Social Media Services:To Invest or Not Is no Longer the Question

It’s no longer a fad, nor is social media services an anomaly within business marketing strategies. These days, it’s the company that isn’t investing in social media development of their brand that is the anomaly, not the norm, no matter the industry. The movers and shakers in the social media lead generation are still LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube-a fact that a recent article from Forbes noted is only going to continue to solidify as social media services expand consistently to utilize the long-watched paid search options on each of the social media giant sites.

From the article:

“Fast-forward less than two years and Promoted Tweets, along with equivalents from Facebook and other social networks, are now officially among the fastest growing sectors of online advertising. Spending on so-called “native” social media ads is forecast to nearly triple from $1.5 billion this year to $3.9 billion in 2016, according to a new report by market analysts BIA/Kelsey. Meanwhile, Nielsen reports that three-quarters of all advertisers have jumped on the paid social media bandwagon, pulling funds out of traditional banner ads and other online channels.”

What is driving the surge in social media lead generation through ads? It’s more about adaptation and targeting capability than anything else.

Why You Should Use Social Media as Part of Your Lead Generation Process

Social media development in the last three years has resulted in some powerful statistics that show WHY brands are adapting to the use of social media services:

• 53% of people recommend companies and products on Twitter.
• There are 800 million active users on YouTube that spend an average of 15 minutes/day on YouTube
• 64% of Twitter users and 51% of Facebook users are more likely to buy the products of brands they follow online
• The average user spends 21 minutes/week on LinkedIn

See what we mean? Considering these statistics, it’s easy to see how social media lead generation is a given result of social media services for brands.

Targeting is a Powerful Benefit of Your Social Media Lead Generation Campaigns

One of the most powerful benefits of social media lead generation through promotions or ads is the targeting capability that each site allows to its paid users.

For example, LinkedIn ads allow for a targeting capability all the way down to an individual company or other more common demographic options like age, gender, and location criteria as well as keyword, company size, or industry. You can also set your ad to run at specific times of day when you know your target market is most likely to be online. That means that your LinkedIn ad will only pop up for those targeted LinkedIn members that fit your criteria, optimizing the click-through value and ensuring that your money is being spent on driving leads from your exact target market.

• Facebook ads allow for similar targeting as LinkedIn ads.
• YouTube promoted video targeting allows for demographic targeting as well as keyword targeting for users searching the site.
• Twitter allows promoted tweets to be targeted to your followers, site users “like” your followers, as well as geo-targeting.

This hyper-focused targeting option with paid social media lead generation techniques combined with the usage of social media on a whole make for powerful tools brands can use to drive real, convertible leads. It is much more effective than standard online ads that use keywords as the main driver of ad placement

In tandem with the targeting capability of social media lead generation, it’s fairly simple to set up your paid outbound tactics like promoted tweets, LinkedIn or Facebook ads, or promoted YouTube videos. Check back next week for some insider tips on setting up and managing your paid social media services and lead generation tools.