Excluding managers and young startups who do not think the digital age is an insurmountable mountain, today’s generation which has leadership skills, often underestimates social media and social media marketing.
However, social networks play a vital role, particularly in the success of marketing activities. Moreover, it offers an endless sea for lead collection. As you can see,whether you have a B2B or B2C company, you cannot exclude social media channels from your marketing strategy if you are looking for potential customers in 2021! The reason is quite simple: Social networks have millions of subscribers!
However, all of them will not be your customers, of course. Then how can you find your future customers among them? Here are five strategies to collect leads with social media marketing!
Through social media marketing, your brand can engage with its target audience. Thus, you can both learn more about the people you are addressing and understand their needs better.Moreover, you can get their information, that is, collect leads, and have the chance to have direct communication with each of them. Let’s take a look at how you can do these with social media marketing.
1. Generate leads with ads
Considering social media marketing, advertising on social platforms is among the first methods that come to mind. However, when collecting leads through social media marketing, remember that advertising is only the first step of a long journey. That’s because the advertisements on social media give you an idea of where you can find your target audience and help you verify the strategy you have adopted.
Algorithms can demonstrate content related to users’ searches, thus displaying ads that match their interests. You can also benefit from most of the social media platforms through interest-based targetingto create potential customers. Also, you can identify which ones are more effective for you and develop profiles of your potential customers based on the results you will get through advertising campaigns.
2. Organize social media contest and give gifts
Everyone loves gifts. Therefore, we recommend you consider organizing a social media contest that gives prizes and running a raffle. Therefore, you can encourage people to fill out and share the gift request form or the entry form on social media platforms. In this way, you can collect leads and prepare a natural environment for WOM (Word of Mouth) marketing. You can use the leads collected for e-mail marketing and inform your potential customers about your special campaigns or the products or services you offer.
3. Create surveys to increase interaction
Do you want to determine whether your potential customers need your product/service or understand how you can improve your product/service? Then ask them! Your potential customers can be your guide for new development areas. Creating surveys is the best way to make this happen. Through the surveys you will open to participation on social media, you can learn your potential customers’ opinions and get their contact information, such as e-mail and phone.
People usually enjoy it when someone asks them questions and want to learn their views. However, this may not always be the case. Utilizing some incentive elements to increase participation may also be necessary. You can encourage them with an offer such as “Participate in our survey and benefit from our premium service for three months free of charge”. Thus, you can turn your prospects into customers, improve your products or services by evaluating the survey results, and create a loyal audience. Just a short but important note: Remember to give feedback to your available and potential customers regarding the decisions you made or the features you developed based on the survey results!
4. Let your potential customers be partners of your sales
Pursuing common goals is among the most effective ways to acquire potential customers. Well, what kind of goals are we talking about? Making a profit, of course! For example, if you use infrastructure such as WordPress for your website, you can create a system where users who want to promote your product/service can receive a commission on each sale through a referral link. You can customize this link with a nickname, share it on social media, and make it trackable.
Let’s give a more concrete example: XYZ company develops software and puts it into service online for 200 TRY per month. The company’s website has a system that gives a 10% discount or commission on each sale made through referral links. This system is a significant incentive to turn your prospects into customers. Thus, you can acquire new customers, learn a lot of information, such as with whose reference they have come and their other connections, and use them in your marketing practices.
5. Hold live broadcasts or webinars on your social media accounts
Engaging directly with your audience means getting to know them better. The live broadcasts and webinars you will hold on the social media platforms they use actively are perfect for them to find a real interlocutor, learn more about you, thus, trust you. You can answer their questions and collect their feedbacks to build awareness about your products/services. You can also have the chance to create awareness for your brand in the market in which you operate and position it as a reference point. More importantly, the registration forms of live broadcast or webinar you will create are tailor-made for collecting leads. So you can collect leads through participation lists, invite them to the next live broadcast or webinar, and easily find your future customers.
