3 Crucial Points For Generating Leads via Social Media

A new social media marketer is born every minute, as new and old businesses jump onto Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. This is reasonable – With hundreds of millions of people active on each network, from all backgrounds and different interests, it’s important to create interesting content and to get in front of them. I’d like to share three pointers that I’ve developed from working with dozens of businesses to develop their social media presence and generate leads. If you have your own ideas as well or things you’ve seen businesses stumble on when getting started, I’d love to hear them as well!

Tip One: Make Your Offer Very Specific

A very common mistake that marketers make when promoting their offers on their social media profile is not making it clear what will happen next when someone converts. Visitors always like to know very clearly what they are getting in return for their contact information, or if it’s really going to be helpful for them. If you’re offering them an eBook, webinar, or other specific editorial content, just make it clear in your offer exactly what it is. You may have seen them do this on a lot of TV infomercials, too. They don’t just say, “Call now for our bonus offer”, but instead something more like, “Call now, and you’ll get a 10-page eBook for free too!” It isn’t any different in social media – Tell the people what they will receive, and they’ll be much hungrier to get it.

Tip Two: Vary Up Your Content

All online marketing follows the ABCs: Always Be Creating. Or, maybe that’s “Always Brewing Coffee”. Either way, one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a growing social media marketer is to not try out different offers on your audience and see if you can get more leads through different items. Different people will often respond differently to types of content. For example, not everyone enjoys watching recorded webinars, and would much rather read an eBook or use your free trial instead. At HubSpot, that is a big part of why our best offers are our “kits”, like our Lead Generation kit. They come with several different types of content that are all available behind just one form, so that there’s something for everyone. If someone doesn’t like one type of content or isn’t as interested, there is still a good chance of offering content to them that they’ll like. One great way to make sure that you’re maximizing your presence in social media is to rotate offers, try out new types of content, and see what visitors could be interested in your content but haven’t converted yet.

Tip Three: Don’t Make Them Hunt For Forms

Don’t be afraid to place your offers across your social media profiles. When someone arrives at your Facebook page and they don’t Like you yet, invite them to Like you via an image. Afterwards, show them an offer or form to convert on. It’s the perfect time – You’ve already established that they are interested in you and want to learn more and engage. Start collecting qualified leads from those interested people, don’t ignore them. Be forward with the people that have said it’s okay. Remind people that while you want to engage and produce interesting conversations, you’re also a business and you want to find out if any of them are interested in your products. By making it easy for people to become a lead and providing good offers, you are sure to see your leads from social media increase dramatically. It’s easier to walk the line of self-promotion and community building if your offers and content are natural and available but not in the way.

Have you seen other great tactics across social media? Let us know!

Photo by FranceHouseHunt

——–

The following is a guest post by Brian Whalley, a marketer at HubSpot. HubSpot is a marketing software company that helps businesses become more successful with online lead generation.