While other social media channels are constantly gaining popularity and momentum, Facebook remains the largest of all. With over 2.89 billion monthly active users, it engages nearly a third of the world’s population on any given day.
As a business owner, you definitely want a piece of that!
But where do you start? And how do you best harness Facebook’s awesome potential to generate leads for your own business?
Like anything worth doing, lead generation on Facebook is a process. Research, stamina, and lived experience eventually evolve into know-how.
But if you’re just starting out, don’t be discouraged. You have to begin somewhere, and fortunately, Facebook recognizes the importance of providing value for its business users (all 200 million of them) and caters effectively even to the less marketing savvy amongst us.
In this post, we’ll take a look at some tips for effectively using Facebook Lead Ads to grow your business as well as a few tried and true strategies that are not rooted in paid ad campaigns.
Let’s dive in!
What Are Facebook Lead Ads?
Facebook Lead Ads are essentially forms that are promoted.
Their purpose? To allow you to capture customer details in exchange for offering them the opportunity to further connect with your business (e.g., sign up for a newsletter, register for a contest, and/or receive a discount on a product).
Let’s look at some practical examples: A meal preparation service might offer one free meal in exchange for your contact details while your child’s tutoring agency might offer access to additional educational resources after you sign up to receive its weekly newsletter.
Practically speaking, lead ads (aka lead forms) allow you to get to know your lead base while also compiling valuable contact information for future use. You can connect with your customers and simultaneously build brand loyalty by offering perks and incentives at the same time. Overall, there’s a lot of symbiotic potential.
Benefits of Facebook Lead Ads
- Contact Forms Are Built In – No messing around with links to external landing pages. Facebook users can seamlessly and instantaneously access a form that is perfectly optimized for mobile.
- Custom Forms – Use the pre-populated feature (which includes information users have already shared with Facebook) for a more streamlined approach. Or, make the form your own with up to 15 completely customizable questions. Just remember that with each additional question, you decrease the odds of people actually completing and submitting the form.
- High-Value Interactions – The types of leads who will invest time learning about your business via lead ads are often those that are most likely to convert to paying customers. Plus, Facebook makes it easy to download leads directly or connect them to a customer relationship management (CRM) system.
Two Important Parts in One
Creating an effective Facebook Lead Ad actually involves two elements: The form you want customers to fill out and the ad that will call attention to it.
Creating a Form
When creating a lead-generating form, you’ll want to have a clear goal in mind. What information are you looking to acquire, and what questions will get you there?
Consider that clarity and simplicity are essential, as is offering something of value to potential customers.
Your target audience should align with your lead ad’s objectives, which means it’s important to know whether you’re ultimately hoping to attract lookalike audiences (ones that share attributes with your most valuable customers), people in a specific geographic location (e.g., your neighborhood), or custom audiences (e.g., people who have already visited your website or app).
Creating an Ad
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that, just because you’re offering an incentive, the creative aspects of your ad don’t matter. On Facebook, it’s always worth taking the time to create compelling visuals as well as text—especially when the growth and success of your business are on the line!
Don’t overdo it, but remember to grab attention with a clear message and high-quality photos and/or videos. Use design principles effectively and take advantage of the formatting options Facebook offers, such as photo carousels (to showcase multiple products) or video storytelling.
Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up
Once you’ve got contact information from leads in hand, it’s time to get busy. Many of today’s customers prefer direct texting to calls or live chatting, but you’ll know your own customer base best.
Whatever channel(s) you choose, be sure to get in touch with new leads in a timely manner. If you can connect with a lead within an hour of them filling out a form, you’ll dramatically increase your odds of closing a deal.
Facebook Lead Ads are a high-potential marketing tool, but you’ll still have to do the leg work to retain happy customers yourself.
Alternatives to Paid Lead Ads
While they have many benefits, lead ads aren’t the only lead magnets at your disposal. Also, they cost money.
Here are a few completely free marketing strategies you can implement immediately to capitalize on Facebook’s traffic sources.
Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are created and administered by Facebook users around shared interests with certain people. There are public groups, private but visible (discoverable) groups and private hidden groups. Groups are effective because people want to be there. Many groups have hundreds and even thousands of members and group pages tend to be very active.
You can easily increase the visibility of any Facebook content by sharing it in groups, provided you abide by each group’s rules. The organic reach of your Facebook Page may only be 1-2%, but the reach of many group pages will be much higher. Facebook prioritizes posts from groups in a user’s newsfeed, so your business content posted to a group page has a high chance of showing up, especially compared to the same content posted to your business page.
Keep Your Profile Fresh
Don’t let your Facebook business page stagnate! Just because it drew in customers six months ago doesn’t mean it’s not ripe for an update.
When Facebook users see the same images and buttons on your page every single time they visit, their impact decreases. New posts and content are crucial, of course. But don’t forget to also frequently freshen up your business profile with new images, calls to action (CTA), and buttons.
Think of it like rearranging the furniture in your living room; a makeover highlights all the foundational elements of your business that customers may have forgotten about or started to take for granted.
Get Interactive
Webinars, workshops, and events, oh my! Retaining loyal customers may involve interactive experiences that keep people curious, engaged, and learning.
How can you spin an event or webinar for your business? Get creative and use the anticipation to create some buzz and hype—always great for a revenue injection!
RAPTAP Marketing
If you’re wondering how to increase your Facebook lead generation and need some more personalized strategies, reach out to us at RAPTAP Marketing in San Antonio. We specialize in helping small businesses and would love to hear from you with your success stories as well as your current questions.
With services ranging from San Antonio search engine optimization (SEO) to social media marketing and beyond, we’re with you every step of the way.
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