Grow Your Leads in 2022 With These 8 Techniques

Need more quality leads? Are you looking for new ways to generate more prospects for your business?

In this article, you'll discover eight ways to beef up the top of your funnel.

#1: Publish Goal-Oriented Content

Your social media content might align perfectly with your target audience's demographics and interests. But if it isn't designed for the consideration or conversion stage of your sales funnel, the content probably won't produce the results you want. So what types of content should you create for these funnel stages?

Consideration and Lead Generation Content

Prospects in the middle of the funnel—the consideration stage—are weighing their options. They're actively searching for solutions to problems and challenges and they're seeking the information they need to make a decision.

Because they probably already know the basics of your business and what you offer, they're more likely to respond to in-depth content like:

• Product demonstrations that help them experience how your solutions actually work

• Case studies that let them see how your solutions have helped other brands achieve their goals

• Quizzes that help them understand which of your products or services would be the best solution for their needs

For example, the @nerd_fitness Instagram post below features detailed information about the brand's fitness coaching program. To generate leads, the post points to a quiz that prospects can take to find their ideal coach. After getting their results, prospects receive a prompt to schedule a free consultation—which allows the brand to nurture leads.

Sales and Conversion Content

Prospects in the conversion stage have the information they need to make a decision. They're typically waiting for the right moment to sign up or buy. You can prompt them to complete a purchase by publishing content like:

• Special offers and discounts they can access for a limited time only

• eCommerce links that encourage them to shop your online catalog

• Free trials that let them start using your product or service at no cost

For example, the @Fabletics Facebook post below includes an extra incentive (“Get 80% off all items”) to encourage potential customers to click and shop. The clothing brand's partnership with fitness influencer Joelle Raheb provides social proof that makes the offer even more compelling.

#2: Embrace Live Events

For many businesses, publishing pre-produced content like YouTube videos and Instagram stories may be more than enough to generate leads and conversions. But what if you want to form deeper relationships with your audience or connect with prospects in real time?

Going live lets you communicate directly with prospects while presenting your business in a more authentic light—which can be ideal for sales and leads. Fortunately, you can host virtual events on any social media channel so you can connect with your audience anywhere from Instagram to TikTok.

On select social channels, you can also host audio-only events that allow more open conversations with potential customers. For example, Twitter Spaces even lets you choose speakers to invite to the conversation or ask questions so you can talk one on one.

To start a space, open the Twitter mobile app and tap the Space icon in the center of the menu. Then tap the blue Space button in the lower-right corner of the screen. Give your space a name and choose up to three topics to entice users to listen. Then start your space right away or schedule it for up to 2 weeks later.

Do you want listeners to sign up for your list, visit your website, or sign up for a free trial after your space? You can share tweets in your space to generate clicks, leads, and conversions.

#3: Use Lead Magnets to Attract and Nurture Prospects

Hosting live events and publishing helpful content are great ways to attract your target audience and build trust. But that doesn't mean you should make all of your best content available to just anyone. Instead, creating high-value gated content is often ideal for generating and qualifying warm leads.

To access gated content, prospects have to share their personal information including name, contact details, job title, and needs or challenges. Your business can use this data to nurture or remarket to leads and guide them toward a conversion.

In exchange for their personal information, prospects get access to exclusive content that provides real value. Also known as a lead magnet, gated content can be anything from a downloadable guide or white paper to a discount code or webinar.

For example, the @LitmusApp Facebook post below highlights a live webinar about email design. As an interactive event, the webinar helps prospects get answers to their questions. Because the event requires registration, it serves as a lead magnet that allows the email analysis platform to generate and nurture leads, and potentially guide them toward a conversion.

When you link to a lead magnet on your website or another external site, pay special attention to the landing page. Always make sure that it's easy to navigate using a mobile device and prospects can register for or download your lead magnet efficiently.

The gated content you develop doesn't necessarily have to be a one-time event or download. When you want to offer exclusive content to warm leads on an ongoing basis, consider creating an online community.

You could create a Facebook group that prospects could join by request or invitation. Then you could use the space to learn more about your potential customers and help them find the solutions they need. You might start conversations about issues your prospects are navigating, encourage them to ask questions, or provide helpful resources.

For example, in the @latermedia Instagram story below, the social media marketing platform invites followers to join the Later Social Club. In exchange for providing their contact information and creating a free Later account, prospects get to join an online community designed to help them improve their social media skills.

#4: Use Funnel-Oriented Calls to Action

No matter which channel you're using or funnel stage you're targeting, it's important to add the right calls to action (CTAs) to your social media copy. These prompts serve two purposes: They tell prospects what to do after seeing your content and guide them further along through your funnel.

Although it may seem like CTAs are always pushy or salesy, yours don't have to be. Instead, different CTAs work better for prompting action at each stage of the funnel. Here are a few ideas for lead generation CTAs:

• Sign up to join our next live webinar.

