A Comprehensive Guide to Social Media Lead Generation

With a user base of more than 4.5 billion, social media offers marketers a plethora of lead-generation opportunities.

But, how to do social media lead generation the right way?

If you're new to social media (SM) leads, consider this article a primer. For everyone else, this article provides a refresher and several up-to-date tactics for generating more quality leads using SM.

Table of Contents

• What is a social media lead?
• What is social media lead generation?
• Best platforms for social media lead generation
• How to generate organic leads via social media
• How to generate paid leads via social media
• Get new leads today

What is a social media lead?

A social lead is someone who has expressed an interest in your company's products or services after viewing your social media profiles.

Social leads are more qualified than general web traffic because they have already shown an interest in what you have to offer before you contact them via other channels. That makes it easier to convert the lead into a customer.

A lead is merely a phone number, an address, or ID that allows marketers to better target their target market. For marketing purposes, marketers often want an email address or a phone number.

What is social media lead generation?

The process of generating leads for a business via social media platforms is known as social media lead generation. It is critical to understand that social media lead generation is more than just increasing a company's likes or followers. Instead, it is about increasing the number of qualified leads for your brand.

Here’s why social media should be a significant part of your lead generation process.

Improve brand positioning: With more individuals using social media to generate revenue for businesses, capturing the attention of your target audience has never been simpler.

Build new connections: You may grow your audience and build your connections by posting useful information, responding quickly to their questions, and appreciating their comments.

Boost website traffic: Social media provides several options to attract visitors and turn them into leads.

Related guide: How to Use B2B Marketing Automation to Convert Leads

Best platforms for social media lead generation

The best platform for your business is whichever one your customers use the most out of the ones shown below.

1. YouTube

When you optimize your video channel with keyword-focused titles and descriptions, you may reach a larger audience than you might with traditional marketing methods. Video marketing may also assist you in establishing your brand and improving your search rankings.

2. Facebook

Sending them to a landing page with your offer is one of the top lead generating strategies on Facebook. If you want to boost your Facebook lead generation, start using videos to present and promote your content, whether it's deals, events, courses, or something else.

3. Instagram

Save your stories to your Highlights if you frequently utilize swipe-up links in your stories to build a gallery of material others can view long after your initial story has been shared. This will encourage long-term sign-ups and opt-ins.

4. LinkedIn

If your company page hasn't been updated in a while, this is where you should start. Companies with fully filled profiles receive 30% more weekly views, so filling up blanks or updating outdated information is critical.

Related guide: Linkedin Advertising Guide to Capture Leads With Best Practices

5. Twitter

To generate leads using your tweet is difficult but not impossible. To your tweet, add pictures, 1-2 hashtags for hot or trending industry themes, a link to an excellent free resource, or a link that grabs the reader's attention.

Related guide: A Beginner's Guide to Lead Generation For Generating High-Quality Leads

How to generate organic leads via social media

Organic lead generation on social media can benefit both B2C and B2B marketers by allowing you to identify social media audiences who are interested in your business. Let’s look at the top ways to generate organic leads on social media.

1. Optimize your social media profiles

Before you launch your next social media lead generation campaign, make sure you have everything in place to collect leads organically. Customers should be able to contact you, sign-up for your newsletter, shop, and so on through your profile.

• Give your contact information

Your contact information should be easily accessible on your profile. However, before you add them, make sure you can support customer inquiries via phone, email, Messenger, or other means.

• Make a call-to-action button

Depending on your objectives, different platforms provide distinct profile features. Add a Sign-Up button to your Facebook Page, for example, if you want more newsletter subscribers. Add Book, Reserve, or Get Tickets action buttons to your Instagram or Facebook profiles if you're looking for an appointment, restaurant, or consultation bookings.

2. Personalized content

You won't be able to collect leads unless you have content catering to the needs and requirements of your users. It's as simple as that.

When it comes to click-worthy content, you'll want to make sure there's a place for people to click. Make every effort to include a clear link and an enticing call-to-action in each post.

Here are some more clickable options that are available on various platforms.

• Products in your Facebook shop can be tagged

• Swipe up on Instagram stories to see more

• Instagram posts and stories that can be purchased from

• Pinterest pins for the look

• End screens and YouTube cards

Related guide: How to Use a Customer Data Platform to Deliver Personalized Experiences

3. Launch attractive lead magnets

People will often freely share their information with you if you provide them with the right incentive. For this, you'll need to create enticing lead magnet offers that people want.

Gated content

Create useful content on topics of interest to your target audience and ask them to provide their contact information in order to access that content.

Research reports, templates, case studies, and ebooks are all examples of what can be used. Essentially, it should be a valuable resource that is not freely available on the internet.

Also, keep your gated content forms as brief as possible. Don't tire users out by making them fill out a lengthy form. Collect only the most important information, such as name and email address.

Free tools

Free tools are another effective lead magnet, particularly for B2B social leads. Identify your target audience's problems and then create tools to help them solve them.

Promote your free tools aggressively on social media. Send everyone who clicks to a landing page where they must enter their information to gain access to the tool. Voila! That is a straightforward but effective method of generating leads from social media.

Using this strategy yields more than just leads.

• Customer trust: By providing useful free tools, you instill trust in your company.

• Conversions: By directing users to your website, you create conversion opportunities.

