Social media marketing is quickly emergingas one of the most important aspects of digital marketing. With people spending, on average, 142 minutes a day on social networks (which equates into about 2 and a half hours) reaching people on social media is a no-brainer because this is where they are the most relaxed and, as such, are most likely to be receptive to your digital marketing messages.
Social media marketing provides unbelievable benefits that assist with reaching millions of customers the word over. And if you are not harnessing this profitable source of lead generation to your business, you are missing out an incredible digital marketing opportunity. This is because it makes it easy to spread the word about your product and mission.
Social Media as A Lead Generation Tool
Today, approximately 55% of Internet users are on social media. They utilise it daily and, in the process, provide huge amounts of data to the platforms. This information is incredibly valuable for social media lead generation as digital marketers can use it to focus on their audience directly.
There are a few reasons why social media marketing a preferred lead generation tool is:
- Search engine marketing (SEM) is now challenging. SEM gets tougher with every new update that Google releases. Many websites – which previously ranked without any effort – now find it really hard to rank higher on the SERPs. These websites are looking for options that can assist them to succeed in digital marketing.
- A new website necessitates a lot of budget just for it to get ranked for the keywords that it wants to rank for on a search engine.
- SEM is costly. A campaign that would cost $1 for conversions on social media costs between $4 and $5 on search engines.
As can be seen from the above paragraph, social media marketing is a highly relevant method of gathering leads. You can do organic and paid marketing on a social media platform. Digital marketers can also promote content through groups or communities or, alternatively, through sponsored or native ads.
However, leads alone don’t matter unless you nurture them.
What is lead nurturing, exactly?
The process of ‘lead nurturing’ is defined as growing relationships with buyers at every step of the sales funnel in addition to through every step of the buyer’s journey. Lead nurturing focuses marketing as well as communication efforts on listening to the requirements of prospects in addition to providing the information and answers they need.
What does lead nurturing mean in terms of social media?
A lead which is gained through any medium is usually cold. A ‘cold lead’ is a person who does not show any interest in buying your product or service. When a sales rep contacts a customer, and the customer has never heard of the company or the product,this customer is a cold lead.
You need to warm this lead up before you can market to it. A warm lead is a customer who has shown interest in your product or service byeither following your business on social media, signing up to your email newsletter, as a referral from a friend or previous client, or has expressed some other interest.
Most marketers nurture leads gathered through social media by taking them through a funnel. The social media channels also allow leads to be nurtured through smart remarketing strategies. Digital marketers can collect leads and then remarket to them in order to turn warm them up and ultimately make the qualified. Digital marketers can use polls, videos, forms right on the platform to send personalised messages. This helps nurture leads in a much better way.
Digital marketing costs quickly add up. In addition, not every business can afford huge digital marketing campaigns. However, you can get a lot of value with social media marketing. Your company, regardless of size or how much you can afford, has the chance to grow your audience and as well as reach your objectives through ads on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram as well as target social media marketing objectives.
