The Power of Social Media Lead Generation for Local Businesses: Insights from an Expert

Small business owners are always looking for ways to generate local leads to expand their businesses. In this interview with Neovora, JR East, our subject matter expert, discusses the benefits of social media marketing lead generation for local businesses. In this blog post, we will analyze the key points discussed by the interviewee.

Nonna Casillan: Can you tell us what social media marketing lead generation is and how can it benefit local businesses?

JR East: Social media is just another platform; it’s just another channel. I think a lot of different channels are now being referred to as social media. It’s where multiple people can engage in as opposed to a blog.

A blog is not social media. A blog is singular. I go to my blog, I post on my blog, and I’m communicating with people externally. Social media is where there’s a lot of engagement. I can see a post on Facebook. Other people can engage. It’s a multi-use platform. TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, the list is literally endless at this point.

First, JR East explains what social media marketing lead generation is and how it can benefit local businesses. He describes social media as a platform where multiple people can engage in, as opposed to a blog, which is singular. Social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram are multi-use platforms that allow businesses to engage with their potential business leads.

JR East: I’m in a particular area like here. I’m in Florianópolis, if I have a dentist practice in Florianópolis, I’m communicating or have the ability to communicate. With the people and Florianópolis. Not only does it build my recognition, people can now see me visibly.

“Oh, okay. There’s this JR East guy, he’s a dentist, in Florianópolis.” Reading what other people have to say, I’m getting a lot of social proof. The benefits of having a social media platform and having a lot of this user generated content is that it definitely reduces my overall cost.

Let’s say I’m paying for ads, I’m paying for Google ads to generate local leads, or I’m paying for direct mail, or I’m paying for other things. By leveraging these social media platforms, I’m able to drive down or arbitrage my costs considerably. And then a few minutes ago, one of the things I talked about is that it’s hyper-local.

By engaging these people I’m in Florianópolis and I can identify very particular neighborhoods. People will know exactly where I am. And so I bring that awareness within that area where my business leads are. So they were like, “Oh, okay, there’s this guy right around the corner and I’m reading these things and that’s a location that’s within my proximity geographically to go.”

A group of young people standing next to each other looking at each others smartphone.

JR East: We can target not only geographically, but we can also target demographics. We can identify things within our content so that we’re engaging the type of demographic or the type of interests that people are attracted to. It’s great lead generation for small businesses to generate local leads.

“Oh, so this dentist is a pediatric dentist. He deals specifically with children. under 12. That’s exactly what I’m looking for.”

“I need a pediatrician or a pediatric dentistry that deals with these conditions, whether it’s orthodontia or blah, blah, blah, et cetera.”

I would say that those are some of the major benefits; that we can attract a very specific target audience. We can demographically appeal to people. We can build our brand within that local area, and it definitely arbitrages and reduces our overall cost to get business leads.

JR emphasizes that social media platforms enable local businesses to engage with people in their geographic area and build their brand recognition. By engaging with people in their area, businesses can gain social proof, which reduces their overall costs. It’s a highly effective strategy for lead generation for small businesses.

He then points out that campaigns that generate leads through social media are hyper-local, allowing businesses to identify very particular neighborhoods and target demographics to generate local leads. By engaging the right target audience, businesses can attract specific business leads interested in their products or services.

He then further discusses the hyper-local nature of social media marketing lead generation by giving us an example: a pediatric dentist can target specific families with children under 12. Social media is an extremely cost-effective way to generate local leads and increase brand awareness.

A finger pointing at the like button on a social network site.

Nonna Casillan: Social media has definitely changed this whole marketing landscape. Now can you tell us what are some of the benefits of using social media for lead generation for small businesses?

JR East: That’s a great question. As we talked about before, it allows us to do a lot of things. It allows us to get super, super hyper local. I can target very specific audiences within my local geographic area. As a pediatric dentist, I can target specific families with children under 12 if that’s what I want to do. It’s an extremely cost effective way. There’s really no limit to the amount of reach that I have, such as very specific demographics within my target area.

