How to Use Social Media to Capture and Qualify New Leads

66% of marketers see an increase in social media leads from spending just six hours a week online.

And it makes sense.

More people than ever use social media to fuel their purchasing decisions, with many preferring screen-to-screen communication than in-person sales tactics.

In fact, https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/social-selling/what-is-social-selling. If you’re not tapping into this, you could be missing out on customers.

But how can you use social media to turn visitors and followers into fans and customers?

We’ve got you covered in this piece, where we’ll lay out how you can optimize your channels for leads and what you need to be posting to attract the right people.

Choose the Right Platform

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First things first, you need to know where your audience are hanging out. For some brands, LinkedIn is the place to be, while others find their tribes on Instagram or Facebook.

This is where you need to know who your “people” are and where they like to spend their time.

Research shows that 44% of B2B marketers have generated leads through LinkedIn, 39% have through Facebook, and a further 30% through Twitter.

Knowing where to post is the first step of the puzzle. For example, if you sell handmade jewellery, you’re going to have a lot more luck on a visual platform like Facebook or Instagram than LinkedIn, which is predominantly a professional networking site.

The key here is to get specific with who you’re targeting and to be strict about the content you share and create so that it solely matches these people’s needs.

Take Grow & Convert for example, who specifically target marketers within companies - people like Marketing Managers and Content Managers.

While some of the content they produce is of interest to freelancers and solopreneur bloggers, they aren’t going to publish or share a post titled “5 Ways to Make Extra Blogging Income in Your Spare Time” because this doesn’t appeal to their target audience in the slightest.

Your social media strategy and the things you share there are heavily influenced by the content you create. And, as you can see, Grow & Convert only creates and posts content that’s highly relevant to their audience.

When their followers click through to their content, they’re going to think “this was made especially for me”, and they’re more likely to convert than followers who don’t resonate with the content you’re sharing.

Customer-Led Content

Your content is inextricably linked to your audience and their major pain points, and social media simply acts as a vessel to share that content and lure prospects to your site where they’ll find even more value.

But, with so much content being shared on social (on Instagram alone, 60 million photos are uploaded every single day), you need to make sure your content is geared solely towards the people you want to attract.

Here are some customer-led content ideas you can create and share on social media to attract the right people:

1. User Generated Content

User generated content is photos, text, or videos created by your customers and fans. This works as a digital form of word-of-mouth marketing (which is still an incredibly important marketing tactic), because people find recommendations from their peers much more compelling than polished sales spiel from marketing departments.2. Get PersonalDid you know that consumers are more likely to buy from brands they have the same shared values as? This is especially true for millennials, who make up a large portion of the buying market. But, in order for customers to know that you’re the brand for them, you need to show them what your values are, and that means showing off your brand personality. Social media shouldn’t just be a place to share sales copy and promote yourself. Remember, this kind of marketing was made to be social, and creating conversations with prospects and building relationships is a fantastic way to increase your conversion rate. 3. Tackle Customer Pain PointsOnce you know exactly who is you’re targeting, you can create content that provides a solution to key problems they have. This not only attracts people who will be interested in your services, but it will also position you as an expert in your industry. You can even use social media to discover what your customer’s main pain points are - search for specific keywords relating to your industry and see what common questions are being asked. This tactic is known as social listening and really helps you get a better grasp on who you’re serving.

For a company that focuses on helping online retailers get more out of their businesses like BigCommerce, listening to questions on social media can be an incredibly useful tool for generating insightful content that really speaks to your target audience.Link to Gated ContentWhen you’ve nailed what you’re posting and are attracting the right kind of eyeballs, it’s time to start turning them into qualified leads. This means encouraging prospects to move down the sales funnel, taking them from follower to lead to qualified lead to buyer.

The best way to do this is to offer gated content that’s hidden away behind a digital “gate”. In order to access this content, your followers need to give you their email address.This content might be something like a video series, a webinar, an ebook, or a one-pager that’s tied into your audiences’ specific problems and provides them with a solution. Once you have a prospect’s email address, you can then work on building your relationship with them through email, whether that’s via a welcome sequence or a series of email blasts to keep your brand at the front of their mind. You see, consumers tend not to buy from brands they’ve just discovered. So, while social media is a great place to attract the attention of potential prospects, you ideally need a way to keep in touch with them until they are ready to buy. You can link out to your gated content in your social media profiles, in captions on your posts, and in Live videos or Stories if you’re using Facebook and Instagram.

What About Social Media Advertising?

A lot of marketers read about social media advertising and decide it’s too pricey for them, but it can actually be a really cost-effective way to find highly-targeted prospects.In fact, 59% of marketers believe that paid social advertising is far more effective than organic social media marketing and see a 25% lift in conversions for paid campaigns compared to organic ones. We’re not suggesting you need to set aside a huge budget for this, but you can sprinkle a little bit of money on highly-targeted campaigns on social media to boost the amount of leads you get each month.

You can use the ads to link out to your gated content to turn potential prospects into solid leads. Get More Leads With SocialGenerating leads is the number one goal for the vast majority of businesses, and social media is a great place for capturing the attention of prospects and turning them into buyers. Start by figuring out who your target audience are and where they hang out, and focus on creating compelling content for them on those platforms. From there, you can share gated content that turns them from “just another follower” into a keen and loyal customer.

Ryan Gould

Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services

Elevation Marketing

From legacy Fortune 100 institutions to inventive start-ups, Ryan brings extensive experience with a wide range of B2B clients. He skillfully architects and manages the delivery of integrated marketing programs, and believes strongly in strategy, not just tactics, that effectively aligns sales and marketing teams within organizations.

Ryan is known for taking complex marketing and business challenges and developing solutions that simplify processes while driving customer outcomes and business value. He also thrives on guiding Elevation teams toward execution of strategies that help companies succeed in new verticals, while staying true to core values and brand integrity.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rygould/