• Download our guide to get our advanced tips.

• Read our new case study to find out how we helped a business cut costs by 50%.

To drive conversions and sales, consider CTAs like these:

• Start your free trial today.

• Get our brand-new product before it's gone.

• Don't miss out on our once-a-year deal.

For example, the Unbounce LinkedIn post below draws prospects in with a discussion about human- versus machine-made copy. The CTA encourages prospects to take a quiz and try to identify the AI-generated copy themselves. After finishing the quiz, users receive a prompt to sign up for a trial of the software company's AI-powered landing page builder, setting the stage for a seamless conversion.

#5: Integrate Automated Direct Messaging

If you plan to use social media to generate leads and drive conversions, you can expect to get a lot of DMs. To build trust and keep moving potential customers through your funnel, it's important to respond to messages as efficiently as possible. Fortunately, you don't have to monitor your social inboxes around the clock—at least in most cases.

Many social media channels either already have built-in inbox automations or make it easy to integrate third-party apps. For example, you can automate your Instagram Direct messages through Facebook Business Manager. First, navigate to your inbox and click the Automated Responses tab. Then choose the type of automation you want to set up:

• Instant Replies are ideal for responding quickly to people messaging your business for the first time.

• Away Messages are great for replying promptly even if your team isn't actually online.

• Frequently Asked Questions are best for providing the resources your prospects often request.

With Business Manager, you can also set up automated lead generation messages in Facebook. Click Custom Keywords and add the keywords you want to trigger the automated message. Then write a short message and add personalization or images. You can also add buttons with external links that prospects can click to access resources or visit your website.

So how do you get people to trigger the automated message you set up? Ask prospects to DM you the keyword or phrase. They'll get the resource they want and you'll be able to identify them as potential customers. You can also add them to your remarketing list for future ad campaigns (see below).

#6: Leverage Native eCommerce Tools

Does your business sell products online? Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have built-in eCommerce tools that you can use to drive sales right from your organic posts.

You can access Facebook's or Instagram's shopping features via Facebook Commerce Manager. Start by creating a new shop and choosing a checkout method. You can direct customers to check out on Facebook and Instagram or your website.

Then create a catalog with all of the items you want to sell on social media. You can add the inventory manually or connect a third-party app like Shopify to automate the process.

Once Facebook approves your shop and catalog, customers can access your shop from your Facebook page or Instagram profile. You can also tag products in organic posts, stories, and reels, creating a direct link to the product page in your shop.

For example, the @italic Instagram post below features a shoppable product. To view or purchase the coffee featured in the post, customers can tap the View Shop button or the product tag. Both links send customers to the brand's Instagram shop, where they can purchase instantly—without leaving the app.

#7: Optimize Organic Content

By now you have a list of organic tactics and tools that can help you get more leads and conversions on social media. But how do you make sure you get the best results from your efforts?

Your analytics can give you a ton of insight into what's working best for your brand. For example, your social media analytics can reveal the types of posts that generate the most clicks or engagement. Along the same lines, your website analytics can show which channels drive the most traffic and contribute to the most sales or conversions.

Even with all of that data, you may still have questions. Would one CTA or another be better for generating leads? Could you generate more revenue with lifestyle or product photos? Should you publish more posts with images or links, or should you stick to video instead?

Facebook lets you run tests so you can compare different types of organic posts and find exactly what works for your brand. To experiment with Facebook posts, open Creator Studio and navigate to Post Testing. Then click the blue Start a Test button. Choose the type of content you want to test, including videos, images, links, and text.

Add at least two posts to compare and then choose the key metric to determine performance. If leads and conversions are your priority, Link Clicks is probably your best bet for a key metric.

When the test ends and Facebook determines a winner, the channel will continue to distribute the most successful post. You can see results for current and past experiments on the Post Testing tab so you can keep track of the variables that your audience responds to most reliably.

#8: Run Lead and Conversion Ads

If you want to reach more people and accelerate your results, set aside a budget for advertising. From Facebook and Instagram to LinkedIn and YouTube, each social channel offers both lead generation and conversion campaigns.

For example, you can use Google Ads leads or sales campaign objectives to reach your goals via YouTube. Use the platform's conversion tracking tools to monitor leads and sales on your website and then optimize your ads for exactly what you want to achieve.

You can also use Facebook Ads Manager to run campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms support lead gen ads that let you collect contact information from prospects and catalog sales ads for advertising a collection of items from your eCommerce site.

For example, the @lastpassofficial ad below uses Instagram's lead gen objective. People who click the ad go directly to a native lead gen form that highlights the software's benefits before asking a few questions about how prospects plan to use the password management platform for business. The brand can then collect and use the provided contact information to nurture and convert leads.

Conclusion

No matter which social media channel you want to focus on, your business has a wide range of options for generating leads and sales. From organic content to paid posts, you can find the right mix of tactics to meet your goals while staying on budget.

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