How to Get Leads Through Social Media

Have you tried to get more customers through social media, but are unsure if you’re doing it correctly? 

Using social media to reach customers is nothing new, and it’s what a lot of companies do to achieve customer contact. If you use social media in smart ways, there will be countless ways to get more leads that will require less energy and time.

In this article, we will give a brief explanation of what leads are and why you should think about them, as well as list some of the most effective methods.

What Are Leads and Why Are They Important?

Leads, or lead generation, are individuals who have shown an interest in your business, usually by filling out a form with contact information or actively contacting your business. The individual has not bought or engaged in anything else yet, and he or she is at the start of the buying process.

In marketing, we also talk about leads that are defined as “marketing qualified lead“. These are people who, based on their digital behaviour, have shown great interest in your business. This can be, for instance, how many times the person has visited your website, shared something from your company’s social profiles, or other actions.

In order to get more leads through social media, you also have to be good at branding. Social media should be a platform where customers and potential customers can get to know your business on a more personal level. 

Have an Active and Up-to-Date Company Social Profile

Find out which social platform your customers and potential customers are actively using, and keep an active profile on this platform. For example, if you have a young audience, Instagram may be the place to be. Some older audiences will often be more active on Facebook.

Find out what your customers are interested in and keep your profile up to date. A good idea might be to start a business blog so that you can share posts and inspire customers to visit your website.

Contests

Launching a contest in social media will help generate activity and engagement around your company’s social profile. This way, you may have found several good leads, as they have to accept contest conditions to enter. 

Here are several ways to do it:

• If you post the competition on Instagram, you can ask participants to post a photo where they tag your business, which in turn will/may lead to increased activity on your profile. This activity will not lead to direct leads and is more about branding, but may cause potential customers to contact you.
• Get users to tag one or more friends in your posts. 
• Have users comment on something funny, make a poem, tell a story, or use their favourite emojis.
• Create a contact page where users have to leave contact information, such as their email address (most people are more comfortable giving out an email address rather than a phone number or any other contact info), in order to win. This is a good way to get direct leads.
• You can also use contests to encourage customers to sign up for newsletters. This will allow you to get more E-mail addresses.

The essence of the contest should be your company’s services or products for branding purposes. 

Let Your Customers DM Your Business Profile 

Facebook business profiles allow you to have a chat feature, or Facebook Messenger for Businesses. That is, when the customer clicks into your profile, a small chat box will appear with an automated message. When the customer answers, the message will go directly into your message inbox. If you get a message here, you’ve already captured the interest and got a lead.

On Instagram, you don’t have the same opportunity, but you can post “stories” where followers can answer questions, such as funny or interesting questions or polls. These will also end up in your inbox – giving you leads.

Remarketing

Whether you’re a retail store selling women’s clothing or a bank offering refinancing opportunities, you should inspire people to click on links that lead to your website or to take a look at one of your company’s social media profiles. 

This way, you can implement remarketing. Remarketing means advertising towards customers, or a potential customer, that has already been in contact with the company or visited the business page.

If you’ve already tried Facebook advertising or Google Ads, you should also test out the remarketing feature. When you advertise through the remarketing feature, the customer will, through cookies, receive a reminder that they have visited your business in the form of an ad. Remarketing is an efficient way to get more qualified leads.