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How to/should we use "Social Media" for lead generation
We are wrestling with how to add social media (e.g. Linkedin, Twitter, etc.) into our lead gen activity. In a B2C world, use of this media seems more obvious. However we are a B2B company and things are a little less clear or maybe we don't have the right glasses on. We want to focus our marketing dollars on areas that will generate the most return for our investment. Any thoughts?
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4 Answers
Hi Bob, nice to find you on Focus :-). Its a good question to ask. I've been doing SMM with good success. I found that SMM really depends on your business model and your level of commitment. I would advice you on the following:
- Try to build up a consistent Twitter/Facebook/Linkedin strategy that is inline with what you can *realistically* achieve. Some points to consider are: Who from my target audience is using the tool? How do they use it? And is it possible for me to nurture them as a lead? I don't mean to self promote, but this piece should help explain more http://www.targetinfolabs.com/twitter-strategy
- Once you've that try to come up with some incentives to approach them with. This can be small pieces of free advice, whitepapers, webinars, free-trials, etc. Something that attracts them to you. Last year, I tried to lure people using beach balls. I got over 30,000 followers with it. Here's more background about it http://bit.ly/9yFIxl
- The last bit of advice is to be consistent with your effort. SMM takes weeks if not months to really hit off. And most often you arent successful on the first run. So consistent effort is required for you to pry it open. This means using real analytics and measuring tools to figure out your campaign/message effectiveness.
I hope this helps!
During my agency days, I worked with a B2B client where we created a twitter trivia promotional program where we would ask one industry question per day and the first couple of users to retweet the question and answer it won a prize. This helped gather legitimate followers, spread the brand name, educate, and create a list of prospects.
Although this type of program has a shelf life of 30 days or so, my client was able to communicate with their twitter followers, gather their information on LinkedIn and follow up accordingly. This example is just one creative use on how social media can be a lead gen tool in the B2B space.
What do you have to offer to your audience? What types of information, tools, wisdom, connections, etc. can you provide on a daily / weekly / monthly basis that will help your audience be successful?
Once you can answer that question, you have the 'content' necessary to begin establishing a social presence. From here, simply be responsive, honest and incredibly helpful.
Social Media provide a way for companies to connect - and remain connected - with their audience/market/fans. Using media sites though, puts a company's network security and privacy at risk, and causes problems for its IT department. It is therefore important to have social media policy in place. Decision-makers and IT managers should explore issues surrounding social media in the workplace for them to be able make informed decisions about whether or not to block social media sites, and to create a sound social media policy for their companies. Here is a good place to start: http://bit.ly/d2NZRp
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