Developing an online lead generation strategy

Developing an online lead generation strategy is a matter of testing what works and what doesn't for your business. Here are some tips you can implement to get started on the right path.

Learn from your social data

The data you collect from social media marketing has many applications in relation to online marketing. An obvious one is to use it to better target your social media posts. 

But social data doesn't just give you insight into your followers; it gives you insight into your target audience. This distinction is important since it implies that social data is relevant in regard to other platforms. 

A recent Business 2 Community article explains how you can refer to social data to improve your email marketing efforts. According to the article, you can learn how to segment your email lists from it, which lets you target subscribers better: 

"By combining what you know about your audience on social media (their likes, dislikes, recent purchases, who they are connected to, etc) with their email address, you can segment a large audience into several smaller ones.

These smaller audiences should share traits that are relevant to your brand’s marketing and sales goals – like their job title, brands they have interacted with recently, or the size of their influence on social media, for instance. Each segment can then receive its own tailored messaging, which will increase lead gen over time."

Likewise, you can also refer to social data when you're planning your website, your SEO strategy and your content plan. 

Improve your website performance

Most businesses are still better off investing in their website as opposed to their social media profile page. This is especially true if your priority is to generate leads. 

Website performance is one of the most important factors of lead generation and conversion. If your website is slow then the customer journey ends almost immediately. Users today are impatient and would rather return to Google's search engine results pages than wait for your site to load. 

Businesses should optimise everything from their mobile-friendly design to their specific website elements. According to a recent Drum article, you should pay special attention to your website images, since these play an important role in your site's load time and performance: 

"A third suggestion is to optimise the company's website images. The correlation between a faster load time and increased conversion is clear. Time is of the essence and the correct sizing and faster loading means that your image sizes won't be too big for your landing pages."

If a particular image is slowing your site down, then it's best to just get rid of it and find a substitute. It's extremely unlikely that the picture itself is more important than your load time, which is often indicative of your lead generation efforts. 

Get a more efficient content strategy

Even if there's a positive correlation between content output and lead generation, it doesn't necessarily imply causation. Lots of businesses fall into this trap by thinking that the way to generate more leads is to create more content. 

To be clear, you do need content to generate leads, but you don't always need original content. The most efficient businesses will repurpose their content several times to give it as much exposure as possible and save time in the process. This also lets you focus more on content quality as opposed to content quantity. 

Integrating social data, optimising your business website, and developing an efficient content strategy will all contribute to your lead generation efforts. The trick is to take this information and find a method that works for your business. To talk more about online lead generation, or anything else, contact us today.