8 Instagram Lead Generation Strategies

Long gone are the days when Instagram was a photo-sharing app for food and selfie photos.

Over the last decade, Instagram has quickly become one of the most effective marketing channels. Its community has reached 1.62 billion users and 90% of these people follow at least one business account, so Instagram has great marketing potential for businesses of all sizes and niches.

Not only can you market your product on this social media platform, but you can also give Instagram lead generation strategies a try and therefore reach potential clients who have interest in your products and turn them into paying customers with time.

And if you believe that Instagram isn’t the most obvious place for lead generation, keep on reading this post to find out actionable reasons to use this platform for acquiring leads as well as read about eight Instagram lead generation strategies that work best.

Why Should You Use Instagram for Lead Generation? 

Instagram is the preferred social media platform for a great number of users, so it has become an advanced lead generation machine for marketers, business owners, salespeople, and agencies.

The numbers speak for themselves. As specified in Meta’s own report, Instagram is the primary social media platform for brands to build relationships with the customers as 90% of people follow at least one business account and 70% of users don’t mind watching ads on the platform.

Still, not convinced to use Instagram for lead generation? Here are three reasons to develop an Instagram lead generation strategy for your company.

• Instagram is one of the most-popular social media platforms. No matter what your business niche is, it’s more likely that your customers are active Instagram users which means Instagram has great potential to warm up customers’ interest and turn these interested users into leads.
• Users are highly engaged and open to brand communication. Instagram is a visual platform that has quickly become one of the most popular among users. Not only do people prefer consuming visual content, but they also spend much time on Instagram which makes it easier for users to establish connections with various brands and keep up with their updates and product variety.
• The platform has in-built features for lead collection. As one of the most popular networks for marketing campaigns, Instagram knows about the importance of its in-built features for companies who market their products and services. To bring the Instagram game to the next level, the platform rolls out business-specific features like contact buttons, clickable links, and IG story question stickers that help to capture leads.

When done right, Instagram allows marketers and business owners to get different types of leads. And to master this art, we’ve collected eight Instagram lead generation strategies to give a try, supported with real examples for inspiration.

1. Optimize Your Instagram Bio for Lead Generation

These days, when having an  Instagram presence is a must, practically every person and business has an Instagram account. With a great number of profiles, it can be hard to cut through the noise and grab the attention of your target audience. And when people visit your profile, they quickly scan it before making a decision whether they are interested in learning more or not.

Since people have a short attention span of 8 seconds, it’s highly important to create the right Instagram bio that tells everything your potential customers should know about your business and optimize it for lead generation.

After all, when it takes much time or effort to become a lead, people will lose interest in your company. Here are several things to consider when creating an Instagram bio for more leads:

• Short yet descriptive Instagram bio
• Emojis that encourage viewers to take an action
• Relevant action buttons
• A clickable link to lead gen landing page

For instance, Foundr can be a good example of a well-optimized Instagram bio for lead generation:

The company knows how to create dedicated lead gen landing pages for its Instagram community and this page is more likely to capture leads for the following reasons:

• It has powerful headlines
• It provides social proof
• It shows benefits of signing up for their offer

2. Collect Leads with Action Buttons

The popularity of Instagram shopping is flourishing, so the platform offers new options for businesses to provide smooth customer experience and buy custom products or arrange a service without leaving the app.

Once an Instagram user has interest in taking the next step toward completing a purchase, it’s important to make it easy to become a lead. Action buttons that appear right below the bio section are aimed at making this process easier and faster.

Depending on your business goals, you can choose a relevant action button and therefore allow your visitors to book an appointment, order food, make a reservation, or contact your support team. All of these buttons are designed to collect business leads.

Check out an example from Nail Salon. Once people tap on the contact button, they get an opportunity to make a call or send an email which gives a choice for customers. All in all, it’s easier to turn leads into customers.

3. Spy on Instagram Users’ Profiles

Today, practically every person has an Instagram account and many people use this platform to stay connected with family, friends, or colleagues. When you check out users’ profiles, especially if we’re talking about content creators or Instagram influencers, you can see that people add their contact information like email addresses or phone numbers.

For B2C companies, who have a large user base of potential customers, it can be time-consuming to spy on Instagram users’ profiles and get their contacts.  But when it comes to B2B companies, Instagram can also be a good place to find key decision-makers and check out their contact information.

What is more, most people share their names and surnames on Instagram, so you can take the next step and collect this data, use dedicated contact information finders, and get in touch with them directly.

Once we know prospect’s name and surname along with the company’s name, we can make good use of popular tool like Signalhire and find their contact information. 

Signalhire has a database of 670M+ profiles, so if you know the basic information like full name and the company, it doesn’t take much time or effort to find a prospect’s contact details like email address in real-time with just a few clicks. 

