Whether through Inbound or Outbound Marketing, capturing leads and generating a solid base to work with is still a fundamental step in any marketing strategy. The company can nurture them or simply forward them to the sales team, but first, they need to be generated.
In recent years, the digital platform as a whole has become the ideal place for this. Now, discover 6 channels you can use for lead generation:
#1 Social Media
Social media has rapidly gained popularity and constantly invests in new features. Today, it is practically impossible to find someone who is not present at least on one platform, with social or professional profiles.
The days when social media was seen as a space for simple social interaction are gone; now they are a showcase and a valuable tool for generating business and capturing leads, even organically. There is no doubt that in the coming years, some will lose strength and new ones will emerge, but currently, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter still have the highest number of users and are consequently the most used by digital marketing.
Creating a business fan page is the first step to entering the world of social media, but it is not enough to just create it and abandon it. It is necessary to constantly update it and create content that generates engagement. Facebook is not LinkedIn; the page can be professional, but to generate brand adherence, it needs to be attractive and not overly formal. Do not write very long texts; if your goal is to offer material, opt for links that drive traffic to your blog or website.
The ideal is to balance the content, with posts that talk about both your brand and relevant topics related to your segment.
Another important point is the use of media, whether images, gifs, or videos. On social media, people need to interact, and visually appealing posts are ideal for that.
LinkedIn is still poorly understood and not always well utilized, but more than a platform for professional promotion, it can also be quite effective for promoting company brands and generating business, especially for the B2B market.
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn has an exclusively professional profile and is the ideal place for publishing more formal and targeted content.
Large deals can be generated through the visibility gained on LinkedIn, and many of them happen primarily through a network of relevant connections with other companies or professionals in your field. Keep in mind that LinkedIn is not a social network for generating engagement, and do not measure the success of the profile by the number of likes and shares on your posts. LinkedIn is a space for formal analysis, and if your company sparks interest, it will certainly be demonstrated in a more objective way.
Instagram is a primarily visual platform, so creativity is essential. Do not focus solely on images of your products; mix in others that have meaning for your audience, use hashtags, and invest in stories to complement.
Twitter has a character limit that can restrict what you want to convey, and to use this platform effectively, creativity is needed. However, it has the advantage of having a highly engaged audience. Another advantage is that with the recent popularity of this platform in Brazil, many specialists from various fields are on Twitter; if your company does business abroad, even better, as it has even more reach in other countries. Invest in images that effectively express what you want to convey, stay current, and focus on interacting with influencers on the network.
#2 Paid Media
If you want to capture leads quickly and concentrate more efforts on nurturing them, paid media can be a great option and has become the first step for many companies starting their digital marketing strategy. Most require sponsored posts within social networks or search engines. Here are some:
Facebook Ads
Operates with sponsored posts within Facebook. These are conversion-focused ads, Lead Ads, and Remarketing.
Google AdWords
Displays using the search and Display network.
LinkedIn Ads
Although it has a higher cost than the previous options, LinkedIn Ads displays ads in a highly targeted manner and operates through sponsorship of posts published on your Company or Show Case.
Instagram Ads
Recently, Instagram launched some interesting updates to reinforce its position as an advertising platform. It operates through hashtag planning, call to action, and landing pages.
#3 Blog
According to numbers from WebDAM, blogs have led B2B Marketing campaigns to generate 67% more Leads than those that do not use a blog, which is why it has become the primary means of lead generation for B2B and B2C markets. They can capture leads through pop-ups, guest posts, and CTAs, for example.
#4 SlideShare
SlideShare may not be as popular a platform as social media, but it has over 60 million unique visitors and is respected in the professional field as a content distributor.
You can use it to showcase your business or technical presentations and insert CTAs, make calls to landing pages, or even include forms in them. It is a way to become a reference in your segment while also generating leads.