Engage Prospects – Easily, Strategically, Directly – with Meta Lead Gen Ads

Lead generation can feel like one of those chain-reaction contraptions: We hold our breath as prospects travel from one platform to the next (ads to landing pages to third-party forms and so on). The goal? To convert them to customers before they drop.  

Now imagine a faster, shinier chain-reaction machine. One with added momentum. With a hand deftly guiding a marble along sturdier pathways – for less chance of hitting the floor.  

That’s the crux of one of 2024’s most promising marketing options: Meta lead generation ads.

The Meta Touch

Last year, Meta brought lead generation squarely under its ever-growing umbrella. Amidst wider changes, the tech behemoth streamlined, modernized, and commoditized lead generation ads across its platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads) via a suite of newly-packaged offerings. A built-in business manager – Conversions API – houses and organizes it all and offers metrics, similar to LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator CRM sync.

The theme of these lead generation ads? Direct engagement with prospects via three key offerings: Calling, messaging, and forms.

Why Direct Contact?

Direct contact with prospects? you might be wondering. Like back in the day?  

The idea of brands connecting personally and privately with prospective customers might sound counterintuitive at face value, but dig a little deeper and you’ll realize it’s aligned with the times. Social media appetites and thresholds are evolving. Tired of divisive debates, algorithms, and impersonal marketing, users crave one-on-one communication – with actual humans, ideally.

Thanks to Meta, this is more efficient than ever before. Messaging apps have gained market momentum, creating easy opportunities for direct, responsive engagement – and Meta’s ownership of the space infuses it with the insights and organization expected on today’s marketing landscape.

A Closer Look at Meta Lead Gen Offerings

In November Meta published its guide to lead gen ad options. A great read for anyone with even a basic interest, the guide offers detail (as well as beta research) on how lead gen ads can create highly-qualified connections and help brands respond to them.

Meta lead gen ads come in three forms:

• Calling – Thought phone calls had gone the way of the Dodo? Think again. Call ads encourage prospects to dial a business directly in moments of consideration. Hammer recently set up calling for a client – a brand that offers kids’ birthday party packages at its brick-and-mortar location – and is seeing promising results.
  
• Messaging – Messaging ads invite users to message your business directly – especially ideal if your prospects might have questions about a process. Hammer recently ran a campaign on behalf of a client looking for more distributors; messaging allowed qualified targets to reach out with common questions about upfront costs and minimum order size.

• Forms – Available as both instant and website-based, forms are great for companies that don’t necessarily have the resources to readily respond to messages or to answer calls. A well-customized form will provide you with a prospect’s contact info and other useful and qualifying information that puts the ball in your court and lets you respond when you’re able.

The takeaway? Meta lead gen ads are a no-brainer for small- and mid-sized businesses that don’t already have a robust CRM, and/or want to jumpstart customer conversion.

Meta lead gen is especially potent when part of larger smart social media strategy. It does, however, require a subscription, and is more user-intensive than LinkedIn’s counterpart, Sales Navigator. For these reasons and more, businesses eager to leverage Meta’s newest offering should contact Hammer. As experts and as your social media partner, we’ll set up and manage campaigns for you, aligning Meta lead gen ads and all of social media’s moving parts to get you closer to your exact business goals. Let us help!