Don’t overlook the power of generating leads through social media

We’ve talked about how great social media can be for providing quick business updates and building up a loyal customer base. To further utilize your social media channels and make them work more for you, don’t forget their lead generation capabilities. Customer engagements and a sense of community are great and shouldn’t be overlooked, but they are impossible to track ROI (return on investment) with. Luckily, if you’re the sort of business owner who likes to see proof of performance of your marketing efforts, social media has options for you there. 

Some aspects of social media lead gen do require a little bit of marketing budget to make them work for you. Every social media platform has an advertising function that allows you to post a variety of ads. If you’ve ever scrolled through Facebook or Twitter yourself, you’ve seen them. Based on audience characteristics, geography, and a few other factors you can build a social media advertising campaign to directly reach out to your target audience. Some timely opportunities coming up could be Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl, and the start of spring – depending on what products and services you offer. If the thought of setting up and running an ad campaign is intimidating or something you don’t think you have time for, you can employ Direct Local’s services to make the process simple and easy.  

Social media is also a great tool for running contests that create lead generation. It requires a little investment from you to ensure the prize is something worth trying to win, but it can help you grow your social media reach and provide you with a wider audience. Across different platforms common approaches include asking contestants to tag friends, share pictures, or vote on a potential new product. These contests can create more followers and more interested customers for you, but if you get creative it can also provide you with valuable customer feedback. 

Extra elements that can make your social media strategy a cut above your competition’s include ideas like live-streams. Maybe go live and show your followers something fun like how a popular product is made, or go live and allow viewers to ask questions of the owner. Experiment, consult with Direct Local, and see what marketing mix works best for you and your customers.