Social Media News South Africa

Facebook launches Lead Ads

Facebook has launched Lead Ads, which simplifies the mobile signup process, helping businesses connect with people interested in getting more information from them, in a privacy-conscious way. When someone clicks on a lead ad, a form opens with the person's contact information automatically populated, based on the information they share with Facebook, such as their name and email.

"Lead Ads remove the hassle of filling out forms on a mobile device, making it easier than ever for people and businesses to connect. Advertisers who tested it saw amazing performance, including significant reductions in cost-per-lead for their campaigns. We are thrilled to make it globally available and introduce new features such as CRM integration," says Paresh Rajwat, product manager, Facebook.

Finding people

Whether businesses want to encourage people to sign up for their newsletter, an offer, an event or more information about their product, lead ads simplify the mobile signup process, helping businesses hear from people interested in more information.

Facebook launches Lead Ads

New to lead ads, since Facebook started testing is the ability for businesses to customise lead ad forms with open-ended questions or multiple choice questions, so they receive the information that matters most to their business. Each lead ad form offers both standardised and customisable fields. Advertisers can also include a customisable disclaimer, so companies with pre-approved legal language can easily add their approved disclaimer to lead ads.

Retrieve and respond to leads in real-time

The easiest and fastest way to retrieve lead information is to set up lead ads to sync with a CRM solution from one of Facebook's integrated marketing platforms. Its current partners include Driftrock, Marketo, Maropost, Oracle Marketing Cloud, Sailthru, and Salesforce, and it is working to expand the list of integrated marketing platforms in the coming months.

If you work with one of our integrated marketing platforms, you can collect lead information in real-time, helping you keep up with customer expectations that once they reach out to a business, they will hear back quickly. You can also collect leads in real-time by setting up a custom integration between your CRM and the Facebook API. Or you can download lead information manually into a CSV file.

Advertisers with the Facebook pixel implemented on their website can set lead ads to be shown to people who are likely to sign up for information and are also able to measure cost-per-conversion from lead ads.

Who is using lead ads?

Land Rover wanted to offer its target audience a seamless experience across devices, so it knew it had to make it easy for people on mobile to request a car quote. It used lead ads to hear from people on mobile who were interested in learning more about Land Rover.

"In early A/B testing, Facebook's native lead ads outperformed link ads driving to the website to fill out a lead form in terms of total leads and conversion rate, while driving a 4x reduction in cost per lead compared to previous social lead generation tactics," says Kim Kyaw, Manager, Digital Marketing & Social Media, Land Rover.

Similarly, Stuart Weitzman used leads ads to find people who wanted to receive emails about their latest products and offers. "We offer our email subscribers access to exclusive updates and an inside look into the world of Stuart Weitzman. Email marketing is a valuable tool to expand our visual storytelling and drive sales. As compared to other acquisition efforts, lead ads yielded a 54% more efficient cost per lead across domestic and international markets," adds Susan Duffy, Chief Marketing Officer, Stuart Weitzman

In the Latin American real estate marketplace, Properati used lead ads to connect with people who wanted more information on the properties they have listed. "Lead ads were a game-changer. In the past, we had tested similar products from other channels but they did not work for us. Since testing lead ads, we have seen a 4x reduction in the cost per lead, with a more than 3x increase in the number of leads we normally generate in Brazil," says Gabriel Gruber, CEO, Properati.

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