Can Social Media Posts Generate Business Leads?

You’ve been posting on Instagram and Facebook for a few weeks. Some of your posts get likes, the odd comment and the odd follower – but no business enquiries.

It’s easy to feel disappointed by lack of business leads, especially when you’ve put in the time and effort creating your social media posts. The good news is, social media content generation can yield business leads

The challenge is, simply putting up your posts won’t get results – you need to engage potential customers and encourage them to get in touch with you.

Let’s explore how your business can get leads from social media posts.

What Exactly Does Lead Generation Through Social Media Mean?

A lead is any person interested in your service or product, and who has given you the opportunity to continue the conversation to ultimately close a sale.

That could be a message asking about your pricing, a request for a quotation, a booked consultation, or a filled enquiry form. A like or a follow is a great engagement, but it’s not a lead. This means someone has found your post interesting but they are not yet considering buying your product or service.

Let’s look at an example. You are a web design company. You put up a post about why business websites fail to generate enquiries. This kind of content attracts people with the same pain point – websites that don’t bring in enquiries. If you’ve created useful content and invited the reader to continue the conversation about their website, they might do just that.

Types of Social Media Posts That Can Generate Leads

You don’t have to put up salesy social media posts every day. You need a variety of content to help different types of people discover your business, understand your offering, and choose to work with you.

Here’s how different kinds of posts can build interest in your business and get potential customers to message you.

The most helpful post type will vary depending on your industry. A retailer might find product demonstrations particularly useful, while an accountant could find they get more responses to posts answering common questions about tax regulations.

How Do I Turn a Post Into a Business Enquiry?

A great social media post doesn’t have to be hard sell. It should connect with your customers’ interests and concerns

First, address your audience’s problems

Assume you are in digital marketing. Instead of simply stating ‘We offer the best digital marketing services’, you could try a post like website visitors but no enquiries? Check out these 3 things before you invest in more ads

Note how the second example speaks directly to the reader’s concerns

Next, provide value

Now you have your audience’s attention, give them some useful information. You might explain why a vague contact button, a slow mobile website or a complicated enquiry form put off potential customers.

You don’t need to give away all your secrets, but make sure the information is helpful and relevant to the problems your social media audience has.

Finally, tell them what to do next

This is one area where businesses often fall down with their social media lead generation. You create an engaging post but don’t tell the reader what to do next. Let’s look at some examples of how to phrase a call to action:

• Message us to discuss your requirements.
• Request a quotation.
• Book an initial consultation.
• Send us your question
• Ask for the service details through WhatsApp

Select the most appropriate call to action for the post, and make sure your audience knows what to do next.

Finally, respond to those who want to know more

A customer can become disengaged if their message doesn’t get a response within a couple of days.

Make sure you reply promptly and keep the conversation going. Ask them relevant questions and explain the next step. If they are not ready to buy your service, you might want to provide more information or follow up later.

Can Organic Posts Generate Leads Without Paid Ads?

You can certainly get business leads through organic social media posts. Engagement means people will follow you, share your post and search you on Google. However, that doesn’t guarantee views from potential customers.

For businesses investing in Digital Marketing in Chennai, organic social media posts might be useful to discover which topics are of interest to your audience before you decide which content to advertise.

Say, for example, that you run a coaching centre. You put up a few social media posts discussing various exam topics. Some people might message you asking for more information on one particular subject. You could then develop a more in-depth resource or run an advertising campaign on that topic.

Once again, the key is to focus on the questions your audience asks and the problems they want you to solve.

How Does SEO Support Social Media Lead Generation?

Let’s imagine someone discovers your social media post. They might visit your profile and look for your contact details. They could then search you on Google to see if you are the right choice for their needs. This means your website and online reputation are likely to play a role in the decision-making process.

A good website, online reviews and accurate business listings can all help to build your credibility with potential customers.

An SEO Agency in Chennai can help you get found by the right people through keyword research and technical SEO. While SEO and social media are separate disciplines, they can work together to get more people to choose your service. Your social media content gets people interested and your SEO improves the chances of those potential customers choosing you over your competitors.

How Can I Measure Whether My Posts Are Working?

Engagement isn’t the only metric that matters – in fact, many businesses overlook some of the most useful indicators of a successful social media post. Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) to track.

Note how some of these metrics are more relevant to your business than others.

Consider these two hypothetical posts: the first gets 150 likes but no enquiries, while the second gets 20 likes but 3 relevant leads. Which one would you say was more successful? The value of each metric depends on your particular business.

Common Mistakes That Prevent You from Getting Leads

• Putting up posts without knowing your audience – generic content fails to connect with anyone
• Talking only about your business – people are more interested in how you can help them
• Having unclear calls to action – make it easy for the reader to know what to do next
• Not replying to messages and comments – potential customers want a response
• Expecting every post to generate sales – some generate awareness and lead to sales later
• Ignoring the analytics – without measuring your results, you cannot understand what works

FAQs

How Many Social Media Posts Should I Put Up Per Week?

There is no magic number of social media posts per week. The most important thing is to post consistently, while still providing valuable content and responding to messages.

Which Platform Is Best for Getting Business Leads?

LinkedIn could be a good choice for many businesses, but Instagram and Facebook might be more effective for local businesses or retail businesses.

Do I Need to Boost Every Post?

You shouldn’t boost every post. Build up your audience by putting up posts organically. If you have a specific goal and you know your audience, boosting the post could be a good idea. Spending money doesn’t guarantee that a boosted post will get you a sale.

Can an SEO Agency in Chennai Help with Social Media Leads?

SEO support can improve the reach of your website and content. This could help potential customers to research your business after discovering you on social media.

How Can SME Digital Approach Social Media Lead Generation?

Any business that wants to market itself on social media has to know who their customers are and what those customers want. The focus should be on solving the audience’s problems, giving them useful information and encouraging them to take specific actions. The most important metrics to track are the enquiries and sales that come from your posts.