This is one of those posts I wrote a while ago about generating leads. It’s quite interesting reading it now, as I have learnt so much since this post was originally written.

In publishing this post, I have tried to keep the post in its original form, it reads like a journal entry, which is why I have kept it as is, rather than updating it with what I have learnt between when it was initially written and when it was published.

Using Facebook to generate leads has made me delve into an area of running my business that I would rather not have submerged myself into.

Mainly because it’s an area with all new terminology which has to be learnt and understood if using this approach for list building.

I was toying with the idea of setting a marketing budget of $5 a day, which would equate to $150 a month.

Having run a couple of Facebook ads over the last 2 weeks, I have to say I think that may be a bit generous at this stage. (I didn’t go on to elaborate about why I thought it would have been generous.)

From running 2 campaigns, I have learnt that along with the ad and giveaway being offered, each campaign is also about targeting and splitting each target market into different segments such as age brackets.

The other I learnt was to make sure the campaign offers something people actually want.

Having started with an ebook as a lead magnet, it became clear pretty early on that people who were interested in the type of site I had did not want an ebook. I had lots of impressions but no conversions.

For the second campaign, I started off with what people always say when they see the product being sold, i.e. ‘what is that?’

‘Really… , is that an apron?’

So that became my new ad campaign. I started by asking a question, they then had to click the ad which asks the same question but worded differently with a button to press, to find out the answer.

After that, they are asked another question, which then requires them to leave their name and email address to then receive tips on how to make cooking more enjoyable.

In looking at the results of the ad campaign, there were 5 leads that were generated.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get the leads information as I did not set up a leads form in Facebook, so I lost all that information.

The good news is that the campaign appears to be better received than my first attempt. So I am narrowing down the target audience and the way I am generating leads.

I’ll set up a new ad, a third one, solely for lead generation on Facebook.

I’ll use the same image as the initial ad but not the same URL link. I’ll asked a question, like the second ad, and linked the add to a privacy page and put in a disclaimer. (Okay, not sure why I did this …there must have been a reason at the time. It may have been a Facebook requirement)

This time it would be possible to have all information collected in a central location.

Once I have a better idea of what works ad-wise and what people tend to respond to, the next thing I would like to do is have quizzes.

By answering questions, people would in return receive information about what type of cook they are emailed to them.

I’ll have to look up any legal requirements in using this method.