9 Best Social Media Platforms for Business Lead Generation

Daniel Calderon said, “Social media is one of the most powerful tools companies use to spread their message to their target audience. With ever-changing algorithms on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter — to name a few, brands need to understand how to use quality content to their advantage. Simply put, brands need to “go hard or go home.” Competition is steep, and social media users are looking to consume the most thought-provoking and visually compelling content. Also, video content has become more critical, giving companies a boost in favorability and reach on social media platforms. Once a brand is confident in their content’s virality, they then should add a budget for paid increases to guarantee their campaign’s success.”

Hundreds of different social media sites out there have thousands, if not millions, of users a month. Thanks to the innovation of our smartphones and mobile-friendly applications, we are almost 3 billion people scattered among these social media places.

Hopefully, you are not overwhelmed by these numbers because we will only be focusing on the top 9 most widely used social media sites out there. These are Facebook,/Messenger, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora, and the new kid on the block, Tiktok.

1. Facebook (FB)

Monthly Active Users: 2.74 Billion

Total Reach: 60.6% of Internet Users

Business who use Facebook: 80 Million

Users: As of January 2021, it was found that 9.6% of global active Facebook users were women between the ages of 18 and 24 years, and male users between the ages of 25 and 34 years constituted the most significant demographic group of Facebook users. [-Statista]

Ideal for: B2C

Strengths:

• It is the top 1 most used social media platform globally, and almost everyone uses it.
• F.B. has low-cost advertising
• You can get traffic for your Website.
• It has a potent tool that can target the audience that you desire for your products/services
• You can connect to your customers directly using Facebook Messenger.
• You can instantly sell your products via the marketplace.

Weaknesses:

• Because it is the number one social media platform on the planet, there are so many posts generated every day, making it hard to stand out unless you have a great product to offer or have an established brand.
• Like most of the Social Media Applications in this list, unsatisfied customers can publicly voice their complaints, which needs to be addressed immediately.
• Creating an account on F.B. is so easy, and it is sometimes hard to tell if you are talking to an actual client or trolling fake ones.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Leverage the Lead Form in Facebook (Free)
• Using this powerful tool, you can get the information you need from your potential customers and lead them to your Website, where you can give more value to them via free content materials or free trials.
•  Engage more with your audience (Absolutely Free)
• By joining Facebook Groups or creating one for your Business Page, you can communicate with your target audience and empathise with their needs.
• Be prompt in replying on Facebook Messenger because Facebook is also grading your response time, and this is one of the best ways to communicate to your audiences directly.
• Responding to your post comments is also a great way to gain more authority and awareness to your followers.
• Use Chatbots (Paid/Free)
• With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, automation is now possible.
• This feature goes hand to hand with the lead generations being provided by Facebook; once a potential client goes through the lead, a chatbot will answer almost all of their queries.
• Use F.B. Ads (Paid)

The way to reach more targeted and pre-defined “potential customers” is through Facebook Ads. If you have a page and wonder why your page doesn’t reach your followers, it is because of the new algorithm launched in 2019 by Facebook.

Hootsuite claimed that as of the end of 2020, organic reach is still on the decline. The average reach for an organic Facebook post is down to 5.2%. (For the record, at the end of 2019, it was 5.5%, and the year before that it was 7.7%).

Facebook wants more family and friends connections, so what’s a better way to communicate more and get more leads? Stop being “Salesy”, even in your ads.

Have you ever wondered why Yoga Mats Facebook ads appear on your F.B. Account after you searched on Google “The Best Yoga Mats for Men”? It is because of a digital imprint called Pixel. A Facebook Pixel is a code that you put in your Website, basically to track conversions that come from Facebook, build a customised, targeted audience, and get the attention of those who already visited your site. It is a great way to polish your marketing campaign and get more leads.

