

Conclusion

There you have it. 9 surefire ways to generate leads for your site. 

Remember that social media marketing for businesses goes way beyond simply getting likes and follows. It also involves planning, lead nurturing, analytics, conversion rate optimization, and much more. 

With that in mind, use the tips in this article as part of your social media marketing strategy so you can drive a consistent flow of leads to your website.

Author Bio:

Ron Stefanski is a website entrepreneur and marketing professor who has a passion for helping people create and market their own online business.  You can learn more from him by visiting OneHourProfessor.com

You can also connect with him on YouTube or Linkedin.

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