Which Social Media Platform is Best for Generating Leads for My Industry?
Virtually unheard of two decades ago, social media has since gone on to become an almost intrinsic part of our daily lives. Not only does it affect our personal lives but our professional lives as well. The marketing landscape, for instance, has seen a major transformation over the past several years due to the many social media platforms popping up.
Despite its proliferation, B2B marketers still maintain a sizable dose of skepticism of social media’s potential as a lead generation tool for their business. Some may be under the impression that it’s difficult to ascertain the exact metric, or they don’t know how to put together a solid lead gen campaign. Nearly half of B2B marketers say they have difficulty executing an effective social media lead generation tactic. Others may simply look at social media as a digital space where people post funny pictures and videos for personal amusement.
Many B2B marketers recognize the importance social media plays for B2Cs but fail to recognize it as a good way to generate more leads for their own industry. Nevertheless, social media lead generation is alive and well within the B2B market. In fact, by spending as little as six hours per week, over two-thirds of B2B marketers can see lead generation benefits from their social media efforts.
It’s important to realize that the average cost per B2B lead can vary significantly from one industry to the next. There are several factors that determine this, among which we can include both the target customer and the competition. The main issue, however, is ROI.
Basically, the higher the ROI, the more you can expect to pay for a lead. That said, you should be looking into ways that can help you lower those lead costs while maximizing your ROI. One way of doing it is by choosing and prioritizing your social media channels based on which will generate the most leads for your industry.
While there are plenty of social platforms to choose from, we will be focusing our attention on the top three that generate the most for B2Bs.
LinkedIn is the most popular and widely used B2B social network out there today. If you want to generate leads on social media and don’t know where to start, LinkedIn is the best place to go. The platform provides a great opportunity for business professionals, regardless of industry, to connect with their peers, thought leaders, and target audiences.
For starters, over 80% of all B2B generated over social media come from LinkedIn. Click To Tweet Also, more than 95% of B2Bs use LinkedIn for their content marketing, and 65% of them reported successful lead generation results.
So how can LinkedIn boost your business and help it generate more leads?
- Promoting Your Products or Service – When it comes to launching new products, LinkedIn is the best platform. Over 90% of B2Bs use it for their product marketing. Since most potential customers are on the network already, it makes it that much easier to reach them.
By posting relevant, valuable, and industry-specific content on a regular basis, people will also start engaging with your brand. Once they are invested in your business, it’s much simpler for you to launch and promote your product on the channel.
- Building and Nurturing Relationships – LinkedIn is also a great place to interact with other professionals. It allows you to share content, views, and opinions on relevant topics. Over time, you will gain a reputation in your field, which is a great way of triggering reactions and engagement with audiences, thus laying the groundwork for new relationships. By being active and engaged, by posting regularly, and by initiating interactions, you will be able to maintain and nurture relationships with followers.
- Reaching Decision-Makers More Easily – One of the major reasons B2B social media marketers find lead generation so difficult is because there are typically multiple stakeholders involved. The good thing about LinkedIn is that most or all of them are already on the platform, which makes it easier to get in contact with them.
The second most effective platform for B2B lead generation is Twitter. With over 330 million active users, this social network is a top contender for implementing content marketing strategies and boosting engagement. In fact, 87% of B2B marketers use Twitter for content marketing as a lead generation strategy. What makes it unique among others is that it’s a platform for keeping up with things. With a limited word count for every post, marketers need to get creative.
The biggest challenge when using it is to get noticed by the right people and organizations. Using relevant hashtags with every post will help increase brand awareness. The posting frequency will also play a major role in a brand’s visibility and recognition.
It is, nevertheless, a great social channel for traffic building, social selling (eliminating the need for cold calls), building awareness in the industry, establishing yourself as a thought leader, and direct lead generation through various content offers.
Generally, Twitter will help your B2B brand by:
- Getting You Noticed – As far as B2B-friendly social networks are concerned, Twitter is great for starting conversations with industry experts and potential customers. For best results, it’s best that you do your research and send out personalized messages wherever possible.
- Making Your Brand Look More Human – To stand out among your competitors and boost engagement, you will need to humanize your brand. Do this by posting tweets that trigger emotional responses and push your followers to engage with your content. Blog posts, appealing images, and videos are all great as long as they remain relevant to your industry. Stay away from automated tweets, as these may backfire on you by making you look like a spammer.
- Increasing Your Trust Level – When it comes to B2B lead generation, building trust is essential. Encouraging people to interact with your brand as often as possible will help you build that trust. It will also help you better position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Being present in relevant discussions, posting valuable content frequently, giving your opinion, and keeping yourself up-to-date on the latest trends is what Twitter is about.
Facebook comes in a close third right after Twitter. As the largest social media platform out there, Facebook has been doing wonders for B2C organizations, and the same thing can also be said about B2Bs. In fact, 42% of B2B marketers say that Facebook helped them in their lead generation efforts. Here’s how:
- Cost-Effectiveness – Facebook offers a cost-effective way of building a social presence, which is particularly beneficial for startups. By creating a free Facebook page, B2Bs can use social media advertising to draw in new leads. With a Facebook ad, you can promote your content on a budget that you set for yourself.
- Acts as Customer Support – It’s not uncommon for people to ask various questions about your products or services directly on Facebook. You can answer them quickly and effectively, helping you ensure customer satisfaction, build new relationships, and gain new leads.
- Boost Website Traffic – You can also add your website’s landing page to your Facebook profile. The content you post can encourage people to visit your site, granted they are interested in what you have to offer.
- Interact with Current and Future Customers – Facebook allows you to interact with current and potential customers. Through regular engagement, you can convert prospects into customers. That said, you should have your email address and other contact info on your Facebook page, making it even easier for people to get in contact with you.
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