4. Use Instagram for Customer Service

Over the last decade, when social media platforms have become a popular communication channel for brands, customer service expectations have changed. Today, people expect brands to solve their problems or answer their questions on platforms they use often, so if you have an Instagram presence, it’s more likely that your followers reach out to you in-app with their customer service requests.

At first blush, it can be daunting to provide customer service on Instagram as it requires you to keep up with requests, monitor brand mentions, and spend time replying to comments or messages. However, Instagram customer care can become a powerful strategy in lead generation.

Let’s take a look at Airbnb. The company gets hundreds of customer inquiries on Instagram, but it uses the platform for collecting contact details, just like in the example below:

It’s no secret that worried customers are focused on their needs and wants, so they are more likely to share their email address or phone number to get their question solved faster. 

What is more, there’s no need to hire a dedicated Instagram customer service team as you can make good use of an IVR system and provide support automatically–just monitor requests and reply to them in a timely manner.

5. Make Good Use of Instagram Clickable Links

If you put lead generation high on the list, it’s more likely that you know that a dedicated lead gen landing page is on the top of the conversion funnel and it helps to capture more leads, understand your prospects’ demographic, and track valuable data.

Mastering the art of Instagram lead generation, you can still use lead gen landing pages–simply make good use of clickable links on the platform.

Here are two ways to include clickable links on Instagram:

• Link in the bio: You can also use link bio tools that allow users to create a custom landing page and add multiple links.
• Instagram Story link: Every user can add a clickable link in the Story and customize it with a call to action that encourages viewers to take an action.

To capture more leads, it’s a good idea to use both places for active links. But if you want to leverage the sense of urgency, it’s better to lay a bet on ephemeral content and offer something valuable in your Stories along with a clickable link that redirects to the lead gen landing page. 

Check out an example from TailwindApp in the left. 

With clickable links, not only can you make good use of your Instagram following and boost web traffic, but you can also make it easier for prospects to become your leads as they can quickly find dedicated landing pages and share their contact information without leaving the app.

6. Partner with Relevant Instagram Influencers

Customers crave social proof. Living in the digital era, it doesn’t take much time or effort to get access to customer reviews and find out what other customers think about your company before making a purchase. However, most customers turn to their friends and family members for customer experience stories.

Today, over 92% of people trust peer recommendations over ads, so word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the most effective ways to promote your product. And influencer marketing has become a new form of word-of-mouth marketing as opinion leaders are happy to recommend your company within their established communities.

Are you focused on lead generation? Instagram influencers are here to help! Believe it or not, you can find an influencer for your brand and team up with this opinion leader to achieve your business goal.

Practically every Instagram user follows an Instagram influencer and pays close attention to its recommendation. When your favorite blogger says about a new company, you have interest in finding out more about it, right? For businesses, this means an opportunity to capture more leads.

For example, you can ask an Instagram influencer to spread a word about your email list and invite his or her followers to sign up for it, just like in the example below:

If you find it difficult to secure collaboration opportunities with Instagram influencers, you can turn your customers into brand advocates if you implement social media affiliate marketing for your company’s growth. Simply offer your audience something valuable for spreading a word about your business and people will do their best to recommend your product and therefore get you more leads.

7. Organize a Dedicate Instagram Giveaway

Instagram giveaways have always been a powerful tool for businesses. According to the Tailwindapp report, Instagram giveaways help to grow followers 70% faster and they result in higher engagement, generating 64x more comments and 3.5x more likes. 

Doubtless, not only do Instagram giveaways engage your followers, but they also grab the attention of your target audience. Plus, did you know that interactive content like giveaways can be used as one of creative lead generation strategies?

When done right, your Instagram giveaway can capture more leads for your business as everything depends on your “how to enter” section. For example, you can ask your participants to sign up for your email list. 

Here’s how this strategy looks in action:

If you want to generate more leads with your Instagram giveaway, you can also create a landing page for easier contact info collection and add a link to it in your bio section as well as ask your participants to check out your lead gen landing page and sign up for giveaway updates. 

The easier the process of lead collection is, the more people will complete  all steps to share their contacts for a chance to win something valuable from your brand.

8. Invest in Instagram Lead Gen Ads

Instagram has great potential for businesses, so it’s no wonder that the company has features that make lead generation easier. For example, another fast way to cut through the noise and generate leads on Instagram is to run Instagram ad campaigns and choose “lead generation” as its main objective.

Not only can you target the right audience on Instagram and reach people who don’t follow your business in-app, but you can also make sure your business achieves its goals and captures leads on Instagram.

Case in point:

When Indonesian online property platform Lamudi decided to boost leads with Instagram marketing, the company made a creative Instagram lead gen ad that showed off different properties and a strong call to action to share contact information.

Just within two weeks, the campaign resulted in 53% lower cost per lead and 8% higher conversion rate. 

In a Word

Instagram isn’t the most obvious place for marketers, business owners, and salespeople to generate leads. But its potential is huge, so there are eight effective Instagram lead generation strategies to give a try and therefore collect contact information from your prospects.