It is important to keep an ear on the ground and listen to the needs of your customers. One of the techniques that really helps is social listening. This is the listening to what people are saying on social media about your competitors, the industry, your brand and pain points. Whether the talk is about you or your competitors it can be a source leads as well as conversions.
Where do you start on social media? Many people make the mistake of turning to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin then assuming that what they are doing enough. While these three major social sites are important, it is important to make use of other social networks such as Pinterest and Instagram. However, the decision as to where to start begins by knowing your audience better so to understand where majority can be found.
How to generate leads on social media
Here are some tips that will help you generate leads via social media:
Promote gated content online
This refers to content that requires you to leave some contact information before you access it. For example, by providing a webinar through your social channels that requires interested parties to leave their contacts. These contacts can then be used later on for channeling sales messages.
Contests
This involves planning contests that make use of the product that you intend to offer to your prospective customers. For example, the contest may entail a free trial of the product. People who enter the contest are more likely to be those who are genuinely interested in your product, thus they can be a good target to your sales team.
Advertise on social media
This is the most powerful social media leads generation tool. These ads should be limited to certain groups of people or those in particular geographical locations. For example, Facebook lets you choose your target audience depending on their behavior or ages.
Expand and establish your expertise
In order to gain an edge over you competitors, you need to position yourself as an expert in your field. This can be easily done by solving specific customer problems on social media or on blogs. Customers seek information on how to solve their problems and thus you can help them out by providing them with the information and resources that they require.
The key to generating leads from social media is pretty straightforward. Listen to your customers, offer them the information and resources that they need and keep self-promotion to the minimum.