With more than 160 million businesses having a company page on one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, it is no wonder that brands and businesses are using Facebook to not only advertise their products and services but to generate leads and acquire new customers.
According to Facebook, lead generation is the process of building interest in a business's products or services. Naturally, this is something you want to make use of because generating leads on Facebook can accomplish a variety of marketing goals, such as getting a better understanding of your audience and moving some of your customers down the marketing funnel.
Your Facebook Business Page has great potential to generate high-quality leads through lead gen, and in this blog post, we'll walk you through what Facebook lead ads are, how to create lead ads that will reach your audience, and the tips you can use to ensure you become a lead magnet.
Table of Contents
What Are Facebook Lead Generation Ads?
How Do Facebook Lead Ads Work?
How to Create a Facebook Lead Generation Ad
How to Get More Leads from Facebook Lead Ads
3 Tips to Make Your Facebook Business Page a Lead Magnet
What Are Facebook Lead Generation Ads?
Also known as Facebook lead ads, these ads help marketers or businesses capture contact information about an audience by offering either a free piece of content or an opportunity to connect with the business. These leads are generated through the completion of the Facebook form that pops up when a user clicks on the ad. The form is similar to other landing page-like forms you've likely filled out to download an eBook or register for a business's webinar, however, the content in this pop-up form is pre-populated with the person's profile information on Facebook. The content of the form can be edited by the user — and you can restrict the use of certain types of email addresses to ensure you're capturing their business email.
Examples of a Facebook lead ad include newsletter subscriptions, demo requests, or online event registrations.
You may want to use Facebook lead ads when there is a specific action that you want users to take (e.g., request a demo) or when you are offering gated content that is of high value (e.g. an ebook about social media marketing).
Although these ads are quite simple (It's basically just a pop-up form, right?) they can still be highly effective because of ad targeting Facebook offers.
While setting up a Facebook lead generation ad is only a matter of a few clicks (Don't worry! We explain how to create a Facebook lead ad later on), there's quite a bit of work that goes into making these Facebook ads effective. Before you begin building your ads, you need to begin thinking about how they are relevant to your target audience, why would someone engage with your ad, what type of offer you want to promote (i.e. a free webinar or a demo request), and whether or not your ads meet Facebook's recommendations and requirements.
How Do Facebook Lead Ads work?
Facebook lead ads are a great way to generating leads that can help you demonstrate social ROI. The in-browser Facebook lead form is also easy for users to complete because they can use the auto-fill option to complete the form using the information contained on their Facebook profile. Eliminating the laborious task of manually completing the form for users may increase the number of forms completed.
How to Create a Facebook Lead Generation Ad
According to Facebook, you can create a Facebook lead generation ad form either (1) your Facebook Business Page or (2) from within Facebook Ads Manager.
To create a Facebook lead ad from your Facebook Business Page, follow these steps
- On your Business Page, click "Business Suite" on the left-hand side of tabs under "Manage Page."
- Click "More Tools" and then click "Instant Forms."
- Click "Create Form" on the right-hand side of your page.
- Here, you'll have two options: create a "New Form" with all new information, or "Duplicate an Existing Form" where you'll make a copy of a preexisting form and change only what you want.
- Once you have made your selection, click "Next".
- Complete your form until "Completion". Remember to save your form after each step to avoid losing any work.
- Once you're happy with your form, click "Publish".
To create a Facebook lead ad from within Facebook Ads Manager, follow these steps
- On your Business Page, click "Business Suite" on the left-hand side of tabs under "Manage Page."
- Click "Ads" and then click "Create Ad".
- Under "Choose A Goal", click "Get More Leads".
- You'll be asked where you want to collect contact information. Click "On Facebook".
- Create your contact form, then click "Next".
- Set the Ad Creative, your target audience, the duration of your ad, and your total budget. A preview of your ad will appear on the right side of your page.
- Once you're happy, click "Promote Now".
Watch the tutorial below to see how you can create a Facebook lead gen ad from start to finish.
Looks easy right? Well, there’s still a lot of decisions that need to be made. While a number of businesses and advertisers do rely on Facebook for advertising purposes, it can sometimes require a lot of strategic planning when launching a Facebook lead generation ad campaign. You'll need to know your budget ahead of time, who you want to target, define a clear campaign objective, and optimise your ad after it's been running. Here are 3 tips to remember before creating Facebook lead generation ads:
- Choose the right image or images to go along with the copy of your lead gen ad.
- Choose an applicable and relevant CTA.
- Choose the best form type that fits your lead gen ad or marketing campaign.