2. Instagram (IG)

Monthly Active Users: 1.221 Billion

Total Reach: 140 Million in the U.S. that’s only 12% of the worlds Instagram users

Businesses that use Instagram: 500 Million IG Accounts use stories every day. 1/3 of the most viewed stories are from businesses. -Oberlo

Users: 71% of the billion monthly active users on the Instagram app are under 35 (Statista, 2019). This statistic provides information on the distribution of Instagram users worldwide as of January 2019. The single most popular age range is users between the ages of 25 and 34, followed by users between the ages of 18 and 24. [-Statista]

Ideal for: B2C

Strengths:

• Engagement is high because most of the posts on this platform are user-generated, you can post some of your customer’s photos on your Instagram account and let them be the ambassador for your brand. You can also use the power of hashtags to connect to other people who are not yet on your following list.
• Targeting the audience on Instagram is easy because of its simple yet effective targeting features like location, demographics, behaviour, interest, and look-alike audiences.
• Because we are visual animals in nature, people are inclined to interact with photos, videos, and carousels that your Business can leverage to gain traffic on your I.G. account and Website.
• 60% of Instagram users go on the platform to find new products.

Weaknesses:

• New and existing followers’ engagement is high but low in conversion rate.
• The opportunity to get a sale is low due to the high amount of content traffic that comes by on news feeds
• I.G. won’t allow a clickable link to your Website, and viewers need to copy and paste the link in the URL for them to get to your site.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Create a GOOD Graphical Content (Free)

You can use a free app to make an I.G. post suited for this application like Canva. Free Stock photos are not advisable to be used because they might have been used before, but if you are starting, you can visit these sites:

• Freestock.org
• Gratisography
• Kaboompix
• Unsplash
• Little Visuals
• Reshot

You can put a quote on these stock photos or use it as a background on your carousels with a step-by-step guide to something related to your Business.

• Post 1-2x a day to have more traction in your I.G. account and always use hashtags on your visuals. (Free)
• Follow a brand kit on abiding on it religiously. Instagram is like a museum of your Business, so put a little effort to give your fans and new followers “the feel” of your brand.
• DO NOT try to SELL but DO TELL a STORY.
• Speaking of Story, use IG Story to promote brand awareness and eventually get more leads.

Remember, you are a storyteller. Behind every piece of digital content, there needs to be a story. People are on the lookout for something different, which speaks to them, especially with the digital and social channels maturing. – Samuel W. Turned

3. LinkedIn

Monthly Active Users: 675 Million monthly users

Total Reach: 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers, and 40 million are in decision-making positions. – Foundation Inc

Businesses that use LinkedIn: 55 million companies are on LinkedIn 

Users: 57% of LinkedIn users worldwide are male, compared to 43% of females Statista 2019.

Ideal for: B2B

Strengths:

• A lot of Networking Opportunities. LinkedIn is a B2B goldmine because most of its users are decision-makers in a company. It is said that almost all of the key players in Fortune 500 Companies in the United States are on this platform.
• You can efficiently market your industry authority and credibility by creating a profile that stands out from the crowd. Almost any virtual data can be shared on LinkedIn to make a business look good.
• Since the platform promotes professionalism, most users behave in such behaviour, so there is almost no negativity, trolling, and unnecessary comments on posts.
• The variety of Advertising campaign goals and media is excellent. You can use LinkedIn ads for building brand awareness with a broad reach or get very narrow with InMail messages to a targeted list. Ads can be videos, images, personal messages, or just a text ad, all with varying pros and cons, so our clients lean on us for advice. – Bailey Witt MBA -source: Trust Radius
• One of the best ad products I’ve found is Sponsored InMail. Though it is pricey, it offers a more direct-mail style ad product without the additional hassle of email list rental, mailing service, or similar services. This puts you in the inbox of those you target. Though it is mostly just in the LinkedIn inbox, many people also get a push notification and an email alert from LinkedIn in their email inbox. This is pretty valuable, and the prices aren’t exorbitant considering how powerful the targeting can be. -Scott Walker Director of Digital Marketing –source: Trust Radius

Weaknesses:

