6 social media lead generation ideas

Social media isn’t just a place to broadcast your marketing messages. It’s a place where you can connect with people who are interested in what you have to say, and maybe even buy what you’re selling. That might seem like an obvious statement, but so many businesses treat social media as if it’s nothing more than a megaphone for advertising. If you use social media only for broadcasting your marketing messages, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to build relationships with your potential customers and grow your business. But that doesn’t mean that using social media only for broadcasting is pointless. On the contrary, by using social media strategically and thoughtfully, you can attract new leads without ever having to spend a dollar on ads. Here are six ideas for lead generation with social media:

Hold a Twitter Q&A

Something many marketers overlook when it comes to lead generation on social media is the opportunity to host a Twitter Q&A session. Twitter is a unique social network because it’s driven in large part by conversation. Your followers want to know that you’re approachable, friendly, and willing to engage with them. If they know they can ask you anything, they’ll be more likely to become customers. A Q&A session is a great way to bring your followers closer to you, and it can also be used to generate leads. The trick to using a Twitter Q&A session to generate leads is to ask questions that are relevant to your business but not in your usual sales pitch tone. A good Twitter Q&A session should be very engaging. You want a high frequency of questions, so you should ask open-ended questions that are easy to ask but hard to answer quickly. Your Q&A sessions should focus on topics that are related to your product or service but only tangentially.

Host a Facebook Live Event

Another way to generate leads with social media is to host a Facebook Live event. Facebook has made this pretty easy by providing a simple scheduling tool, so you don’t even have to think about what you’re going to say. All you have to do is create an event and then live to stream it. During your Facebook Live event, you want to focus on building relationships rather than promoting your products. This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s important to remember that most of your viewers aren’t leads yet. They’re just people who are interested in what you have to say. Regardless of what you talk about, try to keep the event focused on the viewer. Ask them for feedback on your products, give them content that supplements your products, or even just answer their questions. This isn’t a time to sell, but it is a great opportunity to build a relationship with your potential customers.

Run a Contest for leads

Another great way to generate leads with social media is to run a contest. There are two main types of social media contests: photo contests and video contests. A photo contest is a great way to collect email addresses from your followers. All you have to do is create a targeted and engaging photo that promotes your products while remaining relevant to your audience. Then, you host a contest where people submit copies of the photo to win prizes like gift cards, coupons, or other items that would be useful to your target market. The catch is that you ask contestants to submit their email addresses with the photo submission.

Use ad lead generation, not branding

Another way to generate leads with social media is to use the ad lead generation features of your social media networks. For example, if you use Facebook for your business, you can use its ad lead generation features to find new leads. You can also do this on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and even LinkedIn. If you’re not currently using these ad features to generate leads, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to grow your business for free. To use these features effectively, you need to know how to create effective ad campaigns. You also need to know how to identify the best times and places to use them. Doing so can greatly increase the leads generated from social media without having to spend a dime on marketing.

Guest blog for lead generation

Another way to generate leads with social media is with guest blog posts. Guest blogging is a great way to build relationships with potential customers and influencers in your industry. Now, this doesn’t have to be a one-way street. If you approach potential guest bloggers with the right attitude, you can use that relationship to get leads. The key to using guest blogging to generate leads is to make sure that your guest posts aren’t purely sales pitches. Instead, they should be helpful and informational content that targets your audience. It should also include links back to your website. In exchange for hosting one of your guest posts on a popular website, that website’s owner should permit you to place a short link back to your website. You should also place your name and contact information somewhere on the page.

Summing up

Social media isn’t just a place to broadcast your marketing messages. It’s a place where you can connect with people who are interested in what you have to say, and maybe even buy what you’re selling. If you use social media only for broadcasting your marketing messages, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to build relationships with your potential customers and grow your business. However, by using social media strategically and thoughtfully, you can attract new leads without ever having to spend a dollar on ads. Try using Twitter Q&As, Facebook Live events, contest hosting, guest blogging, and using social media ad lead generation features to generate leads without ever having to spend a dime on marketing.