When creating an advertisement, it is important for the marketer to have an idea of what type of advertisement and experience they want to provide for their audience. So let’s get started with the basics.
What is A Lead Ad?
A lead ad something one may not think they have much knowledge on, is more common to come across than you might think. Lead advertisements are the most simple way for businesses to engage with and receive data on potential as well as possibly current customers, primarily targeting through social media. Lead advertisements typically appear as a promotion, better known as a “sponsored” post throughout various social media platforms. Through these sponsored posts, users are able to fill out a typically short form, detailing their information, then either providing information based on what the given business is interested in finding out or receiving more information via the contact information provided to the business. Lead ads provide marketers with more information pertaining consumers, as well as encouraging conversion of possible consumers if they are interested in the company and its values.
Pictured below is an example of how simple filling out a lead advertisement truly is.
Why Disregard the Engagement Factor?
Now, let’s get down to why engagement based advertisements aren’t always the right route to go. Lead advertisements, unlike engagement aimed advertisements, typically don’t result in the same interactive outcome that a post focused on driving traffic might do. This might make one wonder why a business would choose to run a lead ad rather than an advertisement that boosts the companies profile posts through likes and shares. Well, this is because lead ads can contribute to a businesses overall market growth by enabling the collection of direct sales prospects who may be interested to buy.
Marketers use lead ads to provide, as well as find out more information about the wider consumer audience rather than those within the target market. After providing and receiving information from a lead ad, businesses are able to learn more about prospective consumers, incorporate any new knowledge into future marketing tactics, as well as encourage conversion through consumer appeal.
Lead Advertisements on Facebook
Facebook, the well known social media platform, is a very common place to come across different lead ads. As Facebook has users of many different age groups and qualities, it makes the platform the perfect place for business-consumer interaction. Facebook provides business accounts easy ability to create lead ads through their public platforms through a step by step process embedded in the app. In order to catch the eye of the prospective consumer, it is common for businesses to include incentives in exchange for consumer interaction.
These incentives can include:
- Discount codes
- Early access to products
- Newsletter offers
- free perks
Linked below is a how to on creating a lead advertisement
Battle of the Advertisements
With the mass quantity of advertisements marketers produce and use to appeal to consumers today, it is easy to get lost within the links and sales promotions that pop up on a tiny screen. Through lead ads, businesses are able to collect contact information for sales reps or email marketers to interact directly with possible consumers ranging outside of their typical target market. Which in turn, helps broaden a companies market audience, gain insight on the user, and hopefully increase sales with these new leads. Businesses who use lead ads rather than only sticking to engagement centered ads have high chances of expanding their market by recognizing the consumers individual value and expressing the companies interest of the consumer.
Teaching Social Media 