How To Leverage Social Media for Lead Generation

There comes the point in every digital marketing strategy when it’s time to move past brand awareness and move toward lead generation. Social media is a fantastic starting point because methods across various channels will help you find people interested in your company.

Social media leads help you keep in touch with potential customers and earn quality leads. Through the power of easy connection, you can reach them for special offers and company announcements. Many marketers agree that social media is the path to take when it comes to tracking down high-quality leads.

Social Media Lead Generation Stats

The internet is full of information regarding the best way for small and mid-size businesses to build leads destined to become conversions. Before you move forward with solicited advice, make sure you have statistics to back up the claims. 

Here are a few statistics that highlight how incredible social media is for generating business leads:

●      61% of marketers state that lead generation is their biggest challenge (Hubspot)

●      53% of businesses report spending at least half of their marketing budget on lead generation (Smart Insights)

●      80% of marketers believe that automation assists in generating more leads and conversions (APSIS)

●      Leads are nine times more likely to convert when businesses follow up within 5 minutes of initial interaction, which is easy when utilizing social media messaging and automation (chatbots, AI) (Spiceworks)

●      66% of marketers report generating leads from social media after spending only six hours per week on social marketing efforts (Social Media Examiner)

●      80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn (Oktopost)

●      82% of social media leads come from Twitter (Constant Contact)

With statistics like this, it’s borderline shocking to think that businesses and their marketing teams are still underutilizing social media’s marketing power. As more companies take to the internet for sales and exposure, 2021 is the year to embrace it.

The Basics of Social Media Lead Generation Tactics

It’s clear that social media is a game-changer for lead generation efforts, but how do you know which tactics will work and which ones will crash and burn? Every business is different, and reputable digital marketing agencies know which methods work well for specific industries.

It all comes down to tapping into your target audience. No matter what your niche, you can find them on social media. There are three necessary components of advertising and gaining leads through social media.

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Lead Generation

Lead generation includes all the steps your business has taken on social media platforms to acquire new leads, including feeding leads into your sales funnel via social media and automation endeavours. Every piece of content and ad campaign that you create on your social media channels are part of your lead generation effort.

Lead Nurturing

Acquiring new leads will prove pointless if you neglect them. Like everything else, leads need nurturing to survive. Lead nurturing is all about building relationships with potential customers, even if they aren’t interested in purchasing your product or service at that very moment.

Perhaps they’ve signed up for your newsletter or follow you on social media, but they aren’t ready to commit. Regardless, it would be best if you continued to sustain them through sharing high-quality, relevant content and paid, carefully targeted promotions and ad campaigns.

Lead Conversion

The final stage of social media lead generation is conversion. You’re probably already aware, but conversion refers to the process of turning potential prospects into customers, resulting in a final purchase decision.

There are plenty of tried and true social media methods that will take your leads from prospective to converted. If you find yourself unsure where to start, here are a few places to start:

●      Build a social group or community

●      Run a contest fueled by shareable, eye-catching content

●      Launch referral campaigns

●      Dig into video creation and marketing

●      Consider influencers, if it makes sense for your niche

Lead Generation Trends for 2021

Lead generation tactics tend to stay steady over the years. Instead of ultimately evolving, marketers come up with new methods to use in conjunction with old ones. It’s all about building until you find the combination that works for you.

Social Listening

Social listening will be huge in 2021, as companies look for additional ways to reach potential customers. Essentially, social listening gives brands on a global level the opportunity to track, analyze, and ultimately respond to conversations consumers have about them on social media.

Social listening is a simple concept, yet a revolutionary tool for tracking audiences in 2021. To listen socially, you’ll collect information regarding your brand mentions, relevant hashtags, competitor mentions, and industry trend metrics. Next, take action in response to this data, and you’ll find yourself a whole new pool of leads.

Utilizing Gated Content

A content marketing staple, gated content is a fantastic way to boost your lead generation in 2021. Marketers often use gated content to generate leads by providing potential customers with valuable information (white papers, ebooks, discounts, demos, case studies) in exchange for personal contact information.

Gated content can be tricky, and if this is your tactic of choice, you’d better have something substantial to offer your leads. When you do it correctly, it’s an incredible way to build your base.

Co-Branded Promotions

You can quickly and easily gather hundreds of new, quality leads through co-branded promotions. A common way to co-market is to team up with a brand with an audience similar to yours, work together on a piece of content or ad campaign, and then market that content to both audiences.

It’s a great way to build exposure, while getting twice the leads you would from a standard campaign. For co-marketing, you’ll want to create an effective, shared landing page with a stellar CTA.

Social Media Remains Steady for Leads

Social media isn’t going anywhere. In fact, studies predict social media use to grow by 7% in 2021. Your marketing team should be cashing in on the mass amounts of potential leads on various platforms.

If your business relies heavily on lead generation, these trends and the uptick in social media use win across the board.