Want to generate new leads for your business?

Perhaps it’s time to shift your thinking into how you can leverage the power of social media in your marketing mix. Why is it important to consider social media as a potential tool for lead generation?

Check the stats below.

1. Almost 3 billion people will be on social media by 2021.

2. A 2014 social media report by Shareaholic revealed that the top 8 social media networks drove 31.24% of overall traffic to sites.

With the vast majority of people switching to social networks for brand awareness, the number traffic from social media is likely to double.

Do you need help generating leads from your business social media accounts? We’re giving you 7 social media solutions that will boost leads. Click here.

So, if you are not using social media as a part of your marketing strategy, you could be losing a lot of traffic to the competition.

Here are the 7 social media solutions that will generate leads to your site.

1. Use Social Data to Identify Leads

Did you know that 81% of millennials check Twitter at least once per day (Pew research)?

Did you also know that LinkedIn has over 106 million active monthly users? Getting the social numbers right can help you identify where prospects hang out.

People reveal a lot about themselves on social media. Besides maintaining social profiles, many people use social media to keep abreast of industry trends. Others use it to solicit opinions and recommendations when making buying decisions.

As a marketer, you should use the public user-generated data on social networks to identify your target prospects. Once you have identified potential leads, you can devise ways of engaging them proactively.

Through the use of available social lead generation tools, you can quickly identify people who fit in your buyer persona.

An astute move would be to identify individuals who mention issues in your market segment, follow your competitors or mention industry influencers.

For example, if you are looking to reach software engineers who might be interested in testing apps, you can quickly go to Twitter and search for people with “software engineer” in their job title.

You can also follow people who mention certain keywords related to your niche in their tweets.

2. Social Media Advertisements

One of the guaranteed social media solutions for generating high-quality leads is the use of social media advertisements.

Social media advertisements allow you to target a specific audience based on their interest, age, location, etc.

Facebook paid adds, for example, let you define the number of people you want to reach (based on your budget) and their geographical location.

You can even target leads from a different continent – a feature that can boost your brand awareness internationally.

The beauty of social media advertisements is that you can promote new and existing posts. You can also define the period when you want the boosted post to run.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms also let you collect quality leads from nearly 500 million professionals who use LinkedIn.

3.Targeted Social Media Listening

Targeted social media listening entails tracking conversations around certain keywords, phrases, or brands on social channels. It’s one of the social media solutions that can help you boost and maintain social media reputation.

How can social media listening help you to generate leads?

By listening to what people are saying on social media, you can tailor your blog posts to meet the needs of those conversing. Doing so can open up lead generation opportunities.

By using search tools to monitor important handles and keywords in your industry, you can uncover conversations customers are saying about important features they want in a product.

You can then reach out and establish a connection with the people behind the conversations. This way, you can share valuable information about your products and build a relationship that will convert them to customers.

4. Engage in Social Selling

Social selling is all about relationship building. It combines the elements of social listening and sales practices.

A Forrester survey that involved 265 marketing influencers found that 49% of B2B enterprises had already employed social selling in their marketing strategy. 28% of the respondents said they were in the process of implementing it.

To get started with social selling, you need to build your credibility, extend your network, and get in social groups. Twitter, for instance, is a great tool for social listening while Facebook comes in handy for customer engagement.

You can also use social media selling tools such as Amplify for Selling, which makes it easier for the sales team to generate leads on social media.

5. Use Geotagged Search

Use of geotagged search is one of the best social media solutions to uncover local leads.

Most businesses already know the power of geotagging for social media posts to reach the customers closest to their business.

Think about it this way. If you run a gym or a health and fitness club in Tampa Bay, Florida, who’d be the greatest leads for that business? Anyone in Tampa Bay area who loves bodybuilding exercises.

Geotagged social search can help you to reach out to these people and invite them to your business.

6. Host a Webinar or a Live Video

Webinars are one of the best-performing social media solutions when it comes to putting your business in direct contact with prospects.

Regardless of the topic, webinars work great at directing participants to your blog posts, product pages, and landing pages.

Just like webinars, live videos can also direct prospects to your products page. You can present the video as gated content, where viewers will be required to register first by providing their contact information.

You can also use a live video to direct viewers to your website’s landing page, where they can get offers or take contests. Encourage maximum participation by offering rewards to those who participate.

7. Use Gated Content

Gated Content is one of the most commonly used online tactics for lead generation. It requires the reader to go through a process, like filling a form to gain access to premium content.

You can use social media to promote a specific piece of premium content on your website that addresses a prospect’s needs. Content can range from landing page videos to free webinars, whitepapers, or e-books.

When prospects click your gated content on social media platforms, they are directed to a landing page where they’ll have to provide contact information to access the premium content.

The beauty of gated content is that you only get quality leads as those not interested in your offer are not likely to fill out the forms.

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Final Thoughts on Social Media Solutions for Lead Generation

At the end of the day, you want all your marketing activities to attract prospects, who are a good fit, and ready to convert to potential customers.

Social media provide new ways to discover, interact, nurture, and build fruitful relationships with prospects.

And through targeted social listening, you’ll not only discover what customers want, but what they are saying about your products too.

For more information about how to generate quality leads for your business, get in touch with us.