How to Generate Leads on Facebook

Remember the days of needing a college email address in order to be verified to sign up for Facebook? Now, according to Hubspot, there are reportedly over 1.5 billion daily users on the social media platform - which makes a great case for your business to be there too. 

THE BEST WAY TO GENERATE LEADS ON FACEBOOK

Generating leads for your business on Facebook is no small task. The social media marketplace has become increasingly crowded and even spending money on advertising doesn’t return the success it used to. 

However, with the right approach, Facebook can provide businesses unique access to their target audience. With nearly 2 billion daily active users, this social media platform can be a valuable resource and a fantastic avenue for lead generation. 

But how exactly should you be using Facebook for lead generation? 

To help your business feel more confident and increase ROI on Facebook, we put together useful tips for bringing in leads on the platform. Even if your business is more focused on using Facebook for brand awareness or customer service, we still recommend adopting these best practices to help improve your overall social media presence. 

4 TIPS FOR USING FACEBOOK TO GENERATE LEADS:

1.  Know Your Audience & Get In The Conversation

If you haven’t yet, be sure to create and optimize a Facebook page for your business. Once your business page is created, it’s time to create a Facebook strategy. For the most success, it’s best to create a Facebook strategy that blends both organic and paid efforts. 

Next, don’t wait for people to come to you. Start entering conversations and spaces where appropriate in order to start connecting with your target audience. 

Other things to do: 

• Engage with your current audience by being active on your page and sharing valuable, helpful content
• Explore hashtags and content related to your industry and target audience
• Engage with other content by commenting and sharing (where appropriate)
• Join Facebook groups and start engaging with content and conversations within the group

All of these things will help you start building a community around your brand! 

Note: Be sure you’re intentional in what content you interact with. Ask yourself: Does it make sense for my business to be entering this conversation? Am I saying something valuable and appropriate? Just don’t be that spammy account who isn’t saying anything relevant. 

Pro Tip: Join Facebook groups and engage with content

One way to get in front of new audiences (and to grow yours) is to join local Facebook groups where you'd find your most-likely customers. Your primary goal in joining these groups is to be helpful and relatable to your audience and take the time to help them overcome their challenges. This, in turn, will help create trust around your business. 

For example, are you a carpenter in Boise, Idaho? Join a Treasure Valley DIY group and make sure to comment using some of your expertise when someone has a woodworking question.

Are you an advertising agency in Texas? Join a Texas-based entrepreneurs group and be on the lookout for questions about online marketing tactics or social media best practices for new businesses.

Consider your company's buyer personas when joining Facebook groups. This will help you find the right groups for your brand and, ideally, higher-quality leads. 

2. Engage With a Purpose

When commenting and engaging for lead generation purposes, you should try to drive traffic to your Facebook business page when appropriate by including a link or asking people to check out your page for more helpful information.

To be clear, when I say drive traffic to your page, I don't mean for you to spam your business page link in every comment you leave on your great aunt's new profile picture for all of her friends to see.

Also, while a lot of your focus is on external engagement and growing your audience, don't let your current audience sit idly by. Post on your page often, and post engaging questions that relate to your industry to get your audience interacting with your brand. Be sure to respond promptly to comments and messages, whether it's a pricing question or simple hello.

Pro Tip: Don't be afraid to have fun and try new things! 

There’s so much that goes into your brand’s social media presence, but don’t get so caught up in the details that you forget to think outside the box. Get inspired by other brands on Facebook and allow yourself to flex some creative muscles (while staying true to your brand). 

3. Establish Authority & Trust

It’s important to establish trust and authority in your specific industry and niche mission. Ensure your Facebook page is optimized and informative for visitors. Fill out as much of the information in your profile as possible.

Your business page should also include: 

• A high-resolution business logo featured as the profile picture
• Quality posts that provide value and highlight your work
• Posts that link back to informative content on your page (such as content offers or blogs) might help users who simply aren't ready to buy yet
• Plenty of information about your business and options for contacting you

It also isn't a bad idea to periodically re-post some of your favorite reviews from past customers and encourage people to leave reviews. These days, with fake news constantly circulating, we as consumers want to see other customers backing up what you're saying about your business. Another way to establish credibility and increase visibility for your business is through Facebook check-ins.  

Pro Tip: Include thought leadership in your Facebook strategy.

Thought leadership should be an integral part of your overall social media strategy to help establish trust and expertise while driving engagement with your audience. Share interesting articles, new ideas, and recent news that pertains to what you do. Become the reliable, helpful brand people turn to for advice, ideas, and connection. Creating genuine relationships with Facebook users by providing value will build trust around your brand.

4. Invest in Advertising (It Doesn’t Take Much!)

Facebook advertising can be used in a variety of ways to connect with users at any stage of the buyer’s journey. If one of your business goals on Facebook is to generate leads, you should strongly consider investing a budget into Facebook advertising. Even just $1 per day can have an impact on your lead generation efforts. 

We could go on and on about reasons to invest in Facebook advertising, but you can read more about that in this blog post. Now that we’ve (hopefully) convinced you to start advertising on Facebook, here are some of the best types of ads for lead generation:

• Facebook Lead Ads. Facebook’s Lead Ads are the most obvious option for generating leads on the platform. According to Facebook, “Lead ads help simplify the task of connecting with people who are interested in your business. With Instant Forms, lead ads let people sign up, answer customized questions and show their interest in just a few clicks or taps.” Lead ads keep users on Facebook, reduce friction in the lead generation process, and create a more seamless, mobile-friendly user experience. 
• Messenger Ads. There are a few different ways to use messenger ads. Overall, these types of ads are great for having personal conversations with people and retargeting people who’ve already shown interest in your business. Some of these ads can start the conversation in Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram, or with sponsored messages, you can re-engage people you’re already talking to.
• Website Visitor Ads. If you have a specific content offer, landing page, or website page you want to direct people to, consider running a campaign with the goal of getting more website visitors. These types of ads can generate higher-quality leads since users have to leave Facebook and go to your site for the next action. There are also Facebook call ads for businesses who want people to call as the next step.

Check out our other blog post about getting your Facebook ad approved. 

Pro Tip: Utilize Facebook audience targeting options for best results

With Facebook’s robust user data, there are a lot of different ways to target your audience. Consider your buyer personas when narrowing down your audience. What are their interests? Where do they live? How are they using Facebook? As you enter targeting parameters, Facebook will tell you if your audience will be too broad or too narrow. 

Good luck and happy lead hunting!