• LinkedIn advertising is expensive. Cost per click tends to be fairly expensive, especially compared to a search ad campaign with Google or Bing, so it’s not necessary to be used in every situation. Our clients typically see a $10-$15 cost per click, and for smaller companies with limited marketing budgets, sometimes that can only get them 1-2 leads per month. – Bailey Witt MBA -source: Trust Radius
• Has a steep learning Curve. User Experience is not user-friendly, and you need to be familiar with it more, unlike Facebook or Instagram, which is much easier to use.
• There are many spam messages all around the platform, from job seekers to small Businesses trying to sell something. (Please don’t be that type of Business.)
• They are lagging on some basic industry-grade social media programs that are available elsewhere. It is a fact that they want to make LinkedIn professional rather than personal, but it will be less boring for some users if they will add questionnaires, polls, memories, or games on it.
• Though it is a gold mine for essential network, you need to spend a lot of time networking on this platform.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Spend a little time each day to build a connection. The more connection you have, the more organic reach you will get. The more people on your network, the more people will read and share your content with their networks. Aim to have at least 1-2 connections a day. You can get almost 500 contacts a year (minus Sat and Sun, take rest too.) (Free)
• Spare a little time (5-10mins) to monitor your connections, especially those under your industry radar, and learn about them. It is a must if you will use LinkedIn as a lead generating machine. You don’t have to read all of them; just skim through them so you can get a grasp on what they are doing. (Free)
• Write a recommendation for your customers or key contacts even if they don’t request it. In this way, you are building trust and a relationship with them. Do not wait for them to ask for it; if you made a transaction with them, make the first move. They might give you a return recommendation, or they might not; either way, you made a good impression. (Free)

4. Twitter

Monthly Active Users: 330 Million (Twitter)

Total Reach: Only 50 million of those 330 million MAUs are located in the United States, while 290 million (88%) are international. Twitter supports those international users with more than 35 offices around the world. –Websitehostingrating

Businesses that use Twitter:

67% of all B2B businesses use Twitter as a digital marketing tool

On average, there are 164 million ads shown on Twitter every day

66% of the businesses who have 100+ employees have a Twitter account –Websitehostingrating

Users:

Approximately 63% of Twitter users worldwide are between 35 and 65 years old  -theVAB, 2018

66% of Twitter users worldwide are male compared to just 34% of females -DataReportal, 2019

Ideal for: B2B / B2C

Strengths:

• You can easily find people who are interested in what you are offering.
• Your Business can have a small army of marketers if you can build a community or a following from your tweets. They will be the ones who will “re-tweet” what you tweeted, and that is free advertising.
• Twitter gives you a chance to do conversational marketing wherein you can interact with your customers in real-time and provide them with a quality answer giving them the Triple-A customer service that they need.
• It will automatically shorten your Website’s URL, and you don’t need bit.ly to do it. It is handy given that you can only tweet 280 characters on Twitter.

Weaknesses:

• Just a fair warning if you want to include this in your marketing campaign, It is very addictive. Because of the fast phased nature of Twitter, marketers tend to reply ASAP on every tweet or conversation that includes their Business.
• In relation to the first weakness, it is time-consuming. Most of the businesses that use Twitter as a marketing tool hires someone to manage their account.
• Once you tweeted something that is not for tweeting, you will have a hard time deleting it.
• Trolls are everywhere, and spammers too.
• Lead generation can take long (10-12months) because brands that dominate this platform are big ones.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Be strategic about your Twitter handle. Make sure it relates to your Business. If it does not? See to it that your username can carry the brand that you are promoting.
• Remember to follow those in your same industry.
• Though this is a medium for witty words, do not forget to use visuals on your tweets like memes, catchy pictures, or GIF.
• Always engage with your followers, especially those who are your customers. Sometimes they tweet their inquiries or feedbacks, watch out for those.
• Make your Profile Public; if you are a business that wants to gain more audience, it is logical to put your brand in front of the tweets.
• Hashtags are good but use them in moderation and ensure that your hashtags are related to your saying. Use the 280 characters wisely so you will not be labelled as spam, an amateur social media marketer, or someone who doesn’t know what he is doing.
• You can use paid ads to reach more audiences but make sure to study your target market and be diligent in your research/testing so you can get the most of your ad spent.

