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by Chaitanya Patel
Social media marketing has slowly become the most happening and rewarding channel for lead generation. It is not only beneficial for B2C companies but equally effective in cases where B2B companies apply and implement tactful social media strategies.
It is a great way for marketers to leverage the channel and move beyond using it for brand awareness and engagement.
The process of B2B lead generation begins with defining your ideal customer and then attracting them to buy from you.
Your marketing strategy lays out how you’ll create brand awareness among potential customers for your products.
What strategies will you employ to entice additional businesses to join you? Which channels, digital or conventional, will you rely on the most? What resources do you require?
Is this something you can perform on your own, or will you need the assistance of a professional team?
So, let’s start with your ideal consumer, also referred to as a buyer persona.
A B2B buyer persona is more than just a lead or a contact. It’s the one who makes the final decision for your ideal client. To put it another way, this is the person who will actually agree to pay for your product.
As a result, in order to make this selection, you must consider what affects them.
Does it, for example, depend on their business’s behavior, motivation, or goals?
Is it more important to you that they have a good location or that they have a good brand and style?
Let’s consider an example where your company sells coffee beans. Is your ideal client a local cafe that focuses on high-quality coffee that can be sipped at leisure in a tranquil setting?
Or is it a network of coffee shops with the goal of luring people in with a takeout drink on their way to work in the early morning?
Hopefully, you can see how marketing your company can influence the type of customer you attract. Despite the fact that they both want to buy the same thing.
Social media has become an inevitable part of every individual’s life. The number of users on such platforms keeps increasing with every passing day.
An estimated number of social media users in the world by the year 2025
Apart from the appealing numbers that provide a guarantee that your next customer is currently browsing through their social media news feed, using these channels also has the following benefits:
Due to its enormous reach, social media is clearly one of the top marketing channels. Plus, it’s completely free! However, you must devote time and effort to it. If you don’t have that time, you may need to outsource to someone who can do it for you.
Of course, you can have a social media presence and people may come upon your page by chance. However, if you want your company to expand and generate leads, it’s critical that you master social media marketing.
There are numerous tactics and top recommendations for boosting B2B lead generation; but, for the sake of this post, the focus is on knowing how to leverage social media in particular.
To begin with, using as many social platforms as possible is beneficial in lead creation. This allows you to cast a wide net for your business and grab a large number of leads.
However, in order to get qualified leads, it’s also critical that you use social media effectively. Furthermore, while social media can help you establish your reputation and brand recognition, it can also harm it if used incorrectly.
So, how well-versed are you in social networking sites that can be used for B2B lead generation? Are you aware of the differences between LinkedIn and Instagram? Which is better: Facebook or Twitter?
Rather than spreading yourself too thin by attempting to produce leads on all five social networks, it’s better to concentrate on one or two. So, let us assist you in determining which platform is best for your company.
The stages to determining which platform is suitable for you are as follows:
Source
Like every other activity related to your business, your social media lead generation campaign should not be kickstarted without an end goal in mind. Although it’s obvious that lead generation is the aim, you’ll need to receive answers to inquiries like:
Make sure everything is in place for you to capture leads organically before you design your next social media lead generation campaign. Customers should be able to contact you, sign up for your newsletter, shop, and more through your profile.
Your contact information should be prominently displayed on your profile. However, before you add them, make sure you can respond to client inquiries via phone, email, Messenger, or another method.
Social media platforms provide ample opportunity to add an excellent CTA. Inserting the “Sign-Up” button to your Facebook Page for more newsletter subscribers or adding “Book”, “Reserve”, or “Get Tickets” action buttons to your Instagram or Facebook profiles is quite helpful while searching for an appointment, restaurant, or consultation bookings.
Add a link to your bio if more specialized options aren’t available. This area is frequently utilized on Instagram, but it can also be used on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
If possible, include a call-to-action that explains why people should click and what they may anticipate finding when they do.
You are bound to get no leads if your content isn’t engaging. That’s all there is to it. Keep in mind that everyone on social media is vying for your attention. And people’s attention spans are shorter than they’ve ever been.
Images should be sharp, and copies should be even sharper. If you want to create leads, make sure your creativity supports that goal. Ensure that each post has a CTA and click-worthy information entails within.
Here are a few additional clickable options that are accessible on various platforms:
There are social lead ads if you’ve exhausted organic lead collection methods or if you want to bolster those efforts.
There are specialized lead ad formats for advertisers on Facebook. These lead advertisements are just promoted forms. The leads generated by these ads can be synced directly to your customer management system or downloaded for follow-up by your sales team.
Instagram, like Facebook, offers lead advertisements to assist marketers to collect information. Similarly, it also allows users to partially pre-fill forms. In these adverts, you can pre-fill the email address, full name, phone number, and gender fields.
LinkedIn has a special ad format for lead generation as well. They are called Lead Gen Forms. These are now available on the platform as Message Ads and Sponsored InMail. LinkedIn, like Facebook and Instagram, leverages information from your profile to pre-fill parts.
A LinkedIn Lead Gen Form converts at a rate of 13% on average which is quite high when compared to other average conversion rates. Direct call-to-actions are also available in LinkedIn Dynamic Ads, which can assist generate leads.
YouTube has this algorithm that is intended to assist advertisers in achieving a certain goal, such as generating leads. These ads feature prominent call-to-action buttons that may take you to any website you like. Simply choose “Leads” as your aim when producing these adverts.
Other platforms, such as Pinterest and Twitter, do not have dedicated lead ad formats. Both platforms, however, include ad alternatives that can help with social media lead generation.
Agencies that specialize in lead generation are tasked with finding new customers and keeping in touch with them. Services such as research, b2b lead email generation, lead nurturing, and more are provided to businesses.
If a company is in need of new customers, they need to hire a local lead generation agency. Company owners expect all these lead gen processes to be managed by the agency.
Make it easy for others to share information with you by giving them a cause to do so. There are several incentives you may offer to sweeten the bargain depending on the type of lead you’re aiming to acquire.
Organizing a social media contest is an excellent approach to getting leads. Ask participants to contribute any information you’d like to discover as a condition of admittance.
Collaboration with an influencer or brand partners might help you expand the reach of your content.
Many companies provide clients with a discount code in exchange for signing up for their newsletter. Discount codes or rewards points encourage visitors to make a return visit to your site, and hopefully a purchase.
If you intend to provide one, make sure you have a plan in place for not only generating leads but also nurturing and converting them.
Gated content, such as whitepapers, invite-only webinars, or even access to secret Facebook Groups, might be persuasive incentives depending on your sector. To distribute a whitepaper, for example, it seems logical to ask for an email address.
However, you can also request job titles or other information that can help you with your marketing and business endeavors. Customers can choose to receive more information from your company if they want to.
Contests, discount codes, and access to unique content are all excellent incentives. But keep in mind that you must have a compelling cause to collect client information.
Tell customers what’s in it for them, whether it’s to give a high-quality email, foster loyalty, or offer future benefits.
B2B lead generation can seem like a daunting task. But the advent of social media has made it much easier for every company to reach its target audience.
These platforms also offer genuine insights through their analytics. Use an appropriate CMS and refine your content marketing strategies to boost B2B lead generation.
The above-mentioned steps are just the starting point. Once you start the process, get creative as you may find innumerable ways to generate leads through social media.
About the author
Chaitanya Patel is an ardent writer at SaaS Brothers, who generates best-in-class posts on a wide range of SaaS tools and techniques. He also produces well-researched and factual posts on strategic solutions for SaaS.