Social media platforms can be a golden opportunity for forex brokers wishing to increase their lead generation. There is a catch though, it needs to be done right if the broker is to succeed in harvesting the true power of social media. In a research study, social media has proven to reduce lead generation costs by 45% whilst increasing the revenue of companies that implemented social media lead generation strategies by 24%.
FX Brokers engaging in social media often focus on increasing their audience and using social media to generate brand awareness. They forget about generating leads. We often hear companies saying that “social media doesn’t work” or “why should I invest in social media?”.
Take a step back and review your social media strategy. Key questions to ask when reviewing your activity are:
- What tools are you employing to increase your lead generation?
- What is your social media strategy?
- Is your message consistent?
- Have you targeted the right audience?
- How often do you post, and is the content you are posting timely and relevant?
Considering how the fx industry is a niche market, connecting and sparking conversations in the market ensures your social media strategy is effective and relevant to traders, positioning your social media as a key element to your lead generation activities success.
Generating leads is a simple notion of leading traders into your sales funnel. Although, the lead generation process requires the broker to get to know who their customer is and therefore clearly define their target audience.
Start by creating a client persona.
Who is your customer? What are they most likely to be interested in? What are their main problems and how can you address them? Which channels are you most likely to find them on? And when?
Long gone are the days where companies needed to send surveys and blindly spend thousands on advertising to identify the above. Data now is widely and freely available over the internet allowing your targeting to be specific and ensure that your communication talks to the traders needs.
Choose the right channels.
After you‘ve built your trader persona and you are acquainted with your primary and secondary audience you‘ll instantly know which channels they are most likely to use the most. We often see fx brokers skipping research assuming that all traders use Twitter for example. Whilst Twitter is one of the largest social media networks, you‘ll still need to identify your demographic within the users. Therefore research is key to choosing the right channels for your fx brokerage.
Nurture your audience.
Once you have established your target audience and identified the right channels for your brokerage, you will need to ensure that your communication and messages are right and on point. Hitting that nail in the head will help you build a trusting relationship with your audience.
A big mistake we often see are brokerages, as well as companies across all industries, are going straight for the kill. Quality leads are not generated in an instance, it takes time and energy. Once they have connected with you, focus on making your messages valuable to them and find a way to start conversations. Always position yourself in the audience’s shoes. How would you want to be communicated to and what would you have done if you were on the receiving end?
Answering that question under any occasion is key to your social media strategy’s success.
As we have mentioned in our 5+1 tips to increase lead acquisition blog, “use content as your biggest weapon”. Content is your most valuable ally in the quest for a successful lead generation strategy.
Forex marketing tips
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But what are the key traits your strategy should be built on?
It must be achievable – Set your key performance indicators to be realistic and attainable.
Fits with existing processes – Don’t try to over-complicate your strategy by building funnels that are hard to implement. Ensure your infrastructure can support your strategy.
It should be scalable – Should your strategy succeed, are you able to handle the growth?
It should be measurable – Any activity should be connected to processes that enable you to measure the outcome at any given time.
A/B Testing should be part of the mix – You should continuously optimize campaign performance. A simple way to do that would be experiment with it and test two versions of it to measure performance.
It should be timeless – Is your strategy gonna be relevant in a few years? For increased chances of success it should of course evolve as we do over time.
Employing a social media strategy that will be built upon lead generation principles should ensure a consistent flow of inbound leads. It should produce consistent growth and a consistent proportion of that will convert into actual depositing and trading clients. For more insight on social media read our previous blog, how social media helps stock, futures and forex brokers.