Facebook is much bigger and more complex than just a social network for people to stay in touch with their family and friends. In our ever-growing tech world, Facebook provides the opportunity for marketers to reach potential leads from anywhere in the world.
But generating a lead can be tough, especially a qualified one. In 2020, 98.3% of all Facebook users check their accounts on mobile devices. Who could be bothered to fill out a form for an ad they clicked on their phone?
Introducing, Facebook Lead Ads.
The perfect way to reduce friction and generate leads quicker. When you target a person with a Lead Ad and they click on your ad, Facebook will automatically fill in the form boxes with their information.
This means two clicks, no typing and you’ve generated a new lead.
Let’s discuss how to optimize your qualified lead generation using Facebook Ads.
What is a qualified lead?
There are generally two different types of qualified leads used in the marketing funnel: Marketing-qualified leads (MQL) and Sales-qualified leads (SQL). The goal of the marketing team is qualified lead generation through its marketing campaigns.
MQL is a person or business who has shown interest in your product/business based on your marketing campaigns. The marketing team then analyzes and vet these leads to determine if they are “qualified.”
This person must have intentionally engaged with your business in some way to meet the criteria for an MQL. This engagement may have been:
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Providing contact information
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Repeatedly visiting your website
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Adding your items to their shopping cart
These are promising leads that are more likely to become a customer than other leads and should be treated as such.
SQL is a person or business that has been qualified as an MQL and is ready to talk to the sales team to finalize a sale.
They have expressed enough interest in your business that they are prepared to speak with the sales team to move forward.
The process of vetting is different from company to company, however, customers are usually scored using a process known as “lead scoring.” This allows businesses to assign value to different customers based on their inherent value to the business, meaning attention can be focused on higher-value customers.
Facebook can be a fantastic tool for qualified lead generation for your business!
Best Ways To Generate Leads Using Facebook Ads
Everyone is aware of regular Facebook ads, but some may be new to the concept of Lead Ads. Here we will discuss some top tips on how to generate leads on Facebook and what type of ads are the most effective Facebook ads for qualified lead generation.
Use Pre-Populated Questions
In general, people use Facebook to connect with family and see what their friends are up to. They don’t use it to buy your product.
To generate qualified leads on Facebook make the process as easy as possible for the customer. A great way to do this is by using pre-populated questions. These are questions that once a customer clicks your ad Facebook will fill in the information for them.
This greatly reduces the time and effort required by the customer and will increase the chance of you effectively using Facebook ads for lead generation.
Add Custom Questions
As you can see in the picture above at the bottom of the pre-populated questions, you may add in your own questions for the form.
This is a great opportunity to find out more about your customer, discover pain points felt by your customers that you may be able to address or see what interests your audience so that you can enhance your content.
The fact that the rest of the questions will be auto-filled means that the customer is more likely to fill out just one or two questions which can be extremely helpful for you.
Provide Offers That Appeal To Your Customers
It’s human nature to always look for a bargain. We work hard for our money and we want to “get the most bang for our buck” no matter what we’re shopping for. The same goes for your lead generation campaign. If you can offer your potential customer a little bit extra than everyone else, chances are they’ll follow you.
You have to know your customer and be able to present them with an offer that adds value from their perspective. This may be a “money off if you sign up to our newsletter” appealing to their financial side, or it may be “get the latest tips and tricks for your industry by subscribing.”
It’s crucial to know your customer extremely well as everyone has different needs and wants to we need to try to appeal to.
Provide Fast And Easy Communication
Every new customer is bound to have extra questions about your business. That’s fantastic news as it means you can actively engage and assist your customers.
Creating an open and accessible flow of communication is essential for lead generation through Facebook. Adding the option that allows the customer to call or contact your business once they’ve followed through on your ad will greatly increase your chances of a successful conversion.
This simple step can be a make or break point for many customers so be sure to stay on top of your customer service!
Effective Facebook Ads For Lead Generation
Lead generation is a process and one that needs a strategy to execute properly.
So let’s examine how to step up a successful Facebook lead generation ad step by step:
1. Identify your market
Identify who your target market is and what type of marketing would be most effective for that audience. This may seem like an obvious step but without correctly identifying these factors you may be pouring all your time and resources into a marketing funnel that will produce little to no return as it isn’t reaching your desired audience.
Types Of Marketing
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Consumer Marketing
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Industrial Marketing
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Retail Marketing
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Reseller Marketing
2. Conduct Market Research
This step can be done sitting on your computer in the office or going out and talking to people.
Our top tip is to simply research your competitors.
Examine all of their online presence form their website, to their Facebook page and most importantly their online reviews. This is a great way to see what customers are saying about your competition and about the industry as a whole.
Identifying customers with complaints can be a great way of recognizing “pain points” in the industry that other competitors aren’t addressing. These issues can then be used as a central idea in your ad to catch the eye of customers and set you apart from the rest.
3. Effectively Target Your Ideal Audience
To find out how to effectively target audiences on Facebook check out our blogs on How Facebook Targeted Ads Work and How to Use Facebook Audience Insights to Find Audiences That Convert.
It is essential to find out as much as you can about your audience. Step into their shoes and try to see things from their perspective.
My top tip here is to spend a day on Facebook finding pages that are relevant to your business. From there, examine the members of the page and see what they are interested in. Finding common interests between members will give you a better idea of who your audience is and what they like.
4. Sales Funnels
The most common mistake in Facebook ads lead generation is not setting up the correct sales funnels.
This will differ from company to company and from the audience that the ads is aimed towards.
A great piece of advice here as we spoke about above is to offer something free in exchange for the customer’s information.
Some examples may be:
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Newsletter subscription
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Entry into a draw or competition
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Course relevant to the industry
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Tips and tricks for their business
5. Advertising
Understanding how to run lead generation ads on Facebook means understanding the most effective types of Facebook ad. Successful marketers don’t just throw money at their campaign and run. They understand that you must create an engaging ad based on current trends and interests. Advertising requires certain creativity to be able to influence people’s thoughts to make your product appealing.
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Image
Please do me one favor and use an image!
The most effective image is an image of a relatable and happy looking person.
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Color
Use orange, green and red. These colors are eye-catching, bright color which will grab your audience’s attention. Don’t use blue or white, as these colors blend into Facebook’s own color scheme, meaning the users’ eyes will more than likely just skim over your ad.
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Description
Keep it simple and keep it catchy.
The word “free” will always attract attention and having your logo there will remind the customer of you straight away. Try to communicate some value in as few words as possible.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you now have a solid grasp on the idea of lead generation and how Facebook Ads can be used to generate qualified leads for an affordable advertising budget.
When learning how to get leads on Facebook, the best piece of advice I can give you is to learn to put your customer first.
Think of what type of ad they would actually stop watching a video of a cute puppy for as they scroll by!
