5 Ways to Improve Lead Generation Using Social Media

Social media for business, generally, is used primarily for increasing brand awareness, engagement and as a means to communicate with audiences in a more informal manner.

What it isn’t as used for, though, and what isn’t as discussed, is to improve lead generation. In this blog post, I want to show you the top 5 ways that you can use to improve your lead generation with social media.

1. Find Leads With Monitoring

One of the most effective ways of finding leads on social media is to use monitoring. Monitoring is also a great way of building up your audience and following and of finding more engagement opportunities.

In order to start monitoring your social media opportunities, you first need a tool for this. There are several options including specialized monitoring tools like Brandwatch or Brand24.

Brand24 is a more affordable option because it doesn’t also provide historical data.  You can also use a social media management tool, as many of them also provide monitoring features.

Examples of social media management tools that provide monitoring are Agorapulse, Hootsuite, or you can browse through more using this tool).

Now that we’ve talked about tools, it’s time for the actual monitoring.

• First, start by monitoring your business name

Not all of the people talking about your business on social media will also use your handle, so it’s useful to keep track of mentions this way, as you might find leads that would otherwise be lost.

• Next, start tracking different industry keywords

Set up tracking for keyword phrases your audience would use when searching for products or services similar to yours. As an example, if you are a weight loss coach, you would monitor keywords such as “lose weight” or “lose extra pounds”.

• Exclude irrelevant keywords

As you start doing this, you’ll probably notice that many mentions are irrelevant to your search. Not to worry though, as you can easily rectify that.

Go through your results to see what types of keywords these mentions use, so that you can then exclude them from your monitoring.

When setting up a monitoring search, make sure to also select the location (or language), in case that is relevant to your business.

For local businesses, another useful way of generating leads is to monitor your specific location on Instagram. That way, you can find people in the area that you can target and engage with.

2. Create a Facebook Contest

Contests offer a great way for businesses to generate leads on social media, as well as to boost their followers and engagement. Facebook offers a great platform for this. Make sure to check their guidelines first, before posting your contest).

There are several tools that you can use to create and hold a contest, such as:

• Facebook’s own tool
• Heyo
• Woobox
• Or test your first Facebook timeline contest with this free tool from Agorapulse.

There are all kinds of contests that you can create, such as quizzes, photo contests and sweepstakes. Not only are they fun, but they will also get you more engagement and more emails for your list.

3. Use Social Media Influencers

Connecting with social media influencers can be of big help with generating leads. As they have bigger, more involved audiences that care about their opinions and tips and advice, having the support of several social influencers can help you get more leads.

First, start by collecting a list of relevant influencers that you want to connect with. Keep in mind, though, that you can’t always go directly for the big guns, and if you have a smaller following, it’s best to stick with smaller influencers as well.

There are several tools that you can use to find influencers easily, such as Buzzsumo and Followerwonk.

Next, start building up a connection and relationship with them. These can take some time to build. Do this by:

• following
• liking
• sharing their content
• engaging with them on a regular basis

The results speak for themselves, if you keep at it and are consistent.

As these relationships grow, so will the results. It could be something as simple as sharing your content (preferably to a page or post that also has a form so that people can sign up).

4. Create a Twitter Chat

Twitter Chats offer you a way of sharing your expertise with audiences and of generating leads.

If you’re not familiar with Twitter Chats, they are basically conversations held on Twitter, led by a moderator, and using a specific hashtag. Think of them as a Q&A of sorts – only, on Twitter.

Twitter Chats can be a great source of leads, as you’re not only reaching the people who participated directly, but also their followers who see the tweets with your Chat hashtag.

If you’re worried about the number of attendees and potential leads, you could include a giveaway for the Twitter Chat to maximize that number.

You can also use different tools to hold the Chat, mainly to help you filter through all of the updates on Twitter so you only get the relevant ones. Some of the best tools are Tweet Chat and Tchat.io.

5. Use Lead Generation Ads

Another way of generating leads on social media is to use lead generation ads.

Several different social networks have these kinds of ads that allow you to collect information from your audiences directly within the social platform, for example on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

They work like regular social media ads, only they also let you add a form where people can enter their information, name and email address, in order to sign up to your newsletter, get access to a good deal and so on.

What’s great about these ads (apart from the lead generation, of course!), is that they are highly targeted and you can easily control how much you want to spend on them.

Ready to Improve Lead Generation?

Social media can be a great platform for lead generation when used right. It’s cheap, it’s efficient and it’s something that you’re likely already using to promote your business online and connect with your audience.

What other methods are you using to generate leads on social media?
Let us know in the comments.