Placing content correctly with Lead Ads

We will explain to you what exactly lead ads are and why you should use this highly effective function for yourself. 

"B2B decision makers also sit on the couch at night and surf through Facebook." 

What are Lead Ads and how do they work?

Lead ads can be placed on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Since the end of 2019, Google Ads offers this option as well to generate contact requests. Whereas previously leads could only be generated by visiting the company website including a contact form. Forms with this special advertising format can now be integrated directly into the ads and the respective platforms. This enables you to enter lead data quickly and directly. 

As soon as a person clicks on the lead ads, a form will open that asks for user-defined information (e.g. e-mail address). On Facebook for example it’s possible to display a thank you page. This depends on the settings of the network. 

The special feature of Facebook or LinkedIn: The displayed form is automatically filled out based on the shared information. For example, the email address by which the user is registered on Facebook appears independently in the "email address" form field and the user doesn’t have to fill in the information manually. Especially for users of mobile devices, filling out forms is often cumbersome, and AutoFill makes it a real relief. A further advantage: Incorrect entries can be reduced, and you have a qualified database which you can use later. 

Why should you use Lead Ads?

Smooth user experience 

The decisive advantage here is that the forms are integrated within the platform and the users do not have to leave the platform to fill in the form. 

This is a hurdle that should not be underestimated and there are fewer interruptions due to a change of website. 

Another benefit for you and your prospects: Every social media platform is optimized for use on mobile devices. And therefore, automatically the advertisement you want to place. With less effort than before, you can reach users on computers and especially mobile devices. 

Uncomplicated lead generation 

For many companies the generation of qualitative leads is one of the most important marketing goals. With this method you can easily collectfor examplee-mail addresses of interested parties and generate leads.Younow save time and resources to create an extra landing page that would otherwise have to be linked to. The process of data collection can be made much more efficient. There is also a whole new flexibility when placing campaigns. You can now easily start campaigns without having to check in the first step whether a corresponding page already exists on your website.

Efficient and simple approach to your target group through targeting 

Social media is used by many people at any time of the day and you can reach your target audience on the couch in the evening, not just during office hours. Users can also connect with the company whenever they want. Now the question arises how to reach your target group. 

In order to reach the right users, social media platforms offer extensive targeting possibilities and thus enable you to precisely address your desired target group. 

Among other things, you can build up targeting or retargeting lists in the respective platforms in order to continue to work with them. 

Custom audience based on (non-)completed forms 

Using the list, you can not only highlight people who have filled out your form, but you can also capture the target audience who have only looked at or clicked on your ad without filling out the form. With this information you have several additional options to address the form dropouts again with advertising and still convert them into a lead. 

Custom audience based on website visitors 

Another option is your website custom audience. Your own website visitors are marked by a pixel on your website, corresponding to the respective platform, in order to find and address them later this network. 

Look-a-like-audience based on completed forms & website visitors 

If you have already collected user data, you can use it to address your look-a-like audience. This way you can reach a target group that is similar to your website visitors or previously generated leads but has not yet resulted in a contact request. 

How to Lead Ad?

1.  Identify your B2B target group
   You should think about your target group in detail beforehand. Otherwise, your ad will unfortunately come to nothing, as it will be displayed to users for whom the content is not relevant or who do not feel addressed by it. It is very likely that you will not fill out the lead ad form or even react to your ad. Your B2B target group can be narrowed down very well using various selection criteria, which the advertising platform provides (e.g. profession on Facebook) or which are based on your own data (see Custom Audience above). 
   
2. Consider the added value you can offer through your lead ads 
   
   

   Before you place a lead ad, it should be clear what you want to achieve with it. Should users register for further information or newsletters or do they receive certain content, such as e-books or whitepapers, in return for entering their data? It is essential that the ad clearly communicates what the interested party is registering for and what they will receive from you in return. 

   Our tip: A successful lead ad must convince the user in the news feed or on the search results page. He should be able to recognize the core message immediately and be convinced by it. 

3. Define the balance between quality and volume 
   
   

   As previous mentioned, it is not always a question of the sheer mass of leads. Rather, a balance between volume and quality is the decisive success factor. 

   Many leads without relevant background information may look promising at first glance but can prove to be useless - at the latest when they are handed over to Sales - if important information is still missing or incorrect information has been provided. 

   However, if your focus is exclusively on the qualitative aspect and you ask for too much information in the form, the number of incoming potential interested parties is drastically reduced and you may lose new contacts. 

   Our tip: Install only a few necessary hurdles at the beginning, also to increase the users' feeling of security. 

   This means that only very important form fields should be added to your lead ad at the beginning. You can then gradually adjust and test whether the traffic remains the same with more form fields or whether there are more terminations for example. This way, you can approach slowly and get a good feeling on what to "expect" from your target group and how much information is necessary for you to be able to continue working with it later. 

4. Test your Lead Ads with A/B Testing  
   
   

   With this method, two lead ads running in parallel with different text or image content are activated. You can then use interactions and interaction rates to compare them and analyze the preferences of your target group. The conclusions you draw from this will be useful in the long term when planning your lead ads. 

   Our tip: Alternate regularly with different content pieces (e.g. Whitepaper A and Whitepaper B) and place them in parallel. Long-term testing and analysis will pay off. 

