How To Generate Leads Online And Where To Find Them

So now that you are researching how to market your business online, you likely are running into articles and blurbs talking about “leads”…..How to get them,  where to find them, etc. I know when I started, even after selling in my direct sales business, that I didn’t even know what the concept of leads even was?! In today’s post we will be talking about leads; How to generate leads online and where to find them.

How To Generate Leads Online And Where To Find Them

First of all, what is a lead? A lead is someone who has shown interest in you and/or your product, services or business. It is someone to sell to, or share your business opportunity with. Chances are when you first took on your business you went through all your friends and family to tell them what you were doing. These are all leads, because they have an interest in you. After getting through all of them, you were probably wondering, now what do I do? Where do I go to sell my product? Some companies will base all of their efforts on getting you out in front of people physically – passing out fliers, your card, what not. Other ways are to engage in community events like vendor fairs, standing at tables handing out samples and fliers and the like. These are all great ways to generate warm-bodied leads into your business. The trouble is, the critical mass is not that high, and the statistical percentage of turning those leads into sales is even lower. This is where the internet comes in. There are literally BILLIONS of people online. If we think about the critical mass needed to make a sustainable income, out of billions of people, that could be as low as 0.01% of sales for you to make 100K!

So, where can we find our leads? See 8 Ways and Places detailed  below:

1. Twitter – Search the hashtags. Make a list of all the hashtags that are related to your business and/or niche and start to do a search on Twitter for them. This way you will brought to posts using those hashtags and you can engage with the users (and their followers) by using @ mention and retweeting. The thing about Twitter, is the more love you show in retweeting and mentions, the more love you will receive in reciprocated retweets and mention. You can use Advanced Twitter Options to get even more specific prospects. You can then insert your own tweets with @ mentions to get their attention. This is a great way to invite people to places or events, especially when working locally.
2. Twitter – Use Voting Contests and/or Surveys – this will garnish engagement from your followers even further. If you are holding a contest, obviously you will be giving a freebie away at the end, so this will prompt your followers to participate because there is a chance at winning something at the end. Make sure to “use email address” when setting up the voting contests – this will in turn capture your lead and you can add them to your marketing list.
3. Content – I know, everything comes back to content. But this is what your buyer wants! Good, interesting worthwhile content where they can learn something. Use Twitter to share these links out with beautiful images to go along with it. Instagram doesn’t allow links, but remember you can put your blog or website on your images using PicArt or Photify.
4. Make Videos – YouTube is the 2^nd highest used search engine behind google. Make videos about every product you sell, teaching something about it – ingredients, how to use, etc. Then, share your video links to all of your social media accounts. If you make the videos on Google Plus, the video will automatically go to YouTube, and your Plus account which increases your chances of being ranked on Google.
5. Email Signatures – Include a brief, text based call to action message in your auto-signature. Make sure to include the link to your capture page. It’s worth it, because it’s free, and consider the number of email you send. It would be worth even a few hits.
6. Forums – Once you’ve determined your customer, your “Avatar”, you will want to go where they are hanging out. Sometimes that is online forums. They may be the oldest type of social media out there, but they are still viable, vibrant communities.
7. Facebook –The mother of all social media channels. I will go into this in future posts in more detail, but remember that Facebook is more about your brand than selling. Think low volume, high value. Share content that is important for your brand and is not necessarily the hard sell. Your goal is to first get likes, and always use a business page.
8. Social Media Interaction (General) – Ask questions on your posts – invite an answer using the comments! Take surveys – encourage your followers to respond! This not only engages your audience, but it also gives you an insight into what they are looking for!

How To Generate Leads Online and Where to Find Them

This is figuratively the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to how to generate leads and where to find them, especially online. The online is truly endless. Start small: start posting, provide interesting updates, offer value and freebies, engage your audience. You’ll see the leads start to flow in!

Check out this guide to set up your brand environment and start attracting leads today.