SOCIAL MEDIA LEAD GENERATION TUTORIAL: 5 STEPS TO CONVERT LIKES & COMMENTS INTO LEADS

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Social media marketing for MASSIVE lead generation – here are my top tips & proven strategies for generating more likes, comments, leads, and sales from your social media content.?

Everyone knows that if you want to?start and grow?your business… you?should be?posting on social media…

From LinkedIn to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more… utilizing social media in your business marketing strategy is a smart move to make.?

But not just because these platforms can build your brand awareness and grow your reach… but because with literally?billions of active daily users.

Social media is one of the best places?to generate new leads, drive traffic to your website, and cash in on conversions.?But it’s not just as simple as haphazardly throwing up a post every now and then, cramming your caption with hashtags, then asking people to sign up for your email list or buy your products & services…?

If you want to use social media as?the powerful lead generation tool?that it is…?

Then there are?5 key steps?you need to follow to?create more likes, comments, leads, and sales.?

Hey! It’s Alex.?

In this article, I’m gonna share with you my personal strategy for?turning likes & comments into leads on social media.

If you’re new to the crew—welcome!?Every week I post a new article on topics like marketing, copywriting, freelancing, mindset, and motivation…?So you can learn my proven techniques, formulas, and strategies that?work today.

If that sounds good to you, then be sure to subscribe to my newsletter The Right Phrase Pays to stay in the loop!?

Now when it comes to lead generation on social media, the greatest effort actually needs to be done BEFORE you post…

BEFORE you ever ask for an email, download, or sale, you gotta get your audience?primed,?prepped, & ready?to want what you’re serving up.?

Steps 1-4 in this article will help you do just that… and step number 5 will be the big one…

Generating those leads, baby.??

Alright, so let’s get started with step #1…?

1. Use A 4-Pillar Posting Approach

HOT TIP:?Do NOT?try to get a lead or sale with every post!

I know this might sound a bit obvious, but it’s a mistake that I see a lot of people making on social media.?

If every post you make is asking people to buy something from you or sign up for your email list, you’re definitely going to drive away A LOT of followers and?massively hurt your engagement.

Aside from the fact that people on social media like to STAY on social media (and not click out to other sites or links).

Social media platforms REALLY like their users to stay put which means the algorithm doesn’t favor posts that drive engagement AWAY from the platform.

By constantly including a CTA in your posts to click a link or visit a website (which means fewer likes and comments on the post itself), you’re inadvertently hurting your reach because platforms like Instagram only continue to show your posts to followers if people are actively engaging with it.

Yikes—bummer, right?

So a good rule of thumb is to give your followers what they came for—inspiration, education, or entertainment.?

I like to make sure my posts always follow what I call the “Four Pillars” of social media content: Promotional, educational, personal, and engagement/relatability.?

Where…

• Promotional Posts:?You’re clearly promoting your product or service to your audience.
• Educational Posts:?You’re delivering mad value in the form of free education or inspiration.?
• Personal Posts:?You’re building rapport with your audience. Letting them know more about you, your personal story, your quirks, likes, and all the things you might think are “irrelevant” to your business!
• Engagement Posts:?Your opportunity to engage with your audience, ask them questions, and uncover their needs, wants, & desires.?

I break down these four pillars in more detail—including examples AND swipe copy for you to use—in my free?Cheat Sheet for writing Clickworthy Captions & CTAs.

Now a good rule of thumb is to keep these posts on a consistent cycle. So if you post 4 days/week, you would post a different pillar each day, rinse, and repeat!

This way, your audience won’t get tired of seeing the same promotional content over and over… and over again.?

And here’s another?HOT TIP:?Remember that you should be posting some of your most valuable content on social media—yes for free!

Especially if you’re in the beginning stages of building out your audience.?

You should be focused more on forming?relationships, delivering?value, building?trust, and getting people?really excited?about following you!

And this leads me to step #2…

2. Plan & Post Consistently

I’m just going to come right out and say it…?Posting regularly on social media is a lot of work! And when you don’t see?immediate results?(which, ahem… you probably won’t) it can be?super?discouraging to keep going.?

But trust me, keep going!?

Because?consistency builds trust.?

And remember—we buy from the people that we “know, like and trust”.

Through your content, your audience will get to KNOW your style and get familiar with the value you provide, through your personal & engagement posts, they will start to LIKE you, and over time… that builds into TRUST.?

And getting people to trust you is the hard part!?Once you gain their trust, selling to them is easy because they already?want?to buy from you.?

Posting consistently ensures you are?always?top of mind. So when someone needs something in your area of expertise, they think of you first.?

And also, it takes?TIME & CONSISTENCY?for the dreaded algorithm to “trust” & “reward” you in return…

Or in other words, start showing your content to more and more people on the explore page.?

Now when it comes to what consistency looks like… well, that’s up to you!?I usually post twice a day, 7 days a week. But hey—that’s a lot! And there’s no rule saying that you have to post that much too.?

Some people once a day, and some people only post 3 times a week…?

ALL these posting methods work if done CONSISTENTLY. So the key takeaway here is: decide how often you want to show up, create a plan and?stick to it!

