Most businesses know the power of social media by now. With 3.6 billion users, social media is the place to be if you want to reach new audiences who are frequently talking about or interacting with accounts related to your line of business.
The best part about social media is that it allows marketers to present their products in an engaging and non-obtrusive way. Social media ads now tend to blend in with organic posts, increasing their chances of converting.
Social media also opens a direct channel for businesses to interact with their customers and build strong ties with like-minded people, increasing the chances to generate leads and sales.
However, it is never enough to open a profile and post every once in a while. In fact, without a sound and carefully planned social media strategy, you risk giving off the wrong vibe to your audience. Customers have become extremely good at identifying insincere posts and impersonal communication. They will quickly punish unresponsive or out-of-touch accounts with dislikes and unfollows.
So what are the best ways to generate social media leads?
Let’s review some of the most effective tactics used today for securing a sizable following base and strong sales. But first, we need to understand what lead generation means.
Social Media Lead Generation
The term lead is an old marketing buzzword that refers to individuals or organizations who are potentially interested in what you offer.
There are variations within this definition. For example, a cold lead extends to everyone that´s within reach but has not expressed any interest in buying your product. These are very likely to reject any attempt to approach them.
Warm leads are those individuals who regularly read or like your posts or show interest in your products. They are familiar with your brand and will likely sign up for your newsletter or participate in your events.
A hot lead is basically someone who is ready to make a purchase. This includes regular customers or people who have already submitted their personal information for future transactions. Note that hot leads can be turned into cold leads very easily if they feel your business does not share their core values.
Generating social media leads generally means reaching out to audiences who are statistically likely to want to buy your product, and collecting their information. This means keeping close tabs with likes, shares, follows, and commenters, and also with global trends and the performance of your competitors. Social media platforms now provide you with the necessary tools to target each segment of your audience with the most relevant content and posts based on their behavior and past engagements with similar posts. This makes them the ultimate sales machine.
But how do you effectively generate leads with social media?
Optimize Your Social Media Profile
The first step in every social media campaign is to properly optimize your social media accounts. Make sure your graphic elements are on-brand and uniform across your social media profiles, and that your business descriptions include the right keywords to boost discoverability in search engines. In other words, your profiles should act as additional storefronts for your business.
Bear in mind that each platform caters to different audiences. For example, LinkedIn tends to be more effective for B2B lead generation, while Instagram advertising allows businesses to capitalize on its picture and video capabilities. Audiences differ greatly between platforms, so you must adjust your content and intent accordingly.
Create Hard-To-Resist Offers
Social media was created to keep people constantly updated on the latest events and trends. Successful businesses have adjusted to this new need people have of being constantly bombarded with updates from friends, celebrities, and favorite brands.
You have to take all this in mind when creating a post. Do not make your post about your product. Instead, create events or experiences that users feel they can be part of.
A perfect example of great marketing is the MasterClass campaign. They constantly invite their audience to participate in different seminars held by real authorities in specific fields.
This strategy is effective for many reasons. First, they created a product that could be consumed by an incredibly wide audience. You would enjoy the offer no matter what walk of life you come from.
The other foot to this strategy is that their product becomes more attractive with time. As they add more classes and topics to their product list, their annual fee constantly increases in value. So, whether you want to learn cooking secrets from Gordon Ramsey, or to gain a deeper insight into astronomy from real astronauts and scientists, the product is always the right one for you.
Share Powerful Testimonials
More than 70% of people prefer to buy something when it has good reviews. Customers want to know if others had the same problem or need and if the product helped them solve it. They are also really interested in watching how the product works and the reaction others had when trying it.
A campaign that makes good use of this strategy is the one put forward by Established Titles. They used the power of Facebook campaigns to show how their customers react when they receive a personalized certificate that says they are officially a Lord or a Lady. They even showcase testimonials from celebrities such as Snoop Dogg. Established Titles soon became a very popular gift among couples who wanted to give something truly unique, but also among people who care about preserving nature and woodlands.
Retarget , Retarget, Retarget
Not everyone who visits your landing page ends up converting. Most visitors will only browse through your products, prices, and benefits before closing the tab. Others will go even further and add items to their carts, only to abandon them. However, this gives you valuable information to create additional ads or posts that surgically target these individuals, enticing them to go further down your conversion funnel.
Retargeted ads have proven to be ten times more effective than regular ones, mainly because they are more personalized and directed at people who already know the product but need a nudge in the right direction.
For example, imagine a customer who goes through the checkout process, and suddenly abandons all items and closes the tab. With your analytic tools, you can know what these customers wanted to buy and the precise instant they decided to leave. This information allows you to create a personalized ad for this person showing that specific product coupled with an offer or addressing common objections such as shipping costs.
The point is to keep moving your audience down their customer journey by using all the tools social media has to offer.
If you want to find out how an eCommerce marketing agency can help you generate social media leads, get in touch with one of our specialists today.
