As we move deeper and deeper into the digital revolution, there are more opportunities to generate a steady stream of leads than ever before. Between social media, your website, automated journeys, blog posts and everything in between, there are opportunities everywhere to get people’s attention and convert them into leads.
If you are feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, we’ve come up with a lengthy list of ideas you can use to generate more leads than ever.
Content Planning & Social Media
Content planning gives you the tools you need to use social media for lead generation. You need to understand your audience fully before you begin creating content to suit their needs and wants. When you have your content planned, you can post it on your social channels at peak times and reach as many of your receptive followers as possible for the optimum lead generation outcome possible.
The beauty of social media is that it is in real time. You must respond to real-time comments and engagement as quickly as possible. Be aware of local or national events, sales and holidays. You’ll need to be part of the conversation when key moments happen, or opportunities arise so that you increase your reach to new audiences when the time arises.
By creating a conversation with your content, you are engaging with potential customers and reaching more and more people. Ask for their opinions and thoughts, create a poll so they get involved with your content or simply ask them to comment or tag their friends. By interacting with your social media followers, the chances they will remember your brand or services are higher.
Content Types
Here are some types of content to promote on Facebook to create an e-mail list and generate more leads:
- eBooks
- Mini-courses
- Checklists
- Tip Sheets
- How-to Guides
- Planners
- Templates
- FAQ Sheets
- Worksheets
- Webinar
The 5-3-2 Formula guide for Social Media Posting
5 posts – Content from others, relevant to your audience – networking
Five posts that include anything like a retweet or share of an article or another company’s blog post. It should always be relevant to your target audience. For example, if you sell modern furniture, a good post could be an article from a popular furniture designers’ blog. It’s also essential that you spend the time to create a summarised opinion with the article or video that you decide to post or share, giving your trusted audience an insight on why you feel the article or content is of value.
But why not just write your own article instead of sharing someone else’s content? Well, the key to social networking is “networking”. Your business by itself may only have a small fan or follower base. However, if another larger company returns the favour and shares some of your content in the future, then your following will grow and it will boost your SEO efforts too.
3 posts – Content from you (Avoiding Direct Sales Pitches) – Nurturing
Three posts that should be content from you (again relevant to your target audience) without directly selling your products/services. It’s about selling your company or brand’s image. Give your audience an original message, article or video which will interest them. To go back to the furniture example above, one of these posts could be about thoughts/opinion on the latest trending furniture or interior design. Bear in mind that being original doesn’t mean that you have to write about a new topic, rather it is more important to give an honest perspective on an interesting topic relevant to your industry or services that your business offers.
2 posts – Personal, fun content to help humanise your brand – Novelty
Two posts to help humanise your image or voice. Even if it’s from a branded social media outlet as opposed to the account of an individual, this is still social media marketing. Always remember that real people follow you and that means that they usually need a break from the business side of life. So how about celebrating a glorious sunset from your workplace or being thankful for your customers and clients on Thanksgiving Day?
Just remember not to become a sales orientated, social media posting robot. Instead, try to post something about your day/co-workers or share that funny or inspiring video or picture that could make your channel more relatable. Think of these two posts as your culture posts.
The 5-3-2 method prevents you from talking about yourself all day or overwhelming your audience with posts. Obviously, there are many variations of how the 5-3-2 formula can be used and this will depend on your industry or area of business. But by following this outline and spreading your content out in the timespan of a week it sets an ideal standard for every ten posts.
Webform
This is a standard feature of all websites and as people are generally looking for more information or have a query you should make sure that this contains basic contact fields as it will be more inviting for people to fill out. For example, name and email will suffice here as people may be unwilling to give their phone number at this point.
Use your website visitor tracking to see which web pages get the most traffic. Make sure these web pages have attractive subscription forms, or clear CTAs.
Live Chat
While we know that this is not for every type of business, having a live chat option on your site is both a great way to gather leads and to improve customer service.
Having a friendly human to talk to when you have a question can be the difference in a positive experience and a negative review on social media. Live chat can also be ‘gated’ so that before engaging in conversion they’ll have to give over some basic contact details. Hey presto – you’ve got a lead!
Pop-Ups
A somewhat divisive topic, because we’ve all come across annoying pop-up ads before. However, if they are done well they can be a great lead capture source. The key is to offer something beneficial and special, that way it won’t be a nuisance.
A good rule of thumb for style is clean and simple with minimal text. So, for example, a solid colour background with a header and a call to action shouldn’t be too intrusive.
Guest Bloggers and Webinars
Collaborate with other experts in the same field as yourself and offer either a joint service. This could be in the form of a webinar, or Facebook Live, or ask them to pen a guest post for your blog. If possible, try and work with someone who would be new and different to your already established audience. This means their audience will follow them over to your channel and you will hopefully gain new followers or subscribers.
More from Zymplify on Lead Generation:
How to create an effective lead generation strategy
How social media affects lead generation
A beginner’s guide to lead generation: What you need to know
