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8 Best Practices For Social Media Lead Generation For Your Startup Or Business

The advertisement and marketing scenario has changed forever with the rise of social media platforms. Social media leads and marketing tactics are a top priority for every startup or business. Every new business now understands the benefits of using social media leads and brand influencers, and they want to take full advantage of them.

Leads will allow you to have a close relationship with your customers and gain more followers to grow your customer base. Today, we look at how to take your social media game to the next level. Listed here are eight best practices and tips for social media lead generation.

Eight Best Practices and Tips for Social Media Lead Generation

Run Contests on Social Media

winner

Social media contests are one of the most used techniques for lead generation. It is overused because it works. Running a contest on social media benefits your small business in two ways. It generates a lot of leads, and as more and more people participate, it increases the reach of your post. You can promote the launch of your content using videos. Making videos using a free online video maker helps you craft platform-specific content to get the most engagement. It also helps increase your brand's followers. However, not everything is as favourable as it sounds. The leads that you gather are not always relevant. So, you will need to filter for genuine leads.

Geo-targeted Search

These days social media platforms offer geo or location-based targeted options to marketers. This allows a marketing agency to target a particular group of audiences for promo materials based on their location data.

For example, each state or county has its festivals and uses location data. You can customise the marketing materials according to each state's or county's festival. Marketing agencies trust a well-executed social media content marketing campaign to propel your company into the spotlight and transform your followers into fans.

Use of Landing Page

The use of landing pages has seen a considerable boost in recent years, and every other company is focusing on developing and using landing pages for promotions or product launches. They use the landing pages to create a social media buzz before the product's launch, and by the time the launch date nears, they manage to garner a huge fan following.

Suppose you are selling cloud hosting services; you will need to develop a landing page, whether Magento Cloud Hosting or WordPress Cloud Hosting. The use of landing pages is even more important if you don't have gated content ready at hand for social media promos. Also, sometimes people don't like to get interrupted by promotions when they use social media. Unfortunately, a landing page promo is a type of abrupt promotion, so using paid/sponsored landing page promo might be a good idea.

Run Social Media Quizzes

social media


While every marketing agency or video maker tries their best to make their content engaging, it may not turn out that way every time. Interactive quiz content has a 70% higher boost rate, and almost 50% of the participants willingly subscribe to a mailing list, and that's a big win for any agency or business.

Social media quizzes can have a psychological effect on our minds as it compels us to solve the quiz and find the answer. The more people engage, the higher are the chances of gaining more participants, followers, and potential subscribers. Quizzes are one of the most engaging content on social media platforms, and they can generate a lot of leads and increase your brand's value among your user base.

Social Media Advertising

Almost every social media platform, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, have the "Lead Generating Ads" option. This is like a gold mine for every marketing agency. With the help of the "Lead Generating Ads" option, you can directly target a customer base with targeted and customised content developed just for them. The whole process is quite simple.

All one needs to do is click a button, fill out a form and submit it. That’s it, and they don’t even have to click on an ad or anything. Since they chose to fill out the form, you can provide them with an ebook or gated content for free as a thank you gesture. While people can hate abrupt promotions, they will never hate gifts, making them so perfect.

Use of Gated Content

Who doesn't like valuable content full of valuable insights about a product? Your marketing agency or video maker can take advantage of valuable content and put them behind a gate. You may experiment with social media likes or follows in exchange for content, which is a valid but underutilised method.

Live Videos, Hangouts, and Webinars

live video recording

While there are a lot of strategies to generate leads, they may fail to get many relevant leads, and irrelevant leads are a potential waste for the business. Hangout sessions or webinars have advanced registration options, and so only those who are genuinely interested will be ones to follow through with such a registration.

While you will lose when it comes to the number of total leads, the ones that do get will be legitimate, and those are the leads that you should be focusing on. Instead of just uploading a pre-recorded product announcement, you can do a live session where your customer base can interact with you when you make the announcements.

Paid Promo

While all of the strategies mentioned above are excellent, they may still fail to attract the expected number of responses. This is where paid promotions come in. Paid promotions offer various options to customise content in ways suitable to specific needs. It helps to reach a broader audience that you will not get using other promotional methods or strategies.

Conclusion

With the proper implementation of these eight practices, your business is bound to see a significant boost, especially with social media contests, quizzes, gated content, and paid promos, among others. You can also combine two or more of these strategies to get even better results.

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Autumn’s Essential Instagram posts

Summer has been great, but I've always had a soft spot for autumn. From the rich colours to cosy jumpers, tasty coffees and frosty mornings, the season is a haven for Instagrammers - but just what shots should you be snapping this year? Let's find out...

Whether you diligently interact in person or use an organic Instagram growth service here are Autumn’s essential Instagram posts.

Leaves


With their rich browns and reds, leaves make the perfect seasonal Instagram post. With colourful trees or a carpet of russet tones, a colourful photo like this will stand out on your news feed.

Coffee


We are a coffee-loving society so coffee photos can do well on IG. In 2016, the pumpkin spice latte returned in early September. Expect similar timings for 2017 and get ready to post this all-time Starbucks favourite.

Cosy selfies




Whether you’re watching the fireworks, or wrapped up warm at home, take a cosy selfie with friends, or add in the family pet for bonus points. If your partner isn't camera shy, snap a photo together. If it's good enough for loved-up celebs then why not try it?