5. Youtube

Monthly Users: 2.3 Billion users who have an account logged in almost once per month -Statista

Total Reach: 79% of internet users

Businesses that use Youtube:

Users: Statistics show that 62% of businesses use YouTube as a channel to post video content. -Buffer

Ideal for: B2B / B2C

Strengths:

• It is free to use
• People can easily share videos from Youtube, which is a huge factor for advertising.
• Though it is a search engine that ranks #2 under Google, it is labelled a social media platform because it enables you to engage with the viewers on the comment sections.
• You can post your Website’s URL on the video description or affiliated sites and not be labeled as spam because it just acts as natural backlinks.
• It has SEO (Search Engine Optimization) reach meaning your videos can be placed on Google Search when someone searches for a topic related to your creations.
• Just like Facebook, ads targeting Youtube are powerful. You can target audiences by:
  • Demographic
  • Similar Audiences
  • Life Events
  • Customer Match
  • Topics
  • In-Market Audience
• You can easily see your viewers’ engagement metrics on Youtube via its Analytics tool.
• Easy opportunity to engage and entertain your audience.
• You can outrank most of the top content creators on a specific video, even if you have a small following relative to them.

Weaknesses:

• Though it has SEO capabilities, Google only points the searcher to Youtubes domain and not yours, so if they do not click on your links on the description, you still can’t rank up your domain authority.
• Intellectual property businesses that host webinars or tutorials can be easily ripped off because your videos can be replicated or downloaded for offline use. It is wise not to put all of your core value offer videos on youtube and host it somewhere else.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Use appropriate thumbnails and title on your videos
• Perform Youtube Keyword Search and SEO; it is a hybrid of search engine and Social Media, so ranking up on the list for search queries can be a big help in getting more leads for your Business.
• Ads for brand awareness usually take 30secs-2mins long, so stick to that to minimise your ads’ cost. A fair warning is to make your ad content valuable and relatable.
• Grab the first 15 secs of your viewers’ attention by showing them what they will get in your product. Let them feel that you are the solution to their problems.
• Always use a call to action if you’re making a video to educate or entertain, like hit the like button, click the notification bell, etc.
• Keep your content fresh and consistent.

If you use this not just for ads but also for its brand awareness capabilities, make sure that you have a stock of videos to upload consistently, like weekly or twice a month on a specific day. Make a backup of at least three videos so that you still have something to upload when you are under the weather to shoot for content.

Request from your customer (one of those who have repeat orders) a review in video format. Don’t forget to acknowledge them on your next video or give a freebie on their next order to show gratitude for their work.

6. Pinterest

Monthly Users: 459 Million -Statista

Total Reach: 1/3 of users in the U.S. says they use the platform to follow brands and companies that are about 100 Million active users. -Statista 2019

Businesses that use Pinterest: 28% of marketers worldwide use Pinterest to market their products or services -Influencer Marketing Hub

Users: 77.1% of Pinterest users were female and a mere 14.5% male, with 8.4% unspecified – Influencer Marketing Hub

Ideal for: B2C

Strengths:

• This is perfect for brands that produce visuals or designed-focused brands. 
• The most active users are women (60% of the total users and 80% of Moms in the U.S. -Sprout Social), which means you have the main tool to sell for the house’s decision-makers.
• Shoppers in Pinterest grew 50% in the first half of 2020 
• If you get your pins and content right, you will have a free source of organic traffic.
• Can boost up your SEO capabilities
• Users of this application tend to look for something and eventually buy it.

