As we mentioned in our October 2016 post, social media is much more than just another tool to complement your marketing strategy. It's become the most cost-efficient method of driving sales. Additionally, leveraging social media creates brand awareness, encourages social sharing, drives inbound leads, and contributes to an overflowing sales funnel.1
Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has become one of the most popular social media channels for lead generation. With approximately 936 million daily active users2, Facebook remains a top choice for most marketers because of this large amount of users, and its relative ease of use. One resource for B2B companies to convert Facebook users into business leads is to utilize the Lead Ads feature. Facebook will auto-populate form fills of your design with the users information for seamless and quick data capture.3
Other Facebook lead generation tactics are:
- Add a call-to-action to your cover image – and update it often to increase your visibility since the change shows up on news feeds
- Include tracking URLs – this ensures that your lead generation efforts can be monitored, measured and analyzed1
- Join groups – extend your brand conversation and relevance outside of your page by joining likeminded groups2
- Use paid ads – this will extend your reach, and it's cost-efficient with an average cost per click of $.80 for Facebook and $2.50 for AdWords4
Brands like Microsoft, AT&T, and MailChimp are flocking to Instagram as a new tool for generating leads. With over 300 million users, this visually-led social network is quickly becoming a hotspot for marketers seeking brand engagement. According to writer Beverly Reinemann, "[Instagram's] about connecting with your audience and moving away from the self-centered, sales-orientated advertising that just doesn't work for B2B brands anymore." Instagram should be leveraged to establish long-term connections with your target audience, demonstrate your skills, and humanize your brand, all while generating leads.5
Some tips for using Instagram are:
- Utilize hashtags – four to five hashtags can garner 21 interactions per 1,000 followers, however the interactions decline with five or more hashtags, so don't go overboard6
- Create a personal hashtag – a hashtag gives you an opportunity to interact and monitor prospects and visitors who interact with your business on given issues.7 Microsoft is a prime example of this with their #DoMore campaign5
- Add a personal touch – product demos, staff activities and team get-togethers make your company more relatable, thus increasing trust, engagement, and improving lead generation efforts1
- Track your ROI – Instagram offers an analytics tool, which gives you an overview of your marketing strengths, weak points, and level of engagement
To further strengthen your lead generation efforts in social media, we urge you to take advantage of resellerCONNECT's marketing portal. The portal offers syndicated content from top vendors such as Microsoft, Brocade, Cisco, and many more. From the portal, you can view and choose vendors' Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts to push to your Twitter feed. This is free, targeted content to help boost your feed and engage your customers.
Send us a message or call us at 800-500-3501 today to discover how we can use our marketing expertise to help leverage social media.
Stay tuned for next month's post where we'll talk about another missed opportunity—the "Contact Us" page.
