When I speak to businesses about their current social Media strategy, one of the most common issues that come up is a desire to generate leads. While most businesses know that social media marketing can help move the needle for their business, figuring out how to make that happen can be a challenge.

Although creating a Facebook page or tweeting on a daily basis isn’t going to instantly translate to leads, the good news is there are plenty of ways to use social media for lead generation. The key to making that happen is understanding what works through social channels. Once you have that outline, you can customize your strategy for your specific business.

Since there are multiple ways to approach lead generation via social media, let’s take a look at the most effective options in 2015:

Create a Great Piece of Downloadable Content

While social media gives you a way to directly connect with potential customers, it’s important to remember that social media is very busy. Since there are at least a dozen different things competing for people’s attention whenever they’re on a social media site, you need a way to make your business stand out.

One of the best ways to grab people’s attention is to offer a free download. Whether it’s a cheat sheet, whitepaper, infographic, short ebook or checklist, having a downloadable piece of cornerstone content that directly appeals to your target demographic will make everything else you do via social that much easier.

Hold a Contest

If you’re in a B2C market, it’s still worth creating a great piece of downloadable content. But in addition to offering a free download, running contests on a regular basis can also be a great way to boost social activity and collect email addresses.

Don’t Rule Out Paid Social Ads

Even though social media has become a key part of many people’s daily routine, it’s important to remember that sites like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest are still growing. As a result, they can offer advertising opportunities that would be cost prohibitive through channels like AdWords. Since opportunities are out there, it’s definitely worth testing to see if any type of social advertising is a good fit for your business.

Experiment with Different Mediums

Podcasts and webinars are two mediums that businesses should consider trying out. While they’re not going to work for every single industry, both podcasts and webinars can be very powerful lead generation tools that can tie directly into social media efforts.

If you’re interested in social media training for your employees or would like to have an experienced professional take care of your social media management, contact me to learn more about how I can help.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters she developed Nationwide delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!