5. Automation through tools and rules 
   
   Although lead ads enable contact requests to be generated very efficiently and in a targeted manner, many campaigns also require tool-based support.  In addition, numerous tests are always needed to find the ads that really work well. However, automation tools, such as those used in this area, provide a remedy to enable efficient scaling. For example, you can automate ad creation, automate repetitive tasks, or optimize your campaigns using defined rules. You can define rules for example for sending e-mails so that the appropriate e-mail content is automatically sent based on the respective user behavior. 

How Lead Ads work on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Ads:

Facebook Lead Ads

• Go to the ad manager 
• Click on + Create in the top left corner
• Select the target Lead Generation 
• In the Page area, select the page you want to use to create lead ads 
• Specify the target group, placements, budget, and schedule 
• Select a display name. Under Identity, select your site and attach your Instagram account if necessary. 
• Select an ad format and add images or a video to your ad. Specify Headline/Text/Call to Action button 
• In the Instant Form area there are several options for creating a form: + New Form/ Duplicate. 
• If you clicked on + New Form, the Create Form window appears 
• In the Content tab, select your preferred form type

Our tip: If you select Higher purchase intention, your form will be supplemented by a review preview where users can check and confirm their information. 

• Under what information do you want to ask for? Click on + add new question. From the drop-down menu, select auto complete questions or custom questions 
• Under Data Policy, add a link text and a URL to your data policy
• Under "Thank you" page you can add a message and link to further motivate your leads to interact after submitting the form
• Click on the arrows at the bottom of the form preview and check that the completed form meets your requirements
• Click finish to create your form. If you prefer to make your changes later, click save

LinkedIn Lead Ads

• Go to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions 
• Click on Create Ads in the top right corner 
• On your Campaign Manager, click on Create Campaign in the top right corner 
• First select a campaign group and name it (you can either use the default campaign group or create a new group)

Our tip: Choose a clear, meaningful name for your campaign group, especially if several employees or departments of your company are involved in the campaigns. This way everyone knows which campaign it is

Step 1 Here you cansetbasic settings for your campaign: 

• Create your campaign and select the campaign target under the first step set up campaign à campaign target à conversion à lead generation 
• Next, define the target group for the campaign: First select a location under "Where is your target group?" and then select the desired language for your ad under Profile language 
• You can define your target group even further under +Define target group 
• Select the desired ad formats from a variety of ad formats (details in the forecast results window change depending on the ad type selected 
• Under placement you can activate the LinkedIn Audience Network, exclude categories or upload a blocker list 
• Under budget and schedule, define your daily budget, the start and end date of your campaign, and the bid type 
• Under the item conversion tracking, select whether you want to track conversions or not. If yes, click on +Add Conversions. In the window that now opens, you can define and determine the name and settings
   

Step 2 Set up ads: can you create the actual ad with form 

• Click on create new ad 
• Fill in the fields display image, display heading, display text and target URL of the newly displayed window 
• Click on create and you will return to your Ad Manager 
• Under form details you only must link the form with your ad. You can either use an existing form or create a new one. 
• If you want to create a new form, select "create new" under form. 
• Fill in the form details section with the form name, language, offer title, offer details, privacy policy URL and privacy policy text 
• Fill in the section lead details and own questions. You can select a maximum of 12 standard or custom (here max. 3) form fields. 
• Note: The questions can be rearranged in the order you want using to drag & drop. 
• Click add custom box to enable you to obtain members' consent for further use. 
• Fill in the confirmation section. Xou can create your own thank you message and insert the website URL that members should visit after you have filled in your form for example. 
• Also add a suitable call-to-action for your thank you message from the drop-down menu. 
• Fill in the hidden fields section Here you can add up to 20 hidden fields to create and track additional fields in your lead report. To do this, click on +add hidden field 
• Finally, you must submit your created ads for approval using the Lead Form 

Google Lead Ads

• Sign into your Google Ads account 
• Click on campaigns in the left side menu 
• Click the plus sign +, then select new campaign. 
• In the target actions area, select leads. 
• Under campaign type, select search network and click next 
• Then select "submitted lead forms" as the target action you want to achieve. 
• Define the campaign settings 
• In the ad extensions list, select the lead form extension option 
• Create the extension by selecting the call-to-action and entering the extension text 
• Note: The call-to-action is automatically translated into the language set on the user device, but not the text of the extension 
• Now create the lead form: 
• Enter the heading, the name of the company and a description 
• Choose what information the user should provide and enter the URL to your privacy policy 
• Now write the message for sending the form: 
• Enter a heading and the text 
• If you wish, you can select a call-to-action that will appear on the submit page for users 
• When you are finished, click on save 

If you include these tips and tricks in the planning of your lead campaigns, nothing should stop you from a successful lead generation. 

However, if you still want expert advice regarding B2B campaigns, our TrustedTargeting  team will be pleased to help you implement your campaigns. With a team of online marketing specialists, we can provide you with competent advice at any time and successfully implement your lead ads. A benefit is our valuable B2B database of numerous industries, which enables us to address your target group on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Ads.

Get informed now and generate valuable B2B leads in no time with the Trusted Targeting Tool: 1 interface - 5 ad networks - 159 segments. Reach Messe München's high-quality B2B target groups on Facebook, Google & Co. All in one marketing tool and for every expert level.