How To Turn Cold Leads Into Hot Leads On Instagram

Every business aims to make more sales. But, as you know, sales only come from hot leads. This begs the question, how do you turn your cold leads into hot leads? Keep reading, and you'll find out.

Today, Instagram is where most businesses go to get leads, especially hot leads that will send you smiling to the bank.

Let's look at the stats.

90% of people on Instagram follow a business, and over 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one business profile every day. That's a very large pool of Leads, and your business will benefit a lot from it.

And just in case you are wondering what Leads are...

Leads are likely customers who indicate interest in your business and give you their contact information, which you can use to follow them up.

The best way to generate leads on Instagram is by running ads. These lead ads often help businesses get customers' contact details like email addresses, mobile numbers, etc.

There are different types of Leads, and it is necessary to understand all of them. Why? Not all of them will give you sales.

Cold leads vs warm leads vs hot leads

Cold leads:

These people have little to no interest in your business. You may have sent them emails or DMs about your brand. However, you don't know them, and they have little or no idea what your brand is about.

Warm leads:

This category of leads has shown interest in your brand but has not made a buying decision. They have hit the follow button, signed up for your email newsletter, or responded to your DMs. They have given you their contact information. But they're still trying to know more about your brand.

Hot leads:

These are the guys you need. They are also known as Qualified leads. Hot leads have found your products and services useful and are willing to buy. These guys are very close to handing you their money.

Heating up cold leads

If all you have are cold leads, your business will remain stagnant. You need your audience interested in your product and to make a buying decision ASAP.

In this section, you will get surefire tips that'll help you heat that iceberg of cold Instagram leads. Let's get right in!

1. Get Your Audience To Believe In Your Brand

The truth is that cold leads don't trust you, so you have to prove yourself to them as a trustworthy brand. You need to give your audience a good reason to go from just followers to customers. Many people have had terrible experiences doing business online and will not just believe you because you have asked them to. Share your brand core values, be polite when responding to DMs, and answer frequently asked questions. These will put your audience's minds at rest, and they'll be inclined to buy from you.

2. Optimise Your Instagram Bio And Profile

Image source: Instagram | @hawksworthrest

Your profile should be searchable and unforgettable so that cold and warm leads will find it easily. You can optimise your bio and profile with these tips:

Instagram Handle: Your username or Instagram handle should be easy to remember. Of course, it should be your brand's name. However, be careful not to add too many characters, especially if they're hard to remember and will keep people guessing.

Profile Picture: Use a recognisable profile picture. A good example is your brand logo. Examples of brands that use their logo as their profile picture are Nike and Adidas. Anyone searching for these brands can't miss them.

Image source: Instagram | @nike and @adidas

Description: Write a concise and captivating description of your brand. Tell your audience about your products and services, your values, and why your company is distinct from others. Use relevant keywords and hashtags that will attract leads. This way, you could make an impression, and you may even get quick likes.

Contact Info, Call-to-action, and Link: Your profile should serve as a business card. It should contain your contact details and a CTA telling them how they can get your services. A link to your website will come in handy here. Ask them to click on the link to shop, subscribe to your email newsletter, or make reservations. Also, make sure that your post captions remind people of the link - "link in bio."

3. Post targeted and valuable content

Convincing people to stick with your brand is a daunting task. You will need to feed your audience with the right content.

The type of content you post should target, attract and convince cold leads to provide you with their information. Ensure that the content is valuable, and always answer questions potential customers may ask.

These cues should help:

Relatable and interactive content:

Tell stories that your audience can relate to. This will make them understand that you know what they need. Ask them to tell you about their experiences in the comment section or send you DMs if they have questions to ask you.

Image source: Instagram | @chis_cuisines

Create visual content:

People want to see what they are buying. Beautiful photos of your products could stun a warm lead and push them to make a decision quickly. Images tend to give more information and even stick to memory. So, use them.

Post content with product tags:

Instagram has made it easy to shop on a whim. Both brands and shoppers can do their thing without the hassle of marketing. With product tags attached to your visual content, people can easily purchase a product. Instagram has revealed that over 130 million accounts tap tags from Instagram Shopping posts every month. From Instagram insights, you can get information about the products getting traffic and make more posts about them. You can also target Instagram lead generation ads at those who have shown interest in a product.

Share user-generated content:

UGCs are social proof that your business is legit. Cold leads will warm up if they see that your products and services have good reviews from your past customers.

4. Build a brand community

Building a brand community is an effective social media strategy. Your community should be customer-centred. Let your cold and warm leads know that you are not just there for their money, that you have their best interests at heart. A brand community will foster trust and heat cold leads or keep the hot leads burning. This may take a while and plenty of effort. Still, it is a worthy investment. Here are some ways to build a brand community:

Interact with your audience:

Respond to their comments and DMs. Like their posts, and if they align with your brand, you could repost their post to your stories. Another way to interact with your audience is to go live on Instagram.

Run contests and giveaways:

Many cold leads will show more interest when they see an opportunity to win freebies.

5. Partner with influencers and other brands

Your customers are everywhere on Instagram, and you only need the right connections to land you in their timelines.

If you wish to reach these leads, partnering with other brands is the answer. High authority partners and influencers have a way of melting down cold leads and bringing hot leads to brands DM.

Image source: Instagram | @hars.hitamishraa

Influencers have the trust of their audience, and by partnering with them, you are tapping into this established trust. They have good engagements with high Instagram likes, views, and comment count. Their already engaged audience could be new hot leads for your brand.

You can also partner with brands for joint product releases and benefit from each other. The good news is that partnerships with other people have been made easier with the Instagram collab feature.

Welcome to the league of hot leads!

You have the fire to heat cold leads and make the sales you deserve. As you generate leads, employ these tips, put out valuable content, collaborate, and Interact with your leads. Don't expect it all to happen overnight. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day. However, with consistency and hard work, you'll see results.

Tell us your story

Would you like to write for nichemarket just like Itunuoluwa has? Find out how to submit a guest post and when you're ready, you can contact us.

Contact us

If you would like us to improve your Instagram or run ads on Instagram for your site or want to know more about digital marketing for your business, then don’t be shy we’re happy to assist. Simply contact us

Are you looking to promote your business?

South African businesses can create their free business listing on nichemarket. The more information you provide about your business, the easier it will be for your customers to find you online. 

Registering with nichemarket is easy; all you will need to do is head over to our sign up form and follow the instructions. If you require a more detailed guide on how to create your profile or your listing, then we highly recommend you check out the following articles.

• How to create a nichemarketer profile
• How to create a nichemarket business listing

Recommended reading

If you enjoyed this post and have time to spare why not check out these related posts and dive deeper down the rabbit hole that is Instagram marketing.

• 6 Instagram Marketing Tips For A Simple Strategy That Works
• Mind-Blowing Neuromarketing Tricks for Your Instagram Content
• How To Find A Suitable Instagram Influencers For Your Brand
• 15 Tips for Improved Engagement With Instagram Stories
• Why Your Instagram Ads Are Not Converting or Working
• Does The Follow & Unfollow Method Still Work On Instagram

Tags: Social Media Marketing, Instagram Marketing, Guest Post