In a highly competitive market with lots of diversity, generating leads can be difficult. The market is noisy, crowded, and cutt-throat. Many marketers these days turn to social media as a means of lead generation, and you may ask, like many have, if social media is a viable platform to generate leads. How can dancing on TikTok really be taken seriously? Well, the market has spoken, and it loves this easy and cost-efficient way of connecting people with other people.
Loads of other people! One of the biggest reasons social media is one of the best places to generate leads is the sheer amount of users. Facebook, the largest social media platform, has reached 2.93 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2022 — that’s over a third of the world’s current population. Instagram, as of 2021, had 1.21 billion active users, almost 30% of the world’s internet users, and with the active users expected to reach 1.44 billion by 2025, there will be an opportunity for new leads here as well. With this huge audience, there are plenty of opportunities for leads to the point that it can be overwhelming. Therefore, targeting your audience is key or your message will get lost in the vast sea of social media.
Because it is so cost-effective, an average of 53% of marketers spend at least half their budget on lead generation. Furthermore, with social media, there is no fee to start an account because social media itself makes money by advertising products and services. However, this is also a disadvantage of social media as a main source of lead generation — the competition.
Not only are there billions of users, but there are also countless products and services trying to grab the attention of consumers. Nevertheless, the expense for creating and managing a social media account for your business is lower than many other channels.
Now, the Meta companies are huge, but you might want to consider some of the other social media platforms to generate more targeted, high-quality b2c and especially b2b leads. Twitter, despite being often overlooked as its tweets have a short lifespan, generates an astonishing 82% of social media leads. LinkedIn is massively underutilized but evolving into a platform powerhouse with a 21% revenue jump as of the pandemic.
One of the most valuable lead generators for marketers in today’s market is social media. Research shows that a mere 6 hours a week spent developing your social media reach can generate good leads with no upfront cost to a potential audience of a third of the size of the world. Go where your consumers are and meet them there with quality content — no TikTok dancing needed, but your presence is highly recommended.