Weaknesses:

• With its strength of being dominated by women, businesses primarily focused on selling products/services for men will have a hard time on this platform.
• The new algorithm of Pinterest makes it harder to be noticed if you will not spend more or if you will not post new content. They make sure that you produce new content, which is time-consuming, especially if you have a business to run.
• It is difficult to automate in Pinterest fully.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Keep your content fresh by regularly creating pins that are connected to your brand. It doesn’t mean that you always need to create. Sometimes you need to collaborate or use curation.
• If you are a business, create a business account on Pinterest.
• Use images that will surely grab your audience’s attention. Do not rely on stock photos; if you can take a picture or hire a professional photographer, do it. 
• Be smart about your titles and profile name; use those characters to boost up your SEO. Use keywords as much as possible while building your brand.
• Speaking of words to be used in your Pin description, be clear on your topic so that possible leads will not have a hard time with your pins.

7. Reddit

Monthly Users: 430 Million -Reddit 2020

Total Reach:

The site receives more than 21 billion monthly screen views.-Reddit

6% of online adults are Reddit users -Pew Research Center

Businesses that use Reddit:

Tech and Fitness related topics are popular in the subreddit communities and will continue to increase in popularity in coming years. -Foundation Inc

Users: 42% of Internet Users 18-24 use Reddit -Statista

Ideal for: B2C

Strengths:

• Engagement with your target audience is super specific because it becomes a topic within a community.
• There are 46.7 million searches a day about something, and there is a big chance that what you are offering will be on those queries.
• Launching a campaign won’t hurt your bank account; you can start an ad for $5/day and gain traffic.

Weakness:

• Many professionals and “self-proclaimed” professionals are in this marketing space; you need to be knowledgeable on your topic, especially if it is about your product or services that you are selling, to avoid being bashed.
• You need more time to build a reputation or authority in your niche.
• A little hard to navigate for beginners
• If there are professionals and wannabees, there are trolls too.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Don’t just advertise, be a member of the community.  Engage on every topic related to your business and provide quality resources from your content or others.

• Do cross-posting from subreddits and utilise it for your brand awareness campaign. Remember not to overpopulate it with your links so it will not be tagged as spam.
• Your ad copy must not be two sentences long and must be catchy in its first few sentences. 
• Use quality images as much as possible and match them with the prevailing contents in your niche community.

8. Quora

 Monthly Users: 300 Million -Foundation Inc

 Total Reach:

The U.S. is the major country that drives the highest traffic of 27.80% to Quora. –SimilarWeb

Businesses that use Quora:

Businesses using Quora Ads have seen up to 4x more conversions -Foundation Inc.

 Users: 

Adult users who are 18 years and older with a household income greater than $100K spend 2x more time on Quora than on LinkedIn. -Foundation Inc

 Ideal for: B2B

 Strengths: 

• Like other social media platforms out there, this one is free to use.
• You can have created more backlinks to your Website by constantly engaging the people out there. Just make sure you are providing backlinks that are relevant to the topic.
• It is a great tool to find new topics for your industry because users are consistently posting their questions on this platform.
• It helps you rank up on Google Search Engine.
• Low cost on bidding and cost per click
• A good place to have inbound leads
• You can create your blog within the social media site.

Weaknesses:

• Although leads on this platform are great, they are not of excellent quality. The bounce rate on your Website is high, and the conversion rate from a curious audience to a buyer is low.
• It consumes much time, just like Reddit.
• Besides needing more time to comment or make an article about something, it takes too much energy and research to be a highly engaging entity in Quora.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Contribute with consistent value regularly.
• Do not be afraid to add the link to your Website if it answers a particular question thread.
• If it ranks you up in Google, search for keywords.
• Use Quora Ads contextual targeting, tick the “Questions” menu and add all of your keywords. The best part of this trick is you’ll see questions related to your keywords. (Paid)Establish your presence as an authority but don’t be afraid to show that you are selling something. 
• As you link to your Website, link back to other websites too. Always make sure that you are answering the question that is being raised. Do not spam.