Fireworks


What is November 5th without attending a firework display? Capture all of the action on your phone and upload it to your feed. Sparklers can create great photos too. 

Autumn outfits

We all use Instagram to see what other people are wearing and get some style inspiration. This season, why not become the trendsetter yourself? Check out designer womenswear brand Ralph Lauren’s online style guide for some ideas on the items you should be wearing and sharing for autumn 2017. 

Pumpkins


When you’re not drinking pumpkin-infused lattes, pumpkins themselves make a great Instagram post. Either carve them or stack them up.

Frost

Fancy yourself as a pro photographer? Capturing the perfect shot of glistening, pretty frost will put your skills to the test, but the end result is well worth the effort!

Wildlife


Cute animals will help you rack up those likes. From pups in piles of leaves to robins on fences, who can scroll past those little faces!? Add a cute kid too and you will get lots of IG interaction.

Wellies & Puddles

We grumble when it rains in summer, but it’s a different story in autumn. Don your wellies and start snapping some puddle photos.

Hot chocolate


The colder weather means it’s perfectly acceptable to start sipping hot chocolate again. Pile them high with cream and marshmallows for an envy-inducing autumn drink.



Pin for later

If you are not sure where to start, use an Instagram post maker to help you. Do you use Instagram? What posts remind you of Autumn?

*PR collaboration

Have You Thought About A Digital Detox?

Do you remember time B.C - Before Computers, or B.S.P - Before Smart Phones. The world was a simpler place. You actually spoke to your family for once.

You went out for a meal and didn't take a photo of your dinner to share on social media. You went to the pub and didn't check your phone every 20 minutes for an email or tweet. Your friends were friends you had met, not virtual friends that you may never meet.



Copyright: nito Shutterstock

Yes computers and the Internet are essential for living in today's world and many people who have lost touch with each other have found each other again online, making new friendships too. In fact the Internet has changed the world, how we do business and how we form and maintain friendships in general, yet with an increase in online communication and online relationships can come a decrease in face-to-face communication and the time you spend on real life relationships.

Look around any pub, cafe or restaurant. How many people are checking their phones? How many families are on their own individual technology - Ipad, Kindle, smart phone and are sat not speaking? Maybe your family is one of them. Now I'm not insinuating Facebook is the devil or Instagram is the root of all evil but sites like this can be addictive. There is often a positive reinforcement involved with checking in and posting on these sites. Something as simple as a like or comment can make you smile and validate your post. Before you know it you have lost track of time. 

A digital detox once in a while can make you realise that the amount of time you are spending online, on your phone, your tablets, can be excessive.

Simple Steps

1. Pick a day which is easy for you to do this.  Saturday and Sunday maybe easier if you work in the week, alternatively a day when you are really busy as opposed to a day when you have all the time in the world which you would have spent online.
2. Prepare the day before . Do what you need to do online such as pay bills, message friends, online shopping and the like.
3. Put the computer and all other devices away. Yes you may need your phone but stop the push notifications from your social media apps and your email.
4. Plan what you are doing in advance. Meet up with friends, read that book you have been putting off, go for a long walk, take up that new hobby you have been meaning to try. Keeping busy will help you on your first detox day.
5. Enjoy time spent with your friends and family and enjoy your own company - it's very underrated!
6. Repeat frequently as you see the benefits. 

You never know as well as finding time you never realised you had, it may strengthen the bonds with loved ones and you may actually enjoy it.

Tell me - do you think you could do a digital detox? Are you addicted to technology or social media?

* PR collaboration

Cool Candy Media Website Design Offer

Have you got a small business and are you looking for a cost-effective way of moving your business online? Maybe you are looking for an online shop or just a web presence with a contact page and details of your business and products. If so, then Cool Candy Media can help you get online.
Cool Candy Media is run by Richard Williams from his office in South Wales. Richard has found that so many local businesses do not have a website including plumbers, decorators, and builders, or even hairdressers, beauty therapists and independent shops. Often adverts in magazines and newspapers cost hundreds of pounds and say next to nothing about the business. This is where an eye-catching website can help you gain an advantage over your competitors at a very competitive price too.

Small Business Example - Action Blast Porthcawl

At the moment the offer for this Small Business Package rate is only £300. Payment is easy with a small deposit on commencement and balance on completion, when you are 100 percent happy with the finished website.

Richard and his small team are also there at the end of the phone whenever you need any help and advice. He can show you in person or via Facetime or Skype how to update your website yourself, or he can do it for you whenever you need it for a small charge.

If you know someone who is looking for this type of package if you refer someone by the end of January, you will also get a £25 Amazon gift voucher, on completion! 


 E-Commerce Example - Pomi-T Food Supplement 

Cool Candy Media are also experienced in social media management, including Twitter and Facebook, Ecommerce and SEO.

Do you need someone to -

Create and update your website
Create your Twitter / Facebook and Pinterest accounts and update them
Create and update your Blog
Run a competition via your website or social media
Set up a social media campaign
Set up an email address
Find professional looking and targeted Blogs to review your products
Help improve your traffic to your website via Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Set up an online shop and payment gateway

Cool Candy Media is there for all your online needs.



E-Commerce Example - RMA Williams Jewellers 

You can contact Richard here for further information. So what are you waiting for, get your business online today, and if you spread the word and refer a company then a £25 Amazon voucher could be on its way to you soon.