Eight Tips for Finding Leads Via Social Media

Eight Tips for Finding Leads Via Social Media:

from Business 2 Community by Mel Soutar


Social media is a sales channel right? If my brand is on social media, the leads will come flooding in… I will also find red hot leads by checking out company profiles on LinkedIn and I will never have to pay for a PPC / SEO / email marketing campaign again!
Ok, maybe it’s not that simple, but all is not lost. Social media offers a multitude of opportunities for us sales types – we just have to approach them cleverly…
Here are a few tips on how to generate leads from social media – most of them involve building relationships for the future, but keep the faith! After all, today’s engagement is tomorrow’s client.

1.Engage with opt-in email subscribers

It’s a great idea for businesses to use social media to engage with an opt-in list of email subscribers. It’s not enough to just email them to let them know you are on Facebook, Pinterest etc. If you are going to ask for a ‘follow’ or a ‘like’, you need to give them an incentive – perhaps you will be running exclusive competitions and promotions which won’t be promoted via email.

2. Follow prospects

Identify brands you would like to work with and follow them. Some use their social presence to announce when they are looking for a product or service. This is one way to pick up opportunities, but these are quite rare.

3. Ask the opinion of your audience

Get to know them. This means you will create engagement and learn about their pain points. This will provide fantastic insight into who they are, what language they use and could help form your next marketing campaign…

4. Engage with your clients and prospects

You will learn a lot and can join in with their conversations. Social media is a longer burn when it comes to looking for leads so nurture the long term relationship. This is particularly useful on LinkedIn. Send a useful link to someone if you’ve published content on a topic they are discussing. Don’t send promotional content, only useful, valuable ‘how to’ and advice pieces initially.

5. Turn social likes into trust

By publishing high quality, authoritative content on your social media platforms, you will become the go-to person in your industry.

6. Think of social media as a real life conversation

You have to take a break and listen from time to time. If you just poured an endless stream of ‘let me tell you about my business’ at someone at a dinner party, they would soon be face down in the soup. Stop, listen and engage.

7. Take an interest in ALL comments

Don’t just engage with comments that sound like they might lead to imminent business. The interested parties of today are the clients of tomorrow, next month or even next year. These are valuable relationships.

8. Be methodical

Take a systematic approach. You can’t dip in and out of social media if you are going to be successful. Set aside time to publish valuable content and to engage your audience regularly.