• Upsells: If users enjoy your tool, they may decide to purchase paid premium features.

Trial offers

Another great way to generate leads from social media is to offer free product/service trials. Getting a full-featured trial for the price of an email address sounds like a great deal.

What's even better?

A trial offer that does not necessitate the use of a credit card. This type of offer boosts new users' confidence and may even encourage them to share the offer with their friends, resulting in more leads.

4. Automate with chatbots

Instant messaging and chatbots are popular and have evolved into effective marketing tools. Chatbots enable businesses to connect with prospects even better than humans can while drastically lowering overhead costs.

Chatbots can use previous interaction history to create a unique profile for each customer, allowing them to deliver personalized messages, content, and product recommendations. You can create a solid social media engagement strategy and meet your lead generation objectives by utilizing an AI-powered chatbot.

Verve is one example that excels in this area.

Source: Social Pilot

It leverages user input to provide individualized training recommendations. Such integrations help you become a more responsive company, allowing you to assist your clients more quickly. The chatbot is taught to customize experiences even further based on the replies.

Related guide: How to Attract Leads Using Top of the Funnel Marketing

5. Host webinars

Virtual conferences and events are an excellent way to reach out to a highly relevant audience while also establishing your expertise and authority in the field. That means they're also great for generating leads on social media, especially since people will have to provide their information in order to sign-up for or attend the conference.

Organize a virtual conference on topics that interest your target audience and are relevant to your brand's area of expertise. You can use the event to discuss hot industry topics, offer actionable advice, and invite influential speakers. Furthermore, you can generate a plethora of content opportunities by posting on social media during the event or repurposing content into lead magnets later

6. Run contests

Organizing contests is an excellent way to generate social media leads and raise brand awareness. Businesses can reap significant benefits from contests by gaining leads, and participants will share their positive experiences with friends and colleagues, creating a viral impact.

Here's how to allow people to enter a social media lead generation contest:

Retweets, shares, likes, and following – This is the simplest way to get a large number of entrants. As a result, you can generate social media leads. Click through to the landing page – Because it is not a direct route, you can expect fewer entrants than in a contest. However, you can collect information by using a contest entry form.

7. Employ social listening

The goal of employing a social listening strategy is to identify potential customers and nurture them into using your product or service. You can identify hidden lead-generation opportunities through effective social listening.

You can join conversations about your brand, such as when someone is looking for product recommendations.

Alternatively, if someone complains about your product, you can respond quickly. This can be a good B2B lead generation hack. With social media listening across platforms, you can identify unhappy competitors' customers and inform them of how they can have a better experience with your brand.

Then, in response to user comments, try to direct them to your lead-generation pages.

How to generate paid leads via social media

It might be hard to use social media to generate sponsored leads at times, but if you concentrate your efforts on a few channels and experiment, you can turn things around. The following are the most effective methods for obtaining paid leads.

8. Use social lead ads

According to LinkedIn, their lead generation forms have a nearly 13 percent conversion rate, which is relatively high by advertising standards. Lead generation ads on social media are a powerful tool. They are equipped with sophisticated targeting features, allowing brands to reach out to relevant audiences with pinpoint accuracy.

Lead gen ads include pre-populated forms, allowing people to sign-up quickly and easily without having to spend too much time entering their personal information. This saves time, accelerates the lead generation process, and has the potential to significantly increase your conversion rate.

Facebook, for example, allows advertisers to create dynamic lead generation ads. The creativity and copy in these ads change based on the interests of the target audience.

9. Set up retargeting ads

Retargeting can help you re-engage lost prospects and boost your social advertising and lead generation strategy.

Let’s say someone clicked on your first ad and scrolled through the landing page but did not complete the form. You can retarget them with advertisements that encourage them to complete the signup process. Because retargeted ads have a 10X higher click-through rate than regular display ads, this could significantly boost your lead generation efforts.

Consider what Expedia has done.

Source: Social Pilot

People who clicked on this ad and looked for hotels in Whistler were retargeted on Facebook with the following ad.

Source: Social Pilot

Language geared at typical pain spots might make the consumer feel as though you truly understand their problems. This will help the partnership get started to a good start.

Users who haven't purchased recently may find re-engagement efforts with language like "It's been a while, and we've missed you" more personal.

To get even better results, try arranging your retargeting ads in a sequence.

• An awareness-stage ad, for example, could address common pain points and objections.

• A consideration-stage ad, on the other hand, could use testimonials and social proof to gain people's trust.

Related guide: How Can You Use Email Retargeting to Increase Sales

10. Collaborate with social media influencers

A successful social media influencer marketing strategy will assist you in increasing brand exposure, establishing authority, and connecting with new audiences. It attracts visitors to your website and introduces new customers to your products and services.

According to Twitter and Annalect, nearly 40% of Twitter users felt compelled to make a purchase after seeing an influencer's tweet. Influencers can strategically feature your product in photos or videos, or they can tell a unique and engaging story about your brand.

You can also collaborate with influencers who will provide honest product reviews and/or tutorials and how-to content for your product. If you want to increase sales, having your influencers promote unique discount codes is an effective way to do so.

Get new leads today

Whichever social media channel you choose to generate leads, it should complement your content marketing strategy and target audience. Read our guide on content marketing using social media to find an approach that works for you. You'll have a proven lead generation machine if you double down on what works.