How to leverage content on social media for effective lead generation

Social Media Marketing Published: June 13, 2017
How to leverage content on social media for effective lead generation

As a B2B marketer, your leads are your life net – you need them for survival. Because of this, you constantly need to find ways to leverage existing resources for effective lead generation. If your search has led you to social media, then you’re in the right place.

With an estimated 2.34 billion users worldwide (and an expected 2.95 billion by 2020), social media is becoming more important for lead generation than ever. When managed and strategized properly, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are extremely valuable not only for collecting leads, but also for strengthening relationships with prospects and customers across the entire lifecycle.

In order to better align social media with your lead generation objectives, it can be helpful to examine what similar companies in the B2B space are doing effectively. Let’s take Certiport as an example.

From blog posts to webinars and eBooks, Certiport maintains a complete library of interesting, informative, and engaging content. Its marketing team wanted to augment all of this great content to capture more leads from social media. Turning vision into reality, Certiport got highly organized and strategic about its social media initiatives, driving a staggering 386% increase in conversions.

About Certiport: A Pearson VUE business, Certiport is the leading provider of certification exam development, delivery and program management services delivered through an expansive network of over 14,000 Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide. 

How did Certiport reach such a milestone?

By moving to Oktopost, the B2B social media management platform, Certiport was able to implement three powerful capabilities:

1. Social campaign management

Pushing out content across social media on a consistent basis was a challenging task for Certiport’s marketing team. This meant that only 10% of their marketing campaigns included a social media component. What they needed was a more organized way for managing their social content and overall marketing objectives.

How Oktopost helps?

Using Oktopost’s Social Campaign Management, Ceriport’s marketing team can segment and categorize all of their content into beautifully color-coded campaigns. Each campaign can be dedicated to a specific content topic, medium, author, marketing quarter, etc. The campaign structure enables Certiport to distribute a larger volume of social content, while enhancing the way they measure and report their final results.

2. Conversion tracking

Given the amount of time and effort companies like Certiport put into creating and distributing content on social media, it’s important to measure their success. While measuring traffic and engagement is certainly important, these metrics can hardly be tied to real business outcomes. Tracking conversions, on the other hand, gives you a more concrete understanding of your social media ROI.

How Oktopost helps?

With Oktopost’s Social Analytics, Certiport can track full-funnel metrics – everything from engagement to lead generation. In other words, Certiport’s marketing team can attribute leads to every single content piece, network, or campaign, allowing them to identify what’s working, what’s not, and what can be improved.

3. Marketing automation integration

Once you’ve attributed leads to social media, what’s next? Like many B2B companies, Certiport uses a marketing automation platform to manage and keep track of all its B2B leads, while building close relationships with every single one.

How Oktopost helps?

Oktopost’s provides a deep integration with leading marketing automation platforms including Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot, Act-On, and others. The integration with Eloqua allows Certiport to add a whole new dimension of social data that didn’t exist before. Using this data, Certiport can create effective lead nurturing, scoring, and attribution programs that include social touches. For example, it can segment leads based on clicks, content topics, campaign tags, channels, and more, in order to effectively nurture them with the most relevant content.

To learn more about how Oktopost enables Certiport to leverage existing content on social media for effective lead generation, check out this case study.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can B2B marketers achieve significant lead generation results through social media?

B2B marketers can achieve significant lead generation results by adopting a strategic and organized approach to social media content, paired with robust conversion tracking and marketing automation integration. For instance, Certiport boosted its conversions by 386% by consistently distributing engaging content and meticulously measuring its impact on lead generation using a dedicated B2B social media management platform.

What are the key strategies for tracking social media conversions in a B2B context?

Effective B2B social media conversion tracking extends beyond basic engagement metrics to precisely attribute actual leads and business outcomes to specific content pieces, networks, and campaigns. Utilizing platforms designed for B2B allows for full-funnel measurement, providing clear insights into social media ROI and identifying the content and channels that drive the most valuable leads.

How does integrating social media with marketing automation benefit B2B lead nurturing?

Integrating social media data with marketing automation platforms enriches lead profiles with critical insights derived from social interactions. This enables B2B companies to craft highly targeted lead nurturing, scoring, and attribution programs based on specific social touches, content consumption, and campaign engagement, leading to more effective follow-up and higher conversion rates.

What is the most effective way for B2B teams to manage and organize social media campaigns?

The most effective way for B2B teams to manage and organize social media campaigns is by leveraging a specialized social campaign management system. This facilitates the segmentation and categorization of all content into structured, color-coded campaigns, allowing for consistent distribution of a higher volume of relevant content and enhancing the measurement and reporting of overall marketing objectives.

Can B2B social media efforts be directly attributed to sales pipeline growth?

Yes, B2B social media efforts can be directly attributed to sales pipeline growth through advanced conversion tracking and seamless integration with marketing automation and CRM systems. By tracking engagements, lead submissions, and content interactions, businesses can connect specific social activities to qualified leads and monitor their progression through the sales funnel, thereby demonstrating tangible business impact.

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