If you aren’t using social media as part of your business’s lead generation strategy, now is the time to start. With billions of users on different social media platforms across the globe, there is seemingly infinite potential for finding leads. And while a lot of focus is put on paid social, with the right tools and patience, getting organic leads from social media is possible.
We’ve broken it up into three sections for you if you want to jump ahead:
What is organic social media?
Organic social media is any social marketing without paid promotion behind it. There are advantages and disadvantages to organic social media.
Its most obvious advantage, of course, is that it’s free. For businesses without a large budget, this is a big draw to social media in the first place. Organic also allows you to build genuine connections with your followers on a personal level.
The disadvantage to organic social media is that it can take a lot of time and effort to reach your marketing goals. You also don’t have the control of the reach of your content that you would otherwise have with paid social media.
Many businesses use a hybrid approach with organic and paid marketing, so let’s dive into how you can build your own organic social media strategy.
Preparing to get organic leads from social media
Getting organic leads from social media requires some preparation on your end to make the process to purchase from you as easy as possible. This preparation is for good reason because when it comes to social media, every second counts.
Know your audience
In order to see the results you want from your social media, first put yourself in the shoes of your ideal clients and go to where they hang out and give them what they want to see.
Here is a quick rundown of our breakdown of the different popular social media platforms to give you an idea of where your ideal clients may be:
Instagram: Instagram is visual and is typically aesthetically-driven, followers in this app are looking for polished and curated content.
Facebook: From text-only posts to video, followers on Facebook are looking for a wide variety of content to a relatively diverse audience. And pretty much anything you’d post to Instagram would be appropriate to post on Facebook, plus things like articles and websites.
Twitter: Twitter is driven by words. You can post videos and images, but most of the posts on Twitter revolve around sharing thoughts, whether that is simply stated in a text-only tweet, or in sharing an article or video.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a networking tool. You can share links to your work and accomplishments that show your skill, industry news and information to position yourself as an expert in your field, professional opportunities in your company, and more.
Having an idea of the platform(s) your ideal clients are on helps you know where to focus your efforts and eventually expand into.
Optimize your profile
Optimizing your profile is a crucial first step in establishing credibility with your potential leads. Your profile should tell the world what you do, how you stand out against your peers, and how they can get in contact with you.
Make sure to keep these elements updated in your profiles:
Website link
Business hours
Contact information
When establishing your social media profiles, keep the content and photos consistent across all the platforms your business is on. This attention to detail builds your branding which is fundamental in building trust and establishing awareness and credibility for your business.
Read how to optimize by platform:
6 places to get organic leads from social media
New followers
An obvious first place to find leads is your followers! After all, they must have followed you for a reason, right? Well, there’s a little more to it.
New followers are at the very top of your sales funnel, so building brand awareness is one of the first steps to turning them into a lead. This step is important because it helps people become familiar with your business and what you offer. As they become more aware of your business and offerings, the more comfortable they become with making purchases down the line.
To keep an influx of new followers coming in, use your platform’s analytical tools as insight into what types of content brings in new followers and create more of those types of content. You can find them in the Insights section of your social media profiles. Insights allows you to see the reach and engagement of your posts.
Commenters
If someone takes the time to comment on one of your posts, there is a good chance they are interested in getting to know you better. Take advantage of these seemingly small interactions to nurture new relationships.
When interacting in comments, work to make your space positive and your followers feel supported and informed. Let them know you're open to customer feedback and questions. Ask them questions, practice customer service, and act respectfully and professionally.
Hashtags
For platforms like Instagram and Twitter, hashtags can increase your reach in specific topics and are used by users to search for specific interests.
Check out our do’s and don’ts of hashtags for more information on building your hashtag strategy.
Followers of your current clients
Social media is a great space for your word-of-mouth marketing.
Here are some ideas to get leads from the followers of your current clients on social media:
Encourage your clients to tag you in posts
Utilize a branded hashtag for your clients to use
Create shareable posts and encourage them to share
Ask your followers to leave you a review
Your direct messages
Your direct messages can create a space for deeper connections and answer specific questions. Trust can be built a lot quicker by one-on-one conversations than by occasional likes and one-off comments.
A caution with this approach, cold messaging can scare many people off, so use discretion as you see fit. If you don’t feel comfortable initiating direct message conversations, there are measures you can take to have your followers take the lead. Encourage questions, tell your followers your inbox is open, and use Facebook and Instagram stories as a driver to your inbox.
Engagement stickers on stories
For shy followers or ones that don’t like to comment publicly, engagement stickers like polls, quizzes, and questions on stories are a great way to get engagement you might not otherwise get from followers.
When someone engages with one of your stickers, use it as an invitation to send them a direct message regarding the context of your story. These types of engagements not only help with building a leads list, they are helpful for market research too.
Tips for success to get organic leads from social media
Treat followers as humans, not a number
One of the most common customer complaints across all business types is feeling like they are just a number. Keep this in mind as you work on your own lead generation. How would you want to interact with and be treated as a customer?
Remember: not every follow or comment will lead to a sale and that’s okay. With social media, authenticity wins. Let genuine human connection drive your posts and conversations. Down the line these types of relationships lead to happier customers and even referrals.
Be consistent with your efforts
Getting organic leads from social media requires strategy and patience. This means staying the course even if you’re not seeing the results you want right away. If your business is new to social media or you weren’t very active, it can take some time to build awareness and trust with your followers.
With Ripl, you have the ability to batch create social media posts and schedule them ahead of time to make consistency easier.
Tell your audience what to do next
It’s not enough to show your audience content, you should guide them on what to do next after reading your content. This is called a “call to action” or CTA. If you are looking to build your leads list, here are some examples of CTAs you can use:
"If you have questions about the home buying process, book a call with me at the link in my bio"
"Leave an emoji in the comments to receive a special offer from me"
"If this post was helpful, book a free 20 minute consultation with me to learn how I can help you"
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