Lead generation is an important way to getting people naturally interested in your business. It is how you warm up potential customers and lead them to the path of eventually buying or investing in your product or brand. Lead generation techniques are vital to your inbound marketing efforts and will increase sales.
In oder to do this, you need to attract potential customers to your business and get them interested. A good way to generate leads is through social media. It may seem like an overwhelming place to start, as there are over 1 billion users on Facebook per month and there are over 50 million tweets sent out per day.
Don't panic - in this article, you'll learn how to focus your efforts utilizing different social media features to meet your lead generation goals.
- Twitter Chats. Twitter chats are hosted by a person (on their twitter account). Each chat uses a particular hashtag which enables other users to follow the conversation. This is a great place to gather leads as chats are usually community focused. Chats will help you gain visibility with the right people.
- Hashtags. Hashtags are a great way to integrate keywords into your social media campaigns. Hashtags allow your tweet to reach the eyes of anyone who searches that word. Make sure you only use relevant hashtags in your Tweets and try to limit them to about 2 per Tweet.
- Promoted Tweets. Promoted Tweets get your message in front of the right audience. You can target people by device, location, interests, and even gender. It's an ideal way to promote an event, deal, or service. Make sure you are aware of Twitter's advertiser policy before you begin.
LinkedIn is a very useful tool for generating leads if used properly. You can use it to connect with prospective clients, announce new products, and to simply build awareness of your company. LinkedIn was made for engaging with an audience and building a network. Use it to get leads! Here's how:
- Groups. Use groups as a way of demonstrating thought leadership in your market, then promote the group to grow the community. By creating or joining a group in your area of expertise you are closer to finding potential leads.
Identify group members who constantly ask questions or members who genuinely need help and answer their questions. This helps establish credibility and shows you take the relationships you make seriously.
- DirectAds. This is a great way for members and businesses to deliver relevant opportunities to LinkedIn members. Targeted by profile demographic information, ads are pushed to LinkedIn subscribers.
- Facebook Ads. Placing an ad on Facebook is one of the most targeted advertising opportunities. They work in the same fashion as Google Ads - placing a bit telling Facebook how much you are willing to pay per click. You must try to craft your ad to get people to "like" your page - ultimately trying to build a long term relationship with them that will result in a purchase.
- Promote posts. Use promoted posts to highlight important quality content on your page. It's another really easy way to get more people to see your posts. Here's the rundown from Facebook on the types of posts to promote.
- Share offers. Sharing your content and current offers across all social platforms is a really easy way to try and generate leads. Try adding photos to your posts - visual content receives more clicks than the average post.
Blog
- Connect blog. Connecting your blog to your social media profiles enables you to publish your post to Twitter and Facebook the moment it goes up. This is a fast and easy way to get your posts read and circulated by a larger audience. This is a great way to increase the likes and shares of your newest entries.
- Respond. If someone takes the time to write a thoughtful and purposeful response to your post, take the time to respond. Respond whether it is positive or negative. If they ask a question, you should answer. Help your audience understand something that needs clarification. Provide additional links to help answer their questions. This helps build relationships and keeps the doors of communication open.
- Post regularly. Finding the time to write and post regularly may seem difficult to some but it is extremely important. Good quality and steady content makes search engines happy and visitors like to see new content too!
Google+
Hangouts. Google+ Hangouts On Air allows you to engage with audience in real time. Host a hangout around an offer and show your value as a business. You can instantly save your hangout and post it to YouTube - getting it in front of an even larger audience. Learn more about hangouts.
Here are some additional social media tips on how to grow fans and expand your reach - something that is important when trying to capture leads:
- Optimize your social presence
- Promote this presence
- Share useful and valuable content
- Add social sharing buttons to all content
- Find, follow and connect with people in your industry
- Interact and respond to fans and followers
- Optimize your social media call to actions
The more you interact, respond, follow, and share the more you'll get back in responses. You need to attract people to your brand and offer them valuable information. Build a relationship with your audience, expand your reach, and connect with potential clients!