Leads are somewhere out there online, looking for information about brands, sharing ideas and opinions or experiences on social media, or even completing a buy process in your competitor’s e-commerce site. The big question is: how and where can you find them? There are various effective ways you can reach out to your leads and that is where social media comes in handy. Here is how you can use social media to lure prospective to be your customers.
Social Media Help You In Direct Funnel Leads
Build a Social Media Lead Funnel
Did you know that social media can convert leads? You can use social media to lure strangers to become your friends, turn friends to customers, and nurture salespersons or brand advocates from the customers. Statistics show that a person is 51 percent more likely to purchase a product if they heard good things about it on Facebook.
Similarly, a person is 68 percent more likely to purchase a product if they read something about it on Twitter. Determine the best social media platforms that can work best for your brand. Consider having a customer usage survey to find out which social media channels they use. Also, measure the performance of each platform and the ROI it delivers.
Create awareness of your brand
In social media networks, you are coming face-to-face with strangers. In order to create brand loyalty, you need to be trustworthy. It is perceived that familiarity takes the lion’s share when it comes to creating consumer’s trust. Therefore, awareness becomes your stepping-stone in building new relationships. However, it is time consuming and expensive, and requires you to generate content that is visually appealing coupled with a call to action.
Don’t be afraid to make a call to action on social media. Today, you can even integrate buy buttons in social media sites. Ensure that the content, tagline, logo, and messages you pass across are all contributing to your brand awareness. Present your brand in classified ads sites to complement your social media strategy, SEO, and other online marketing campaigns. Free classified ad sites can also be effective in connecting audiences with brands or products and services they are seeking.
Nurture interest to your brand
A social media platform is where you meet people of all kinds. It’s where you meet the brand loyalist and total strangers. Build a culture of relationship and make sure you connect with the audiences on an emotional level. You want to give the audiences good reasons why they should follow you all the time. Ensure you answer their questions. Join in conversations even if they don’t involve your brand.
Start converting at the social media channels
Through social media channels, you can take the opportunity to lure the audiences to spend money. You can throw a purchase deal in front of them or employ a gentle tap but make sure they don’t feel as though you are asking them to buy. Let them discover the urge and need to buy the product or service from the interaction and engagement you make with them. Things like give-aways, promotions, or even loyalty programs can have some impact at this point.
Crown the sales
The moment a customer first hears more about you and your brand, it is considered a lead. It is upon you to start directing that lead down the funnel so that it is converted into a sale. It will require you to use techniques such as social media engagement, remarketing, special promotions, blog content, newsletter communication and other methods to build a strong brand-customer relationship.
Make sure you offer the best experience and a pleasant environment when opportunity strikes for a customer to buy. This is because, once you have sold the service or product, it will thereafter become social conversation. You don’t want to disappoint the customer from the first sale. You want to start creating loyalty right after that initial sale. Social media is a main channel in your sales as well as customer service strategy.
Build loyalty and brand advocacy with customers
While in a typical marketing effort, sales may be seen as the final step. You need to engage with customers on social media and ensure that even after the sale. you actively involve them to be your loyal customers. The aim is to make the customers to be your brand advocates out there. Brand loyalists are the most powerful marketing assets you can have. They allow you to reach wider audiences at a low cost. These advocates with promote your brand to other people.
A big percentage of audiences are actively involved in social media interactions. Unless you identify where the leads are and then take your brand there, you may not be able to tap and convert them to prospects and customers. With so many social networks, you should follow the activities of your audiences and find where they are at different times. In case you are selling B2B, it is mostly likely that you will be on LinkedIn, and if you are selling to individuals, you will be in other places like Facebook, Twitter, Quora, StumbleUpon, or SpiceWorks. 😀
