With nearly 3 billion active users, Facebook is the biggest social media site on the planet. That makes it a significant opportunity for marketers interested in performing targeted sales outreach on social media platforms. But if you’ve never generated sales leads on Facebook, begin by doing some research. Some of your favorite methods may work great on the platform, while others may be a waste of your time and resources. That’s why we’ve put together this article. It’s a complete guide for generating leads to fill your sales pipeline on Facebook. Let’s get started.
Is targeting leads on Facebook a good idea?
Nowadays, marketers have a wide variety of advertising channels to choose from. That means you may not be fully committed to investing your limited resources to generate more leads from Facebook.
But here’s why the popular social media platform is worth your attention.
The most obvious reason is the sheer number of users on the platform – there will be no shortage of opportunities for your company to pursue.
Additionally, Facebook lets you connect with new sales leads in ways that feel more organic. Instead of performing targeted sales outreach via banner ads or annoying pop-ups, you can show up in a user’s social media feed, where they’re more likely to pay attention to what you have to say.
You can even sell products and services directly through your Facebook page. That means you don’t necessarily have to worry about getting the leads that you find on the platform back to your website (though it’s often a good idea to do so).
You can simply find and convert leads without ever transporting them elsewhere. There are very few other advertising channels that will afford you this convenience.
How to Generate Leads From Facebook
Know your target audience and what they want
No matter what new marketing channel you’re targeting, it’s essential to start with an excellent understanding of your target audience. You have to know who they are and what they want before you can reach out to them in a way that will attract their interest.
You don’t have to perform this research on Facebook. If you already have a good understanding of what you’re looking for in a sales lead elsewhere, then you can import that to your targeted sales outreach efforts on Facebook.
If you need help with defining your target audience, here are some tips:
- Conduct interviews with existing customers
- Analyze the competition and the industry at large
- Create buyer personas to split your audience into sub-categories
- Use analytics tools like LeadLander
Run contests to fill your sales pipeline
Contests are an effective way to reach your target audience on Facebook. To run one, first create a Facebook ad that advertises the contest prize. Once people click on the link to enter, have them provide their email address (and potentially other sales lead information) so you can get them into your sales pipeline.
It’s generally best to give away prizes directly tied to your company, such as one of your products or a product or a gift card. This ensures the only people who enter your contest are those who genuinely care about what you have to offer.
Give Away Something for Free
We talked in the last section about how contests can help you fill your sales pipeline. But only one person ends up getting what they want from these.
That’s why you might also consider giving away something for free. That way, you can attract even more traffic to your site and build a more substantial brand reputation.
For example, you might sell marketing services. You could use your Facebook page to link back to a blog or a video on your website that tells people how to get more leads for free. Then, you can use that blog post to convert some of the traffic into paying customers.
Advertise gated content on your Facebook page
You may already use gated content to attract sales leads through other channels. But you might not have thought about advertising them on your Facebook page.
An excellent way to do this is to write a series of related articles or case studies. Compile these into a single ebook that provides in-depth information and analysis on a topic that’s relevant to your target audience.
After that, you can put together an engaging Facebook ad that you display to members of your target audience. People who click on the ad will have to give you their email address to access the content.
Target lookalike audiences
On Facebook, lookalike audiences are users you haven’t discovered yet who share characteristics with existing leads or customers. If your customers are all from the same geographic area, a lookalike audience would include people you haven’t discovered yet who also live in that area.
The process for this is pretty straightforward on Facebook. Here’s how to do it:
- Put together a list of current leads or customers
- Import them into Facebook’s Ads tool to create a custom audience
- Click “create similar audience” on the tool page
- Run Facebook ads targeted to the lookalike audience
Build more interactivity into your page
Research shows that interactivity tends to boost a company’s lead generation performance. Apply this to your Facebook page.
The way to achieve that is to be more responsive to customer inquiries. When someone comments on your post or sends you a message, answer quickly and comprehensively as often as possible.
Doing this will be beneficial to both your lead generation process and your brand reputation. It will help you generate more sales leads by giving you opportunities to form connections with potential customers. And it will strengthen your reputation for being an accessible brand to work with.
Make it easy for sales leads to get to your website
Though Facebook is a great place to find new leads, it isn’t necessarily where you want to do your converting. For that, you generally want to use your website. That means a pivotal thing to think about while generating leads through Facebook is how you will get those leads to your site.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to link back to your website whenever you post a Facebook ad. That way you don’t have to worry about taking extra steps with someone who has shown an interest.
Don’t neglect your landing pages here, either. They need to be relevant to your target audience and easy to navigate. Otherwise, you risk losing the leads you manage to bring over from Facebook.
Who shouldn’t use Facebook for lead generation?
Any company can use Facebook to generate more sales leads. However, it may not be as impactful for B2B businesses as it is for B2C.
That’s because Facebook users are individuals, not companies. And when people use the site, they’re generally looking to engage with their social circle, not thinking about business.
A B2B company may be better off spending its limited marketing dollars on another social media platform, like LinkedIn instead. Or, if a B2B company chooses to pursue Facebook-based advertising, it will need to be very targeted in its approach and messaging.
Make the Most Out of Facebook Sales Leads with LeadLander
For most companies, the goal of generating leads on Facebook is to get those leads back to their website. But you still need to make sure you have the systems and tools in place that enable you to maximize your leads.
LeadLander is perfect for this. Our website visitor tracking software tells you everything you need to know about who’s visiting your website and their activity.
You can use the information that our tool provides to:
- Validate interest from existing leads
- Discover new leads
- Identify which parts of your site are performing best (and which need to be improved)
You can sign up for a free 14-day trial of LeadLander today to experience the value we provide yourself.
