The webinar on ‘6 Lead Generation Strategies using Social Media’ conducted by Meenu Joshi and Nilesh Patel was a huge success. We saw a record number of participants and attendees. Over 60 questions were asked during the session, some of which were left unanswered due to lack of time. As there were so many questions, we will be writing another post to include all the questions.
If for some reason, you were unable to attend the webinar, here’s the recording:
Question 1
What should be the bidding strategy for running Facebook ads?
You should start off with CPC. Once you get the hang of it, you should go for CPM optimized for website conversions. Since these are lead generation ads, you would choose website conversions as goal. Facebook allows you to optimize your bidding for different actions, like website conversions.
This means that your ad would be shown to people that are more likely to click through to your website and fill a form there. This should be the case for newsfeed ads. However, if you are running your right column ads, then always go for CPC, not CPM.
Question 2
Can I draw a direct co-relation between lead generation and revenue?
Yes, of course you can. However, if you have the right systems in place, it would be easier to do it, otherwise it may be difficult.
Question 3
How good is YouTube for reaching out to Tier II audiences?
First you need to find out if YouTube as a medium is right for you or not. There are a couple of ways you can do that. YouTube is a global medium so there is no Tier I, Tier II, Tier III concept here embedded into the medium itself. If for instance, you are using YouTube for targeting ads, there you can certainly use YouTube to show your Google ads in Tier II cities, and only YouTube as a channel. These are some things you can do. Now, whatever videos you upload on YouTube, they are discovered naturally by users who search for it. That phenomenon is not city-driven. For example, if you are searching for Russian videos, you would get more of that. So basically it has nothing to do with the location. If you want to use YouTube as a place where the ads are shown, you can control that from AdWords.
Question 4
For education and training provider institutes, what kind of targeting options would work? What all can be the Facebook strategies?
There are a lot of targeting options available while creating your ads. First off, set the Age and Location targeting options. Location would be relevant to you if you are based only in some specific cities. I’ll take an example – suppose you are an IIT JEE coaching institute. Following are a few of the Interest targets that you can use. Look at the image below – IIT JEE, AIEEE, IIT Roorkee are a few interest options that I have selected. Based on that and my other targeting options, Facebook shows 2,000,000 as my ad’s potential reach.
There can be many more options – just type relevant keywords in, and if it is available as an Interest targeting option, it would show up in the drop down, and you can select it.
In addition to that, if you have a subscriber list, then you can use custom and lookalike audience as well.
Question 5
How to increase organic reach in Facebook?
Right now it is very difficult because at a given point in time, more than 1500 posts are vying for a user’s attention every time he/she logs in. If you don’t really want to invest in ads, then you should create very high quality sharable content to post on your social channels (Facebook). For instance, if you get a lot of traffic on your website, you should link that to your Facebook page so that, you can drive relevant traffic to your Facebook page as well. We have done a post on the topic as well. You can take a look at it here.
Question 6
Anything you recommend for B2B Leads?
We have been using Facebook for B2B as well. We have had success with that. Take a look at this guide to understand how it works. In addition to that, you should make use of LinkedIn as well. Email marketing has always been one viable option for B2B marketers. However, you have to be really careful so that you aren’t spamming people. You can look at this webinar recording to get B2B email marketing tips for lead generation.
Question 7
Do you recommend Facebook for B2B franchise sales?
Facebook can be used for B2B franchise sales. Let’s say you are selling a franchise for health or fitness chain. The business owners, who would be potentially looking at the franchise, can also be on Facebook. If you think they are on Facebook, you may want to target them. The important aspect here is targeting. Ideally you would not want to target 18 year old’s. You may only want to focus on people who are 35 years of age and above. The other thing you can look for, particularly for franchise sales, is LinkedIn. There you could find working professionals working in IT companies in top jobs who have the money to buy franchises. Those profiles are available on LinkedIn. Based on their role, designation, etc., you may also want to target them. The key goal here is to identify those persons to whom you can sell the idea of buying a franchise or can afford to have a franchise.
Question 8
What target audience options are available on Facebook?
