If generating leads in the end goal of your marketing strategy, then it should involve social media. Social media is that one platform where you can address thousands with just one campaign to drive traffic to your website. They could be people who are actively looking for more information on you or are those interested in making a purchase.

Making social media monitoring, content creation, advertising and networking a part of your core marketing strategy will help you bring in leads like never before. So here are 50 ways of generating leads from the social platforms:

Building a strong network

To be able to generate leads, the first step is to build a strong network and start interacting with your target audience. Here are some ways of doing so:

1. Follow your prospects on Twitter

2. Make friends with prospects on Facebook

3. Conduct live chats with industry experts

4. Host an industry specific webinar

5. Analyse and choose the platform your prospects engage on the most

6. Host an AMA on the most preferred social channel

7. Use Periscope for live streaming your views on a trending topic

We asked Alex Stojkovic, the Founder of FollowRocket and a Twitter influencer, his take on social media (Twitter) and networking for lead generation. Here’s what he has to say: 

Sharing thought provoking yet relevant content

Today, publishing and sharing content online is the best way to increase the lead generation rate. So here are some ways you make the most out of content:

8. Blog about useful information and not just your products and services

9. Use visual content more often than textual content (also use Pinterest to promote it)

10. Encourage user generated content and give due credits for it

11. Create compelling slide decks on trending industry topics

12. Invest time in writing an ebook and promote it on social channels

13. Share relevant content with prospects based on their interests

14. Retweet all the tweets that promote your content, product or service

15. Reshare existing content along with your views on it

16. Optimize your website and blog for mobile devices

17. Link together relevant content to make the most out of inbound links

Keep monitoring social channels

Listening is a skill that doesn’t come easy to everyone. But to build your social presence in the right direction, you need to hear what people are saying more than focussing on what you have to say to be able to pitch them the right product/service at the right time. Here’s how to monitor social channels for lead identification:

18. Monitor online behaviour of your target audience

19. Create a social  community to keep an eye on what’s being said about your products/services

20. Encourage all users and prospects to use a unique hashtag that is relevant only to you when talking about you socially

21. Keep an eye on your competitor’s social activity to find loopholes that can be cashed in on

22. Engage in conversations around your products

23. Look for reviews and recommendations from your audience, and be sure to acknowledge them

24. Seek industry questions from prospects and answer them

25. Monitor the changing industry trends to keep up with the pace

Invest in paid social advertisements

While some might feel social advertisements are just click baits, a better targeting strategy can help you reach out to the right set of people. Before investing in a paid campaign, identify and segment your audience based on their interests and purchasing history. Here’s how you can use social advertising:

26. Promote your website from your Facebook page

27. Promote a Tweet to drive traffic to your website

28. Promote your Facebook page with a compelling cover picture

29. Make your social ads visually appealing – for Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram

30. Create an advertisement on LinkedIn that links to a lead generation form

31. Promote dedicated landing pages for maximum conversion

32. Promote a strong call to action like ‘Get 80% more conversions on your website today!’

33. Promote appealing offers and discounts

34. Create events and share them in the right circles

Focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Organic searches can be the biggest drivers of traffic to your website. So make the most out of your keywords by placing them modestly on all social channels and your website. Here are a few ways to keep Social Media Optimization (SMO) and SEO going hand in hand:

35. Use keywords in your tweets

36. Promote all your blog links on Facebook

37. Ask your reviewers and followers to link to your website instead of any social platform

38. Ensure your LinkedIn company page description uses all major keywords

39. Make use of keywords in blog post headlines and body

40. Categorise your blog posts according to keywords

41. Tag, name and include proper Alt text to all your images

42. Use a YouTube channel to promote your content (it is the 2nd largest search engine)

43. Share content frequently on G+ and encourage others to do the same

44. Stay consistent with your social media efforts

45. Use different keywords for different segments of your audience

Over to you

Have you used social media to generate leads? What’s your way of making the most out of social channels?

Also read: 5 Reasons Why Your Social Media Traffic Isn’t Converting.