Do you want to increase your small business leads? If so, then this blog post is for you.
Social media is a powerful tool in marketing and advertising for small businesses. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and LinkedIn are a great way for people to find out about the products and services that your company provides. If you aren’t already leveraging these platforms to generate more leads, this article should help give you some inspiration.
Here are 5 Ways to Generate Leads on Social Media:
- Optimize your profile
In order to optimize your social media profile, you must take advantage of all the features that the platform gives you. On Instagram, for example, you can include a link in your bio, a call to action button, and contact information. Providing contact information on social media gives users an opportunity to immediately connect with you once they visit your profile. It also makes you easily accessible with just one tap.
Keep in mind that you need to have the systems in place to handle customer inquiries before including contact information. If you’re getting a high volume of messages on social media that aren’t being responded to, you could miss out on the opportunity to connect with potential customers.
- Give people a good reason to opt-in
Giving people a good reason to opt-in is an essential part of building your email list. great way to improve the effectiveness of your social media based lead generation. Contests are a particularly effective way to get people to join your list and share their information. Contests are appealing because they give participants something in return for their information. I once built an email list from zero to over 300 with a simple Instagram contest!
A discount code is a great way to you want to encourage your followers to opt-in. Discount codes can help get people interested in your business’ products or services as well! For example, you could offer a special discount code for 10% off to anyone who signs up for your newsletter. In addition to encouraging your social media followers to opt in, using a discount code sends them to your store where they might make a purchase and become a loyal customer.
Access to gated content is another good reason for users to opt-in. Examples of gated content include invite-only webinars and private Facebook groups. Gated content provides you with the opportunity to build a long term connection with your customers.
Once users are in your ecosystem, remember that you maintain trust by being professional with in all your interactions with them. This means not overselling products and not constantly pitching them. Be sure to have genuine, meaningful contact with customers as well.
- Go live
Going live is an extremely powerful tool, especially for small business owners. It gives you an opportunity to show off your personality and who YOU are! You can go live on many platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, or Instagram. So, wherever your target audience is, you should be able to go live.
When you are live on social media, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. First, it’s important to introduce yourself to your followers and viewers at the beginning of the live. This will let them know why they’ll want to stay in the live and watch through to the end. The next thing to remember is to engage with and talk to your audience. Don’t just let yourself talk on and on for hours without giving your audience the chance to be heard. Give shout outs to people who tune in, comment, or answer questions that you ask. Lastly, don’t forget to be authentic! Be yourself – there’s nothing quite like being raw and real before an audience. Going live on social media gives you the perfect opportunity to showcase your personality as a business owner and share your passion for your products/services.
- Share testimonials
Positive testimonials and reviews are a great way to showcase the success of your business, especially when they’re shared on social media. Testimonials serve as a method of social proof, and when shared on Facebook, your Instagram story, or perhaps even your LinkedIn feed, they provide incentives for others to buy as well.
Testimonial videos serve as an incentive for people who may be feeling hesitant about purchasing from you. A study by Wyzowl found some impressive results that testimonials can provide. The first is that 2 out of 3 people stated they would be “more likely to make a purchase” after they viewed a video testimonial. Furthermore, 9/10 people stated that they put more faith in what other customers are saying about a business than what the business states about itself.
Therefore, sharing testimonials from satisfied customers on your social media is a great way to draw in more leads. You can use Canva to make your written testimonials more visually appealing before deploying them on social media for maximum impact! On Instagram, for example, you could share testimonials to your story and create a highlight. On Facebook or LinkedIn, you could share them to your feed. As the study by Wyzowl demonstrates, reviews attract more leads and by deploying them on social media you can increase the likelihood that your followers will make a purchase.
- Use paid advertising
I like to leave paid advertising as the last tip because I prefer to give small business owners organic strategies to employ on their social media. That being said, paid ads are a great way to draw in more leads and several platforms offer ways to do so with ease.
On Facebook, for example, there’s the option to use lead ads. These allow potential customers to easily share their information with you. An Instant Form within a Facebook lead ad actually autofills information from a user’s profile making it easy for them to opt in.
LinkedIn offers lead ads as well. Their Lead Gen forms, like that of Facebook, will automatically input users’ information. This enables users to submit opt-in forms with one click and also allows for more accurate information being collected. Furthermore, LinkedIn provides conversion tracking which will help you measure the progress of your ad. To learn more about LinkedIn lead ads, go to this page.
In summary, there are many ways you can include social media in your lead generation efforts. By deploying content on your social media that’s relevant to your lead magnets, you can create a robust lead generation strategy. As always, if you need any help creating content for your business, feel free to reach out to us!
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By: Avery Sly