There are multiple target audience options available. You can target people based on the different kinds of interests, their online behaviour, the mobile phones they use, their location, age, etc. Read this post to get a better idea.
Question 9
I want more details about uploading process of email ID’s and how it helps?
When you go to the Facebook Ad Creator Tool, it’s a pretty straightforward thing. You can find the details in this E-Book.
Question 10
Any particular strategies/platforms for Film Production Houses?
I would recommend Facebook and YouTube. You could look out for people with similar interests in Twitter as well.
Question 11
Is Google Places relevant for MBA Institutes?
Yes, it is relevant for MBA Institutes and all other education and training institutes.
Question 12
Can you explain Google Business in a more detailed manner? What is it exactly?
If you have used Google Places or Google Local Page before, then it is an extension of that. Google has just made it easier for people to manage all of their pages in one place (local business in one place). You can get started with that here.
Question 13
How is it different from Google AdWords?
If you are referring to Google Places then Google Places is your free local listing, unlike Google Ads on search results, which are paid for.
Here’s an example. The content on the left is free (Google Places) but the content on the right is paid for (Google AdWords):
Question 14
We are a group of Immigration Consultants. What should be our online strategy to improve the number of direct walk-ins?
I think an important element to improve walk-ins is going to be very quick response, and credibility of the business.
For quick response, you should have a system in place to connect with the prospects as soon as the leads come in – by email and by call.
For credibility, you can have trust elements, like number of years in business, how many people have you helped (helped 10,000 people with immigration), 50 countries, etc. You should have testimonials as well. All this should be communicated nicely on the website, landing pages, email auto-responders etc.
Question 15
We are a software development company which offers SAAS solutions for the enterprise. Which medium is best for us?
Look at Facebook and LinkedIn and see what works for you.
Question 16
Is it recommended for small businesses to invest in LinkedIn ads and Twitter ads?
It depends on the business. Here at LeadSquared, we tried to run LinkedIn Ads but did not see much value in it. As for Twitter ads, they are not available to everybody. You have to meet a certain criteria to be able to run ads on Twitter. You can check here to see if you are eligible. If you are, nothing like it. Then you can look at Twitter lead generation cards also, that work like ads (i.e. help you capture leads, but are free). To find out if something works for you or now, you’ll have to try it.
Question 17
Any suggestion on organic reach potential of Google Plus?
Google Plus has a lot of organic reach potential because without paying for anything, you are showing up on top, when you are a local business. For other businesses also, the knowledge graph that shows up on right is eye-catching and gives your business good visibility. Hashtags and other sharing tools that are used to share on Google Plus are searchable and show up on Google Search Results. The image below shows you the potential of Google Plus (notice the knowledge graph on the right).
Question 18
Please share details on how to set up local business on ‘Google My Business’
Read this post to find out how.
Question 19
In Google Places, which number should be provided? Mobile number or office landline number?
I would recommend using the office landline number.
Question 20
How will I get more ‘Likes’ from my Facebook post?
I would emphasize on the fact that you should not go after ‘Likes’ as a metric. If you are trying to generate leads, then that is what your aim should be. However, when you run your ads (lead generation ads), there is a ‘Like’ option there as well. Even if they don’t fill up the form, but they look at the ad on the newsfeed, they would ‘Like’ your page from there.
Other than that, if you want to do it organically, create a lot of engaging content. Use a lot of images in your organic posting, etc., and if people like your stuff, they would ‘Like’ your page.
Question 21
Can we integrate Facebook with LeadSquared?
Yes, you can use LeadSquared landing pages to capture your Facebook leads. We have a LeadSquared Facebook app as well for your page.
Question 22
How can I use Facebook ads to generate leads for my web development business? What demographics and interests should I choose?
There are multiple options that are available there. Take a look at this Guide to Generate Leads with Facebook Ads. The image below gives you a glimpse of the multiple options available to you.
Question 23
Which platform should we focus on for ads for real estate?
Look at Facebook and also take a look at Twitter Advanced Search. I think Facebook would work well for you and so would Google Adwords.
Question 24
Should I use landing pages for my business?
If you want to capture leads, you would of course need to have some sort of lead capture mechanism. Hence, it is recommendable to use landing pages.