Once you have created your lead ads, you can also run them on both Facebook and Instagram. In your Facebook Ads Manager, you will have the option of automatic placements or manual placements for Instagram. While you may find some differences between lead ads on Facebook and Instagram, like how Instagram lead ads are only available on the mobile app and not on Instagram's desktop version, make sure that your lead ads follow Facebook's design specifications so that the lead ads appear on Instagram.
How to Get More Leads from Facebook Lead Ads
Now that you know how to create a Facebook lead generation ad, how can you make sure that you maximise your efforts to get more engagements on your Facebook lead ad? Here are 5 tips that you can use to help you generate the number of Facebook leads you're hoping to get.
1. Offer incentives to gain attention
People generally like to get free things, and while very few things in life are actually free, people are more willing to share their personal information with you if you offer something in return. This could be a great way for you to introduce your product or service, so use your Facebook lead generation ad to capture the attention (and contact information) of your target audience.
Once you have their information, continue to nurture this relationship and provide meaningful incentives that will guide them further down the marketing funnel. To learn more about how you can do this, read this guide on inbound marketing and optimising your marketing funnel.
2. Keep your form simple but interactive
Simplicity is great when it comes to Facebook lead ads. According to Facebook, the more questions (or fields) you add in your Facebook lead generation form, the higher the chances are of users abandoning the form entirely.
So when creating the content of your lead generation form, simply ask for the most relevant and important information. If you are going to include multiple-choice questions in your lead generation form, keep the number of options to choose from between three and four.
In addition to keeping your form simple, make it interactive as well so that you keep the user engaged. Try using a landing page where your target audience can access content like educational blog posts, downloadable guides, or upcoming webinars. This can be an effective way of generating leads while still providing value to your target audience and potential customers.
3. Qualify leads through custom questions
Not every lead that you generate will be a high-quality lead, so if you want to qualify leads, ask custom questions in your lead form that could give you a better sense of where your lead is in the marketing funnel. This is important because you can create segments from the leads you generate, and in turn, nurture them until they become a loyal customer.
Whether it's a survey or a poll, the benefit of qualifying leads based on the questions you ask is that you are in a better position to serve your lead better based on the responses they supplied. You also have the advantage of being able to assess what product or service a lead may require from your business.
4. Utilise Facebook Messenger
With 1.3 billion people using Facebook Messenger globally, this social media platform is its own gold mine when it comes to lead generation. You can turn on Messenger's autoresponder to increase your response time, automate continuous engagement with a chatbot and still keep informed of product updates while maintaining good customer service.
Setting up a chatbot for lead generation via Messenger can be done by using Facebook's Ads Manager. Once you have selected your automated chat template, leads are qualified through a 'question and answer flow' and you will have a clearer insight into what leads are looking for and how you can be the solution.
3 tips to Make Your Facebook Business Page a Lead Magnet
1. Have a call-to-action
This may sound like an obvious tip but as one of the easier ways to generate new leads, make sure that your Facebook Business Page, and the content you post, include a CTA.
Whether you use 'Sign Up', 'Contact Us' or 'Download Now', keep your CTA relevant to the content you share on your post, or current to the Facebook marketing activity you may have running. You can always change the CTA accordingly, and track the performance of each CTA through Facebook to get an idea of which CTA is more impactful and generating leads.
2. Create the right Facebook Post
Ensure that your Facebook posts contain the basic elements to encourage engagement and boost the number of leads you get. Include links to recent blog content on your website, a resource you have, or a landing page promoting a contest. Keep the copy of your post short and incorporate visual elements, such as images, for added appeal.
For more tips on what your Facebook post should include, read this guide on Facebook management.
3. Keep engaging with your audience
While you want to keep growing your customer base through lead generation, don't neglect your current audience or leave them in the dark. Continue to interact with your audience by remaining consistent with the content you post and encourage engagement through questions and polls.
Remember that when your current audience interacts with your content, other Facebook users that they are connected to may see the engagement (similarly to LinkedIn), so keep this up and let your audience help generate a few leads for you.
Using Facebook to generate leads may sound like some effort is required but all you need really, is a little creativity, especially with the lead ads that you create.
Feel free to not only follow the tips and steps mentioned in this post but experiment with other lead generation tactics that work best for your business. Make offers to your audience, ask custom questions, and have a clear CTA. If you can follow these tips, you'll be well on your way towards becoming a lead magnet. If you want to learn more about incorporating lead generation into your Facebook or social media marketing strategy, get in touch with Meltwater today.
