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A typical campaign to convert leads can cost a dollar on social media and four to five dollars on search engines.

The numbers don’t mean you should abandon all your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) efforts.

However, these can indicate how you can get a better bang for your buck when you generate leads on social media.

The million-dollar question is, where and how do you start?

This guide has you covered with these four time-tested social media marketing tips to help you generate leads effectively.

1. Share clickable content

Posting a photo on Instagram or Facebook isn’t always sufficient to generate leads.

Your content needs to be compelling enough—from the visuals to the copy—to entice your social media audiences to engage with your content and act on your offers.

You need to make your content click-worthy.

The best way to do this? Create and share clickable social media posts.

Some clickable posts you can create for various social media platforms include the following.

• Shoppable Instagram Stories and posts. Create shoppable posts on your Instagram Stories by adding product stickers to your image or video.

You can also add a link to your Instagram Story that users can click to go directly to the item’s product page.

The IG Story with a clickable link from clothing retail company Pull&Bear is a good example.

Image source: instagram.com.

• Facebook shoppable posts. Facebook lets you tag products from your FB Page catalog or shop in your videos and photos.

People can click on the tags within the photos. They get directed to your website if the image is from the product catalog or the product details on Facebook if it’s from your shop.

Other clickable social media content includes Pinterest’s Shop the Look Pins and the YouTube end screens and Cards.

Plan, schedule, and manage your clickable social media post creation and sharing seamlessly using reliable content calendar software. Doing so helps streamline your lead generation efforts. 

2. Optimize your social media profiles

Building trust plays a huge role in generating leads from social media.

After all, your prospects are more likely to engage with your content, click on your posts, and share their information if they trust your brand.

Optimizing your social media profiles is an excellent start to building this trust. It can help your brand come off as credible and trustworthy.

Ensure your social media profiles include information or methods to allow users to contact you, shop, and sign up for your newsletters (among others).

Optimize your profiles by adding other essential details, such as:

• Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons. Include CTAs that help you meet your lead generation efforts’ goals. For instance, if you want to increase sales, add a Shop Now CTA on your Instagram profile’s bio or a View Shop button on your Facebook page.

Clothing retailer Aerie’s Facebook page is a classic example.

Image source: facebook.com.

• Contact information. Provide contact details on your profile if you support customer inquiries.

Include your email, phone number, and links to your other communication options. For instance, share a link to your Messenger chatbot if you offer SEO services.

Doing so makes it easy for your leads to reach you and get answers about your services, such as inquiries on how to buy SEO articles with links. 

• Link in bio. Add a link in your bio to keep your profiles simple and less cluttered since you won’t need to include too many texts and details.

It can also help direct traffic to your website, increasing your opportunities to generate social media leads organically.

3. Run social media lead ads

If you want to speed up your social media lead generation efforts or boost your existing organic lead collection methods, run social media lead ads.

Below are some lead ads you can implement across various social media platforms.

• Instagram lead ads. IG lead ads include forms with pre-fill options to let you gather essential customer information to help fuel your lead generation and marketing efforts.

Create the lead ad and form in Facebook Ads Manager and include the details you want to collect, such as the email address, phone number, and name.

You can also run your Instagram lead ads on Facebook.

Image source: socialmediaexaminer.com.

• YouTube TrueView (for Action ads). The TrueView YouTube ad format is designed for marketers and advertisers to drive specific viewer actions, including generating leads.

The ads have obivous CTA buttons that link to your preferred website.

Configure your TrueView ad to generate leads by selecting Leads as your goal when creating the ad.

• LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. Like FB and IG lead ads, LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms can pre fill sections based on user profile information. You can also use LinkedIn’s Dynamic Ads with direct CTAs to support your lead generation efforts. For best results try to combine ads with organic methods to bring your costs down. You can also use LinkedIn automation tools if you’re pressed for time

Leverage the information and insights from the robust customer tracking software you use. It can help you create social lead ads that speak to your audience’s pain points, unique needs, and expectations.

It can also increase your chances of capturing more leads.

Also, follow reliable content writing best practices to nail your lead ad copy and messaging, boosting your lead generation initiatives. 

4. Offer irresistible incentives

Make it worthwhile for your leads to share their information with you.

An excellent approach is to offer incentives to help sweeten the deal, encouraging them to engage with your content and click on your CTAs.

Provide exciting and interesting incentives, such as:

• Discount codes. Provide discounts when prospects subscribe to your newsletter or act on your other offers. It helps encourage visits to your website and, in turn, purchases.

For instance, life coaching services Habits Mastery’s Instagram post invites audiences to sign up for the brand’s newsletter to get a 10% discount for an audio course.

Image source: instagram.com.

Develop a solid strategy to help you generate, nurture, and convert your social media leads down the line.

• Gated content. Leverage gated content to ask for lead information, such as the email address, in exchange for giving your prospects full access to your whitepapers, ebooks, etc.

• Contests and giveaways. Hosting contests is an effective way to collect leads. For example, run a contest that asks participants to sign up. Doing so allows you to gather lead information while giving your leads a chance to win something. 

Include your rewards and incentives in your content tracking strategy. It can help you determine which contests, giveaways, and other incentives work best to generate leads.

That said, provide a good reason to gather customer data and offer something valuable to help entice your leads to share their details.

Level up your social media lead generation efforts

While turning your social media pages into lead-generating machines doesn’t happen overnight, following proven tactics can help set your efforts up for success.

Learn social media lead generation best practices, use the best-fitting tools, and refine your strategy to supercharge your campaigns and initiatives.