Before we begin, let’s get one thing straight: in nearly any SaaS context, social media probably shouldn’t be the channel you primarily look to for leads. However, it also doesn’t deserve to be entirely discounted when it comes to the lead generation process. Social channels have very important indirect roles in creating leads.
For example, you post a blog on your LinkedIn channel. Someone clicks on it, reads the blog, and then proceeds to wander around your website. Maybe they don’t even download anything – but they come back later and eventually convert and become a lead. Yes, that lead did come from social media, but it came through because social media drives traffic to your website. Your website is the true lead conversion tool; social media just drove the traffic.
Social media is still an important tool when it comes to lead generation for SaaS companies. Here’s how.
Lead Research
It’s almost a given that the average person overshares on social media. It’s actually a little scary how much you can find out about someone from their profile. You can typically see where they live, their interests, hobbies, family members, and more. This can be used to your advantage when researching a lead for the first time.
Once you have your eye on a specific lead, social media can be used to help foster a connection with them. For example, a quick cursory glance at their Facebook shows you they love dogs. It would be a good idea to use that talking point as a mutual connection. You can more easily build trust by connecting with a prospect over a mutual interest. Social media can give you that interest.
If you don’t have a specific contact at a company, you can still use a social platform to research a company. Often, you can even find the right contact to call via LinkedIn. All you have to do is look up your target company, click on employees, and see if there’s contact information for someone on the ops team. When it comes to lead generation for SaaS companies, social platforms are often underestimated as a research tool. Take advantage of them to learn more about your potential leads.
Creating a Sales “Web”
Your company social profile on its own probably isn’t going to generate too many leads. But it can provide an anchor point for what we like to call a sales “web.” This strategy works particularly well on LinkedIn. The idea is that your sales team would interact regularly with your company page, sharing articles and blogs, commenting on posts, and otherwise driving traffic to the company profile. If their own profiles have a large number of connections, this can significantly increase the amount of traffic the profile drives to your website.
The sales web is also advantageous for building trust with potential customers. When employees start sharing, liking, or otherwise interacting with a company page, now potential customers can put a face to the brand.
Lead generation for SaaS companies via social media doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Often, just optimizing your employees’ profiles allows you to increase traffic driven to the company page and the website, increasing your potential for leads.
Linking to the Website
Are each of your social platforms linking to the company website? Sometimes companies miss this crucial step and forget to link their social profiles to their website. If these platforms aren’t linked, then this significantly decreases the amount of traffic driven to the website via social.
There are several different places you can link to your website on your average social profile: in the About section, the CTA button at the top of the profile, in the Facebook story section, and in the Twitter and Instagram bio, to name a few. Take advantage of your employees’ profiles as well. Every employee’s LinkedIn profile should link to the company website, via both the bio section and the digital resume.
Boost the amount of traffic driven to your website by using your employees’ social media profiles for lead generation for SaaS.
Grow Trust with Potential Leads
So far, we’ve discussed how to optimize social profiles, how to create a sales web, and how to use social media to research potential leads. But what about the content you post on social profiles? Posting strategically to social profiles can grow trust between a company and potential leads. And, as all sales professionals know, without trust it’s extremely hard to grow a business relationship with a contact.
To optimize lead generation for SaaS companies, your social media content should be a good mix of company culture, thought-leader content, and third-party articles. By showcasing company culture, you’re giving potential customers an inside look at your values, employees, and day-to-day routine. It allows potential customers to more thoroughly connect with you on a “face-to-face” basis instead of just focusing on the professional.
Thought-leader content takes on the form of blog articles, whitepapers, and other content created by your team. This is your chance to showcase your expertise. By sharing your expertise, you’re allowing potential customers to read more about your approach to a topic and become more familiar with how you operate. Through your blogs and whitepapers, you can show your audience that you’re an authority on a topic.
Engaging with third-party articles is extremely important in order to showcase that your company stays up-to-date on industry trends and is an authority within the industry. Comment on trending articles with insightful advice or share news that will greatly impact your customers. By engaging with news and the thought content of other companies, you’re able to increase your reputation as an authority.
No matter how you use social media as a lead generation tool for SaaS companies, it’s important that you put it to work. Don’t waste effort on creating great social profiles only to let them sit around without generating leads or driving traffic. For more information on finding leads on social media, check out this whitepaper to discover the best ways to connect with people who will be interested in your business.