We talk about brand and brand awareness a lot in overall business and marketing. I would say that there’s nothing better than a brand awareness campaign within social media because it’s super cheap. Pennies, pennies on the dollar. It is so wide reaching.

Probably one of the most efficient elements of leveraging social media for local business is if I do a TV ad: “Okay, JR we’re gonna run the ad next Thursday at 2:00 PM 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM” or I’m gonna run a newspaper ad: “Okay? We’re gonna run the newspaper ad on Sunday.” Or radio ads, spots, or gonna send out direct mail: “Okay, that mail should hit people’s mailboxes probably by Wednesday of next week.”

I can run a social media campaign or post an ad or just a video on social media right now, and I can get leads. Right now it’s immediate. It’s literally real time.

I would say that those would be some of the biggest benefits. I can target specific audiences. It’s super, super inexpensive and cost effective to generate local leads. I increase my brand awareness and I can definitely generate leads in real time.

JR states that there is no limit to the amount of reach that businesses can have, such as very specific demographics within their target area. He emphasizes that social media campaigns can generate local leads in real-time, unlike traditional advertising campaigns, such as TV, newspaper, radio, or direct mail ads.

Nonna Casillan: Yeah, that’s so interesting. JR so you, you mentioned earlier about the cost effectiveness of social media for lead generation for small businesses. Can you tell us how these social media lead generation campaigns can help increase business revenue?

JR East: Increasing revenue comes as an after effect, right? So what does it do?

You could imagine if I’ve just engaged in the campaign, whether I’m posting a new video or some text or there’s a funny meme that we post within social media –that gets spread. Immediately increasing my website traffic, whether it’s just to my social media platforms or if I’m giving some kind of call to action to my website. With increased traffic comes increased conversion rates. So I am not just increasing my traffic, I’m also giving myself more opportunities.

If I own a retail store and one person comes through my door all day long, or a hundred people come through my door all day long, I have more opportunities to communicate with them about my value proposition. I’m going to increase the overall conversion rates of whatever service that I’m providing, product or service.

It’s Sales 101. When I have more traffic and I have improved conversion rates, it’s because I have more customer engagement. There’s more people that I’m able to communicate with, engage with. They’re engaged with my content, they’re engaged with my product or service, et cetera.

JR further discusses how social media lead generation campaigns can generate local leads and lead to increased revenue for local businesses. He explains that increasing revenue comes as an after-effect of social media lead generation campaigns. By engaging in a social media campaign, businesses can immediately increase their website traffic, whether it’s to their social media platforms or their website. Increased traffic leads to increased conversion rates, and businesses have more opportunities to communicate their value proposition to potential customers.

JR East: A phenomenon with social media is when we’re talking about engagement, it’s not just that they’re engaging with us, it’s that we’re engaging with them and the more frequency there is, the more top of mind awareness there is, the more they’re thinking about my product or service.

Which means they may have been thinking, let’s say I have a restaurant: “Hey, let’s go out to dinner tonight. Where are we gonna go?”

Say I have a promotion this week for my hamburger and hotdog stand. “Oh, let’s go to hotdogs. Okay, kids, let’s go”. Because there is that continual engagement and we’re continually maintaining that top of mind awareness.

It does promote more frequency of repeat customers. There’s something in the marketing world called RFM, recency frequency, monetary value, and breaking that down and scoring them. We certainly won’t go into that right now, but frequency promotes recency and social media helps enable that to happen.

Social Media Lead Generation for Local Businesses

Social media campaigns promote more frequency of repeat customers, as businesses can continually maintain top of mind awareness with their target audience.

In conclusion, social media lead generation is a cost-effective and hyper-local way for local businesses to generate local leads and increase brand awareness. Social media campaigns allow businesses to target specific audiences, reduce costs, increase website traffic, and promote more frequency of repeat customers. For small business owners looking to expand their business, social media lead generation is a valuable tool to consider.

To learn more about social media lead generation for local businesses, visit the Neovora website. Our team of experts can help businesses generate local leads and increase revenue. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to expand your business with social media lead generation. Contact us today.