Smart marketers have to understand that Facebook is an ocean teeming with potential leads for your business. The challenge here lies in deciphering where and how to attract and collect these leads. We advocate the use of marketing and sales funnels designed specifically for Facebook.
These will differ from traditional funnels, and much of this is a good thing, in that there are many opportunities to reach a wide and diverse audience that may not have been exposed to your brand or products.
That reach comes with a price however. Social audiences are notoriously fickle about being “marketed” to. The walls have become less impenetrable as time has gone on, but Facebook (and social media marketing in general) is still a place where you need to develop a relationship and nurture that relationship until a sense of trust is achieved.
How a Marketing Funnel Works within Facebook
Truth be told, only the initial nurturing and enticing takes place within Facebook. The goal with Facebook lead generation is to give them enough reason to follow you OFF of Facebook as well, and then a more traditional funnel applies.
Here is what a 5-Step funnel for a Facebook campaign might look like:
The Giveaway Bribe
Understand here that you have to give something truly valuable to get people to sign up to download. This can be almost anything, but definitely something that your ideal customer will highly value. Whether it’s an ebook, video series, coupon, checklists or tutorials, it should provide tremendous value. Definitely make it align with the eventual product or service you hope to sell them. A perfect lead magnet will not only provide answers to the questions your prospect is asking, but will also illuminate and do the same for your business and products.
Promote your Giveaway
Using Facebook Ads to promote your giveaway is your best chance to find new audiences you would not have been able to reach otherwise. There are a number of ways to do this within Facebook Ads. You can boost your posts, run a video or take advantage of Facebook Lead Ads. Not only that, there are many new pieces of software coming out that help you harvest user emails with only two clicks, and no other action on the part of the user. This is a huge advantage, as it removes a barrier to opting in. Their Facebook name and email is automatically entered into your form, and sent to your autoresponder. Combine this with Facebook’s already robust tools like Lookalike Audiences, and retargeting, and you definitely have a winner.
Nurture via Email
Once they are on your email list, it’s traditional email marketing to the rescue. Using sound email marketing techniques you now have the chance to develop these leads you’ve gathered from Facebook and carefully foster a relationship with them over time. This can mean several different things in different markets. You’ll likely have an autoresponder email sequence set up to deliver quality content crafted to take them further into the buying cycle. You’ll be offering up useful and valuable content beyond what you have given away for free, further solidifying their trust in your intentions and abilities. Moreover, in keeping with where they like to hang out, you’re announcing new blog posts and other news on your Facebook channel, to keep them engaged and connected.
Send them offers
After you’ve properly delivered tons of value and hopefully gotten some engagement it’s time to cash in, whatever form that may take for you. Whether it’s an opt-in, sale, attending a webinar or another event, you can now offer your wares with the confidence that you’ve upheld your end of the bargain. Sure, some will unsubscribe, others may flame you on social media, but the chances are that these people were never going to become customers anyway. The best way to ensure that you come out ahead here is to deliver value constantly. Be sure you’re not offering junk to your newfound prospects. The temptation is great to go for a quick buck and cash in, but realize that it’s very easy to burn through a list, and you want to make sure you get the maximum lifetime value for each and every subscriber possible. Once you’ve begun offering products and services to your list, shoot for a ratio of something like 4 to 1 content to promotion emails.
Refine and Repeat
Refining your marketing funnels within and outside of Facebook is an ongoing and systematic process. It’s very easy to say rinse and repeat, but there’s a bit more to it if you want to be successful long term. You’ll need to be continually testing elements of both your social media lead campaigns, as well as your email marketing systems. What lead magnets performed best? What colors in your ads pulled the best numbers? What is your cost per lead acquisition? These and many other aspects all play into the success or failure of your Facebook marketing funnel campaigns. You can always find areas to improve that will lead to more conversions and ultimately greater revenue.
Gathering leads on Facebook is one of the best ways to find new customers and audiences for your products and services. Make sure you are using the best practices detailed above to give your business an advantage.
If you would like some help setting up a Facebook marketing funnel, check out our Digital Strategy page or give us a call today at (623) 521-1418 and we’ll get you started!