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Do you want to get more business through social media?
Are you looking for new ways to generate leads?
As marketers and business owners, you're constantly looking for potential customers.
In this article you'll find 16 resources to help you generate leads with social media.
How to Generate Leads
Before you boost your social media lead generation, it's essential to make sure you've established yourself as an authority in your field through your website, blog and enewsletter, as well as your business practices.
These points of contact are incredibly useful for generating leads, and at the very least, are perfect for maintaining contact with your readers, subscribers and customers.
10 Ways to Turn Your Blog Into a Lead-Generation Machine: This “10-step prescription to increase your visibility and attract more qualified folks to your site” by Ann Handley on Entrepreneur is a matter-of-fact way to look at your blog strategy through the lens of lead gen.
20 Ways to Use Your Blog to Generate Leads: “A blog serves as a hub for customer engagement, from providing supporting information to closing the sale,” explains Heidi Cohen. “Be sure you take full advantage of it.” She shares 20 ways you can use your blog to identify prospects and customers.
The Secret to Using Your Website to Generate New Leads: On Todaymade, Garrett Moon goes through why you should use your website for this purpose, and then makes recommendations of how to do it… whether you're looking for email or contact leads.
50 Ways to Generate Leads With Social Media: On the Salesforce blog, Amanda Nelson shares tips for a variety of areas, from developing your network to utilizing social ads and SEO.
Throughout all of your campaigns, you'll want to have a clear message with a deliberate call to action on all platforms.
Here are tips for generating leads on specific social media sites.
#1: Facebook Resources
Facebook is a double-edged sword. With constantly changing algorithms, it's increasingly difficult to get organic traffic and the resulting leads through your Facebook page. However, Facebook ads and other tactics can make a huge difference.
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6 Ways to Capture Leads From Facebook Pages: Many companies are obsessed with the number of Facebook likes; however, the more important statistic (as explained by Amanda Webb on Jon Loomer's website) is a lead. “A lead could be something as simple as an email address, a customer coming in the door or something more qualified,” she writes. Webb shares ways to prompt potential customers to “provide you with more information so you know how best to approach them and convert your lead into a sale.”
Setting Up a Facebook Page for Lead Generation: There's plenty of competition for attention on Facebook. The best way to pull focus is to set up your Facebook page so that it's lead generation–friendly. Gillian Singletary provides recommendations that feature the three Cs—customization, content and calls to action—in this article on Manobyte.
The Top 8 Methods to Generate Email Leads Through Facebook: On Wishpond, Krista Bunskoek says the best way to “own your fans” is to “capture their email address using lead generating tactics.” Her recommendations range from adding a newsletter signup form and contests to a variety of ways of offering email-gated content. Be sure to also check out Bunskoek's post on 6 Sure-fire Methods to Generate Email Leads Using Twitter.
Speaking of Twitter…
#2: Twitter Resources
Like Facebook, Twitter has the promoted option, so your message doesn't get stuck in the abyss. You still need to appropriately focus and message your tweets, but here are some additional recommendations.
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5 New Ways Twitter Can Get You More Business: On WordTracker, Amanda DiSilvestro reviews recent Twitter targeting changes including TV ad targeting, tailored audiences, broad match keyword targeting, etc., and offers suggestions for how to use them for lead gen. “Not only are Twitter ads not going away in 2014, they are expected to grow dramatically,” she says.
Twitter Lead Gen Cards: 3 Keys to B2B Domination [Case Study]: This case study by Jessica Lee on Search Engine Watch goes through how Webtrends used Twitter lead generation cards. The article offers valuable insights into how businesses can replicate or improve upon this type of campaign.
Twitter Chats: How to Build and Define Success Through Data: Lucy Hitz, from Simply Measured, offers a comprehensive look into how you can use a Twitter chat for the purpose of lead gen. She shares what you need to know to determine whether a Twitter chat is the right call, as well as how to define and measure your success.
#3: LinkedIn Resources
One of the benefits of LinkedIn is that your messages are more likely to get seen by your network and your intended audience.
13 Creative Ways to Use LinkedIn for Lead Generation: This is a compilation of advice from The Young Entrepreneur Council posted on the Small Biz Trends blog. Tips range from the simple (introduce yourself, participate) and the logical (research, search) to the advanced (publish articles, be aggressive).
How to Use LinkedIn to Generate Leads: “In the context of professional networking on LinkedIn, the six-degrees concept can help you boost your bottom line by connecting you with people you can convert into paying customers,” writes Dave Clarke on the Intuit blog. He goes into detail as he offers seven ways to use LinkedIn for this purpose.
10 Ways to Generate More Leads and Referrals on LinkedIn: On Inc., Jeff Haden shares a blueprint for using LinkedIn to effectively prospect, which originally came from Sandler Training. The tip in the article, “The key to success on LinkedIn is investing a little bit of time every working day—not six hours a day for a week straight, then nothing,” is advice that can certainly be used across multiple platforms.
#4: Video, Instagram and Pinterest Resources
There are numerous ways to use the visual social media platforms for lead generation. Here are a few more network-specific articles.
3 Ways You Can Optimize YouTube Videos to Generate Leads: Video is an excellent tool to use to grow your business. David Caron of DCD Complete Marketing Solutions offers recommendations for optimizing your YouTube videos so you get seen more and drive improved web traffic, and as a result, receive more leads and prospects.
Best Practices for Instagram Marketing and Lead Generation: Like Pinterest, Instagram offers opportunities to use visual content to generate leads. On We Are Social Media, Annetta Powell shares strategies and practices for using Instagram to create a loyal following from your target audience and generate leads as a result.
Pinterest Lead Generation 101: Best Practices and Hacks That’ll Make You a Pro: “While Pinterest may not be perfect for every marketer in every industry, it does offer a huge opportunity for most,” writes Ginny Soskey on HubSpot. She takes a comprehensive look at what you can do to create and monitor a strategy that will increase direct and indirect leads through Pinterest.
Over to You
When looking at your social media lead-generation strategy, you need to first examine each social media platform and make sure to use the right one for your audience. Then employ the tactics necessary to make the most of it.
What do you think? What social media platform works best for you for generating leads? What tips do you have for others who want to generate leads on social media? Please share your tips in the comments.
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