Eight Ways to Generate Leads Using Social Media

Sales leads are the holy grail of social media marketing objectives. The potential to reach millions of people and convert them into customers is what drives companies to spend hours on end honing their social media skills (or hire someone to do it for them).

At this point, it’s no secret that social media gives businesses, small and large, an opportunity to connect with consumers in a whole new way. Companies that don’t adapt will pay the consequences in the form of missed opportunities. Unfortunately for some, that means learning a whole new process for generating sales leads. Learning what works best for your company will take time, but here are eight tips to get you started.

1. Target Your Followers

In marketing, we’re always talking about “target audience.” Marketing is all about getting your message across, but if you don’t convey the message to the right audience, you might as well not even send the message in the first place. The same is true for social media. It’s great to have thousands of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, but if those followers aren’t interested in your business and what you have to offer, what’s the point in courting their “friendship?”

Sure you could make the argument that anyone can be converted into a customer. But I’d argue that’s not always the case. If your product or service is very gender-specific or age-specific, it would be awfully hard to convert people outside of your target market into customers.

2. Call to Action

When you look at your Facebook page and your Twitter profile, is it clear what you want your followers to do? Do you have calls to action that are consistent with the goals for your social media marketing campaign?

For example, let’s say one of the goals for your social media campaign is to generate sales leads. You should periodically encourage followers to set up a meeting with you, order from your e-commerce site, or embed a contact form within your Facebook page. Don’t be affraid of the “ask.”

3. Declare Expert Status

Thought leadership is a great way to instill confidence in your followers and convince them that your business is the only business worth patronizing in your industry. Show that you are passionate and knowledgeable about what you do by writing and maintaining a blog. Share helpful tips on Facebook and LinkedIn. You’ll be surprized how a little good advice can make a huge difference in someone’s oppinion of you.

4. Be the Non-Salesperson

Have you ever heard anyone proclaim their love for salespeople? I haven’t. Probably because they are notorious for being pushy, dishonest, and greedy. Even if that isn’t true of you personally, as soon as you let it be known that you’re trying to sell something, people tend to put their guard up. Try grabbing people’s attention by not displaying those characteristics, but by simply being helpful and friendly with your social media followers. They’re bound to take notice and remember you for that.

5. Join the Conversation

Notice I said join the conversation, not, dominate the conversation. A conversation is a two-way street. One where you take turns talking and listening. Social media is a great medium for conversations to take place between you and your potential customers. You can listen by monitoring what people are saying about your business, and talk by teaching followers what your business is all about and how they can stand to benefit from what you have to offer.

6. Think Like Your Customers

This goes hand in hand with speaking to your target market on the social networks. Think about what your ideal customer really wants and how you can be the one to provide it. For example, if your own a restaurant, don’t run a contest where the prize is a gas card. Sure, everyone could use free gas, but that’s not going to attract the kind of attention you want. Instead, reward them with an incentive to come to your restaurant. Make sure their dining experience is flawless to guarantee their return.

7. Distribute the Workload

Have you ever heard cold calling referred to as a “numbers game?” It means that the more people you call, the better your odds are of actually getting someone to bite on what it is you’re selling. I hate to compare social media marketing to telemarketing, but this is one similarity between the two.

So how do you get numbers to work in your favor with social media? Get more people involved. Make social media an office-wide practice to broaden your reach. Make sure everyone has been trained and educated on your social media policy and the goals you’re trying to achieve.

8. Integrate e-mail with Social Media

E-mail marketing is a great tool for generating leads. Since people have to subscribe to receive your e-newsletters, chances are those people are actually interested in your business and are more likely to convert to customers if they aren’t already. Gaining e-newsletter subscribers also adds to your rolodex of potential customers. E-mail marketing is a more direct way to contact potential customers and it gives you the ability to convey more information than a simple Facebook post or Tweet. The key is to incorporate your e-mail strategy into your social media campaign. Make the connection by posting a link to the newsletter on your social networks and embed the social share buttons within the newsletter.

Social media marketing shouldn’t be all about generating leads and selling, but it is undeniably a huge part of it. Unless social media does something for your company’s bottom line, it can be really hard to justify the effort that goes into it. The key to generating leads using social media is to be patient and don’t be the pesky sales person that everyone’s trying to avoid.