Making optimal use of Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Ads lead form extension is how you do it

June 2, 2020

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Reading time 4 minutes

By Shannah de Ruijter

You probably already know the Facebook and LinkedIn lead forms. But are you familiar with the Google Ads lead form extension? This fairly new feature is ideal for B2B companies. We'll talk more about how lead generation works on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. 

Of most B2B companies, the goal is to generate as many leads as possible. Lead generation forms provide an opportunity to engage potential customers with your company. For example, offer a free white paper when someone leaves data. This is ideal for the B2B companies that mainly offer services and where the priority is personal contact with the customer. You can apply lead forms in three phases of the marketing funnel. Namely, the awareness phase, the consideration phase and the action phase.

Lead forms on social media channels

Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to place paid ads as a means of collecting leads. Since the lead form capabilities, this has become very simple. When a user clicks on the ad, the lead form comes up. When the user leaves his or her information here (for example, for a download or registration), that user becomes a lead. 

Everyone is familiar with the difference between Facebook and LinkedIn. With Facebook you target mainly on interests and with LinkedIn you target business information. Think of information such as job title, industry, company name, etc. Do you want to collect B2B leads? Then it's probably best to spend your budget on LinkedIn. Do you want to reach a target audience outside of this? Then your best bet is to use Facebook. Of course, you can also reach a B2B target group on Facebook, but less specifically.

Facebook and LinkedIn both automatically populate the users' data (known within the profile) in the form. This is very approachable, as only two clicks are required to submit a completed lead form.

Note! The cost per click is generally cheaper on Facebook than on LinkedIn. 

Leadformat extension in Google Ads

Late last year, Google Ads also added a lead form extension. The extension can be added to campaigns or ad groups. Currently, this new feature of Google Ads is not yet available in all accounts. 

The new lead forms extension includes three different components:

• A call-to-action;
• A fill-in page;
• A thank you page.
  

On the fill-in page, you can choose what information you want to receive from the lead. You can design the form in your own house style.

Three tips for the look of lead forms

1. Most importantly, keep the form simple. Visitors don't feel like filling out a whole laundry list of data. Ask for only the most relevant information, such as name, e-mail and phone number.

2. Make it clear what visitors get in return when they fill out the form. It is important to explain this in advance and on the thank you page. Also indicate what will be done with the completed data. On the thank you page, you can mention when you will contact the lead.

3. Emphasize the value of the form. Free signups and content attract many leads. With free content, add a download link to the content on the thank you page.

Link leads with a CRM

The leads you collected through social media and Google Ads can be downloaded as separate CSV files and added to your database. However, this takes a lot of time. It is a lot easier to link the lead campaigns to your company's CRM system. This way you have all the leads in one overview. 

Of course, you should check that your CRM supports the platform of ad campaigns. At Facebook and Google this is often not a problem, these platforms support almost all known CRM systems. With LinkedIn, this is sometimes a little more complicated. You can here see all of LinkedIn's CRM integration capabilities.

Do you have questions or need help implementing lead forms for your campaigns?

Contact contact with us!