Alright, now on to step number 3…

3. Don’t Post & Ghost

It’s not enough to just show up, throw up some posts, and call it a day…

You HAVE to engage with your audience.

And this can be broken down into three categories…

First, you need to engage with people in your comments and DMs—this means replying to the questions in your comments and doing your absolute best to respond to every DM, tag, mention, and share.

Trust me, this goes a loooooong way to building a thriving community that?actually?sticks with you, instead of just signing up for one of your freebies and peacing out.?

Even something as simple as “hearting” a comment can make your audience feel seen and included in the community.?

Now, the second way of engaging with your audience is by actually asking them questions—and then?addressing?those questions with your content!?

We do this all the time on?the Copy Posse Instagram page.?

Polls, questions, and quizzes are all great ways to not only build engagement but also learn more about your audience and start a conversation…

In fact, this tutorial came from?a direct result of a recent poll?I put out to the Copy Posse community asking which topic you wanted to learn more about!

While this one didn’t win, it was a pretty close call—so I decided to do both!?

Remember, if you’re giving your audience what they?actually?want and ask for, then you know they’ll stick around.?

Alright, now?the third and final way of engaging with your audience?is probably going to be the hardest for most people…

Be sure that you’re showing up, and showing?your face,?on video!

Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, recently?released a statement?saying that Instagram is no longer primarily a photo-sharing app and will be putting a huge focus on video.

Now, this is huge not just for Instagram, but for?every social media platform. Because it shows that content is moving away from pictures and moving towards video!

What this means for you and your business is that you gotta start putting yourself out there and producing more video content!?

You don’t need to go all out and make full-blown videos (unless you want to, of course!). Simply hopping on your stories every day, posting REELs, or going LIVE every now and then are all great ways to get your face?in front of your audience!?

Which not only builds engagement but also favors you in the… yup, you guessed it, the?algorithm. Win-win!

Okay, step number four…

4. Follow The ABCs of Copywriting

Sure, social media is “technically” content sharing, which means there is A LOT of content writing involved…?

But when you’re utilizing it to generate leads and gain more conversions—which is why most businesses use social media! – copywriting principles are essential!

This means: write compelling?hooks, make sure your captions?flow?& are easy to read, pay attention to?formatting, and NEVER SKIP A?CTA.?

Let’s break that down a little bit more…

Every caption should follow the ABCs of copywriting basics:

One, they need to get ATTENTION, with a great graphic and compelling hook/headline.

On social media, your hook is the very first sentence of your caption. If your first sentence isn’t captivating, then the reader won’t tap “More”… and your amazing caption or CTA doesn’t matter.

Two, they need to provide a BENEFIT or BIG VALUE?in the form of education, entertainment, or inspiration.

Once you have your readers’ attention, you need to keep it! This is done by implementing great storytelling, content or wisdom, and opening loops throughout your caption.?

Always make sure your caption delivers on the hook you opened with!?Nobody got time for clickbait captions.

And?three, they need a strong CLOSE. They need to give people one clear and concise CALL-TO-ACTION.

Never, never, never—I repeat—NEVER… skip a CTA!

This one is so important for generating new leads that I made it its own step… which brings us to step number five…?

5. Tell Your Reader’s What To Do Next

What’s Rule #1 in copywriting?

If you want your audience to take action, you need to tell them?exactly?what you want them to do!

Every CTA is an opportunity for lead generation.?

And no, that doesn’t mean that every CTA should be “buy from me” or “download this” or “sign up here.”

You can be super creative with your CTAs to increase engagement and have conversations!

For example, at the end of a post explaining how to write better headlines, my CTA at the bottom might say something like “Do YOU want to learn how to write better headlines? Comment YES or NO below!”

A really simple, and effective way to gain leads on this CTA is by simply following up with every person that comments “YES”.?

In this case, I have a?free headline writing guide?that I could send you.?

When they download the guide, they’ll be added to my mailing list and just like that, I’ve got a new lead that may turn into a customer if they find value from my free content.?

Another way of utilizing this “back door” strategy for lead generation, is using the CTA to?ask an engaging question.

For example, in a post about starting your own copywriting business… my CTA might be “Tell me, what’s holding you back from STARTING?”

The comments will likely have a big range of answers that you can directly reply to in the comments, or if you have a free resource, video, or course that addresses their problem directly—this is a great opportunity to DM them the links directly… which can result in lead generation!?

But remember, when it comes to social media for lead generation: You should always?be focused on helping?first and foremost, NOT selling & pitching.?

That’s all for this week, you can grab your free gift—a copy of my Cheatsheet for writing Clickworthy Captions & CTAs?if you haven’t already!

Hope you found this helpful, thanks for reading and subscribing!

Alex

Alex Cattoni is the Founder of the Copy Posse Agency and Academy. Since 2011, she has launched several successful brands and has proudly partnered with many of the hottest transformational brands and businesses on the planet, writing high-converting sales copy, scaling multi-million dollar brands, and crafting iconic promotional campaigns.

Today, she’s on a mission to mobilize the raddest, baddest crew of authentic copywriters with a passion for creating community, credibility and conversions with nothing but powerful and precise wording.

Through her weekly?YouTube?videos, Alex helps copywriters, aspiring copywriters and entrepreneurs learn, write and ignite their businesses with words that work.?