How to Effectively Use Social Media for Lead Generation

Social media has been around for a reasonable amount of time now, but it still continues to be a popular tool to connect people with each other, and importantly – people with businesses. Using the right strategy on the right channel can see effective lead generation and an increase in sales. In this article, we are looking at the importance of social media in sales, Facebook lead generation tactics, LinkedIn lead generation, and creating a nurturing strategy on social media as a whole.

Why is social media so important, can you afford to do without?

The number of people who use social media on a regular basis is huge, and it only continues to grow; Smart Insights found that the number of global social media users grew from 4.62 billion in January 2022 to 4.72 billion in January 2023, accounting for a 3% Year-on-Year (YoY) growth.

Regardless of the platform you use or intend to use, social media has enormous potential benefits for businesses, such as:

• Attracting customers
• Building brand awareness and recognition
• Increasing customer loyalty
• Gaining customer feedback and reviews
• Increasing market reach
• Reducing marketing and advertising costs
• Building consumer networks
• Increasing sales
• Gaining User Generated Content (UGC)
• Determining new sales opportunities and directions
• Identifying incoming trends, fads, and opportunities.

Do you need to be on every social media platform?

There are many different social media channels, from the older more recognised platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (formally Twitter), and LinkedIn, to ones that are either younger or growing such as TikTok, Threads, and Discord.

According to Sprout Social, the average person bounces between seven different social networks per month.

Managing your social media strategy does not mean that you need to be creating content and posting on every channel – that would be prohibitively expensive, and a waste of time if your customers are not using those platforms. Of course, there is merit to signing up for an account on all the different channels (to claim and protect your business username) – but it is not necessary to be active on every single platform.

How do you know what channels you should be using for your lead generation?

ICandy Design share that 89% of top performing salespeople believe social networking sites are pivotal in their strategy for closing deals. In order to determine which social media channels are best suited for your needs so you can generate leads, you need to use metrics and do research, and at a minimum, you will need to:

• Identify your audience – Who are your customers? You need to look at your sales data and evaluate commonalities such as age, gender, location, interests.
  
• Determine what resources you have available – When thinking about the channels you plan to use, you need to take a realistic look at the time, resources, and costs involved in operating those channels. How many channels can you realistically afford to operate on a regular and reliable basis?
  
• Do competitor research – What channels are your main competitors using? Are they seeing good engagement and getting the expected level of engagement from these platforms? What are they doing well? What are they doing badly?
  
• Evaluate consumer sentiment – What channels do people expect to see you on, and which channels would provide the best benefits to your strategy?

Using Facebook for lead generation

Facebook can be useful for lead generation, effective lead management, and increasing the number of inbound enquiries your business receives. The platform allows you to promote your brand, engage with customers, showcase video, and image content – and utilise chatbots or other automated features to provide a fuller customer service.

Generating leads on Facebook can be done in a number of ways, including through utilising Facebook Ads, creating live content, sharing posts, and presenting your audience with engaging content.

However, you do need to be aware of the algorithms and quirks of the platform, and tailor your content so that your efforts are actually beneficial.

Using LinkedIn for lead generation

LinkedIn is a professional / business social media platform and is useful for generating leads between business customers (B2B).

The nature of the platform sees a huge amount of data available to users, and this can be used to create targeted strategies for reaching prospects and generating leads. Using this platform can also see businesses take a wider approach, with executives and employees able to use their profile to promote the business through filling in relevant information.

Leads can be generated through LinkedIn by creating content, engaging with your audience, being involved with groups, and promoting the company through recommendations.

Using social media to nurture your leads

In order to develop and nurture your leads, you need to start by choosing the right platforms for your brand. Then you need to complete and optimise your presence (your profile) and be consistent in your posting schedules.

It is vital that your social media strategy is not a passive one – you need to reach out and connect with your audience (you cannot expect them to simply find you), and when customers comment or reach out to you – your responses should be timely and correct.

Lead generation using social media can be extremely targeted and personalised due to the vast amount of information available to you, and the more effort you put into using your data, the more effective you can make your strategy.

How TEB Lead Tracking can improve your leads

Monitoring and managing your leads and using data-driven strategy to improve your conversion rate is only one element that you need to consider in your overall sales strategy. When you use TEB Apps to handle your leads, you have access to flexible, customisable, and strategically developed programs that work for your needs now and in the future.

When you use TEB for your sales funnel, you will benefit from:

• Automated leads cycle – Helping you to boost your revenue and growth with a streamlined and highly efficient automated process.
  
• Project planning and development – Keeping you on track so you can maximise your opportunities whilst staying on budget and on time.
  
• Fully customisable services – Designed to fit your exact needs, and supported by full training as and when you need it.
• Insights into valuable lead sources – Discover what lead sources are your most valuable to focus more resources on it to win deals.

Request a call today, and find out for yourself how your social media strategy can take your business to the next level, supported by the tools and team that are focused on seeing you succeed.