Does Your Next Customer Lead Originate on Facebook?
By Carrie Cousins
Thank you to Valley Business FRONT for featuring our Director of Digital Marketing, Carrie Cousins, in their August 2024 issue.
Regardless of age demographic or what you may be selling, social media is undeniably one of the best ways to get information about your product or service out there.
Admit it, you’ve probably clicked a link in the TikTok shop or on Instagram and had a product show up at your door a few days later. From fast fashion to home services and products, social media is giant part of the consumer buying cycle.
The average person spends more than 2.5 hours a day on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. For teens, that time on social media explodes to more than 5 hours a day. Is your brand in front of them?
This shift has been especially dramatic for LeadPoint Digital clients on Facebook and Instagram. A couple of years ago, the focus was solely on news, events, and engagement. Social media was more of an entertainment and things to do platform for almost all of our clients.
Fast forward to 2024, and these social channels are less about likes and shares and much more about product research and purchases.
Surprisingly, the top growth area has been in home services. From contracting to pest control to purchasing a generator or deck cleaning, social media users are engaging directly with companies that offer these services without every visiting their website. Many are providing contact information so that the services providers can reach out and schedule a consultation.
Service providers are closing sales with leads from Facebook and Instagram, in particular, at a high rate when they respond promptly.
Here’s why it works:
- Social media has again shifted in usage and rapidly becoming a research tool
- Offers on social media that are easy to snag – your mobile device often fills in the info for you – appeals in an immediate gratification world
- There are two basic marketing principles in play – sense of urgency (the offer may not be there later) and social proof (you can see if your friends or neighbors like/follow the company doing the advertising)
- Specific and unique ad targeting helps your product or service show to the people who need it when they need it (thanks, artificial intelligence)
- Social media users have come to use these platforms for product and service discovery
Don’t be fooled. This isn’t a magic bullet and user preferences could shift again, but with a solid plan, social media advertising can be a solid way to help boost sales.
You must be ready before you jump into advertising on social media. These leads require immediate attention. For the same reason someone asked for information about your business (to fill an immediate need), they will go elsewhere. Your window to act is small.
It can be a great opportunity though. When you think about consumer behavior and how we engage online, it really starts to make sense. With a solid plan, you can boost your business with social media.
Long live Twitter! (Well … maybe not.)
Carrie Cousins is the Director of Digital Marketing at LeadPoint Digital in Roanoke. For 15+ years, she has helped businesses tell their stories and get better results online with practical digital marketing strategies. She also an active leader in AAF, serving on the local and district boards, and is an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech.
