Ways to use Social Media for Lead Generation
According to a recent study by BtoB Magazine, 93% of all B2B marketers are engaged in some form of social media marketing, with most focusing on popular channels like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. This reinstates the fact that Social Media provides marketers with the opportunity to make the process of lead generation informal, relevant and contextual. For marketers to get noticed by the Lead there are some social media must haves such as a Corporate Twitter account, LinkedIn Group account, etc.
Social media lead generation software should be a planned effort because it is now one of the most effective ways to generate website traffic. It provides great opportunities for B2B marketers to connect with prospects directly in a casual and friendly manner.
According to Social Media Marketing Report 2011, “The overwhelming majority (93%) indicated they were employing social media for marketing purposes.” This report indicates that social media provides direct reach out to prospects and it matters how ably the marketer is able to focus lead generation software efforts on the top 4 social networks to market his business.
Important Must-dos
Marketers must be accessible in the top 4 social networks –
* Facebook – One of the best sites to engage audiences by showing them different ways in which the product can be applied or used.
* Twitter – A micro-blogging site that creates brand awareness instantly.
* LinkedIn – A conglomeration of the corporate crowd, it is a great networking tool that can be used for marketing automation purposes.
* Digg – A good networking site that reflects whether a product is accepted by target base.
Marketers need to ensure that there is enough buzz happening in these groups because social media enables people to usually identify with the virtual persona and hence, it is important to create an honest one.
In the article Search Dominates Social Networking For Product Discovery, Study Says, Lee Odden states that “SEO was (correctly in opinion) deemed most effective at generating sales and Social Media as most effective for achieving Public Relations and customer engagement objectives.”
Therefore, social media contribution in lead generation can be summarized as follows –
* Since social media represents conglomeration of people from different background, conversations made about the product or technology or service has a wider reach. These conversations in turn become basis for a purchasing decision thereby fueling lead generation efforts.
* When a product is discussed in social media, people take it per se and not as a message sent out by the marketer. A word-of-mouth referral is accepted without much fuss because it is emotion-based and not driven by marketing campaigns.
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