Generate leads with social media

Marketers have been touting social media for years. But while building buzz for your product is an important task — and one at which social media excels — converting that buzz into revenue is much more difficult.

The social media experts at HootSuite have developed a guide to using social media to generate leads.

Lead generation is much more than just increasing likes and shares. Someone who likes or shares your Facebook post or Tweet is not a lead. However, if they click through to your website and sign up for your newsletter, congratulations! That’s a lead.

How do you convert this interest — all the likes, shares, and retweets — into something more tangible that improves your bottom line? How do you turn followers and fans into customers? Here are a few ways to generate leads with social media.

Call-to-action

A call-to-action is a necessary component of lead generation. A post on any of your social media channels should direct a potential customer to your website, where you can gather their information and nurture the relationship to the stage where they are likely to buy from you.

Gated content

Your social media posts can attract people with the offer of high-quality content that is relevant to their interests and your business. The content itself can take several shapes: white papers, e-books, email newsletters, webinars, guides or reports. Whatever type of content you’re offering, potential customers must give you their email address and possibly other details before they can access it.

This is a popular and effective tactic among B2B companies, in particular. Someone who is willing to hand over personal contact details is likely to be more serious about doing business with you than someone who isn’t.

It’s important to fulfill your end of the deal and give people something valuable to them in return for their information. The quality of the content also impacts their perception of your company.

DREAMSTIME

Social ads

The targeting capabilities of paid social ads make them an important lead generation tactic that can complement your organic social media efforts. Paid ads on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media advertising platforms let you hone in on your core audience.

When purchasing ads on social networks, make sure your ad has an effective landing page. Your landing page should be optimized to focus on driving a visitor to perform one desired action, such as subscribing to an email newsletter. NM

If you want to know more, download the guide and peruse the educational resources available at https://hootsuite.com/resources.