9. TikTok

 Monthly Users: 689 million TikTok users internationally –Business of Apps

 Total Reach: TikTok global penetration estimated at 18% of global internet users aged 16-64 -Global Web Index

 Businesses that use Tiktok:

Users: 62% of TikTok users in the U.S. are aged between 10 and 29 – Statista 2020

 Ideal for: B2C

Strengths:

• The App is Free to use
• More and more people are downloading TikTok regardless of their age, more users meaning more potential lead generation.
• If your business wants to show the playful side of your Business this is the social media app for your group.
• Going viral or trending is easy. (If you can connect well with the younger audiences)
• Organic reach can easily be attained; it all depends on your content.
• High chance your ads/video will be seen because the app plays videos on users feeds automatically

 Weaknesses:

• There is no way to create a backlink to your Website or Business, so you need to be more creative with your videos.
• The U.S. government plans to ban TikTok due to data sharing concerns with China.
• Users are mostly teens and young adults, and your products might not fall under these categories.
• TikTok Ads are expensive.
• Tiktok is not known for its customer service, and, sadly, some of the contents that are going viral are being shut down for unknown reasons.

Tips on how to get leads:

• Be creative with your content and make it young generation friendly; you will not see much traction on people over 30+ of age in this place.
• Launch Hashtag challenge
• Work with the influencers in this space. If you want to get more leads on this platform, you will be spending tons of cash. 
• Study the platform first; this is a new addition to the Social Media Family, and the learning curve to get leads on this platform might need time to materialise.

 

Last Tips on Incorporating Social Media Into Your Business:

Having this information will guide you to pick the best social media lead generation space for your Business. You might be doing a Business to Business or Business to Customer Marketing, but make sure to see those businesses and customers not as numbers in your metrics or KPI’s but as humans. Using any of these Social Media Applications can significantly impact your business’s brand awareness and lead generation efforts if you give more value to your targeted audience’s wants and needs. Don’t get caught up on likes and followers, these are all vanity metrics; look for more substantial numbers like the conversion from a lead to a buyer. Explore the vast selection of these online social gathering sites and create an environment of true fans that will buy your product or services no matter the price tag because you made a relationship with them and valued their preferences. Enjoy the engagement. Make an Impact.

References:

• How to Generate Leads on Social Media | https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-generate-leads-on-social-media/
• The Best Social Media for Lead-Generation|  https://www.forbes.com/sites/henrydevries/2018/11/16/the-best-social-media-for-lead-generation/?sh=6ade74d446ab
• Social Media B2B Lead-Generation | https://wearesculpt.com/blog/social-media-b2b-lead-generation/
• A Complete Guide to Social Media Based Lead-Generation | https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/complete-guide-social-media-based-lead-generation-software-companies/
• Top Social Media Sites for Marketers | https://www.webfx.com/social-media/top-social-media-sites-for-marketers.html
• 50+ LinkedIn Statistics for 2021|  https://foundationinc.co/lab/b2b-marketing-linkedin-stats/
• 10 Social Media Statistics You Need to Know| https://www.oberlo.com/blog/social-media-marketing-statistics
• Why Millennials Use Social Media | https://www.marketingcharts.com/charts/main-reasons-why-millennials-use-social-media/attachment/gwi-main-reasons-millennials-use-social-media-feb2021
• 101+ Social Media Sites You Need to Know | https://influencermarketinghub.com/social-media-sites/
• How to Use Social Media to Get Leads for Your Business | https://open.spotify.com/episode/7qs4XqkJQh8uWqFbmII1IV?si=mVvsejSaQEewSbuXb7WeQw&utm_source=copy-link
• Lead-Generation is the Wrong Goal for Social Media for B2B Startups | https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pdqhHPMswt6rgpTjXT4cV?si=T402nEfkTJefQNfi-ogS0w&utm_source=copy-link
• The Social Media Marketing Landscape | https://open.spotify.com/episode/30WO0KUNgwTP7tGzwYoLgO?si=NWryUufRRjiPuyAdw2VRvw
• Instagram Statistics Every Marketer Should Know | https://www.oberlo.com.ph/blog/instagram-stats-every-marketer-should-know#:~:text=Summary
• 44 Instagram Stats that Matter to Marketers | %3Ahttps://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/