26 Ways to Use Social Media for Lead Generation

Is your business looking for leads?

As enticing as the saying is, “If you build it, they will come,” we all know that just because we build a social media presence, people don’t magically start knocking down our door.

Instead, we need to encourage people to come to our social pages and once they’re there, we have to create enough value for them to hang around. And through these repeated exchanges, casual users can become regular visitors as well as valuable leads.

In previous posts, I’ve written A-Z guides to help create the absolute best presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs. Now let’s turn our attention to harnessing the power of those efforts for lead generation.

#1: Assets

As part of your social media marketing plan, Michelle deHaaff suggests that companies examine social media and online assets to see what they can leverage for full social media engagement. She identifies seven key assets: location, people, stories, images, video, audio and words to help us think about engaging more fully.

#2: Brand Message

Ethan Lyon suggests that users want to identify with a brand. He offers Nike’s identity as an example, “Customers buy Nike because the brand gives them the confidence to succeed—much like an effective coach.” What is your brand message? What should users know about you? Can they tell that from what you’re posting?

#3: Compelling Messages

Use compelling messages throughout your communications. Craft messages that users can relate to and won’t be able to resist. These are generally the messages that speak like real people and not marketing spin. Below is an example from Pogue’s Post.

David Pogue uses a conversational tone and a bit of humor to drive home a point from Pogue's Post.

#4: Differentiations

Because there’s a tremendous amount of competition vying for consumers’ attention in the social media arena, businesses that can differentiate themselves will stand out and get noticed. Zappos Service Twitter page shows how to make it friendly and feel like you’re hanging out with a good friend. Create remarkable content. 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=8364&message=1

Zappos employees tell you when they're signing off and when they're leaving for the night.

#5: Etiquette

Michelle Golden recommends in her book Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms to practice good etiquette. “Definitely don’t write about and link only to your stuff. Instead, go out of your way to promote others liberally.”

#6: Feedback

Users who write comments and ask questions appreciate receiving feedback. Make it a regular practice to take time to respond. 

A fan poses a question on Social Media Examiner's Facebook page and Cindy King responds with a timely answer and directs the fan to a link.

#7: Google

Remember that the social media updates you post via your blog, Facebook page, tweets and YouTube channel appear in search results, too. The person searching is an active user looking for information, and bringing the user to your pages is an excellent way to get in front of potential customers.

A person looking for sources for how to choose a paint color would find blog posts and videos. This person is looking for help and the companies have provided advice and solutions. The companies have found ways to get in front of potential customers.

#8: Help a Reporter Out

Companies are often looking for ways to share experiences that might be referenced in blog posts and articles. You don’t have to be a big company to get picked up for a story.

Sign up for Help a Reporter Out and when you have a story to share on a topic, offer the information to the reporter. HARO is one good way to spread information and get high-quality, free publicity for your business. Keep your eyes open for other ways to distribute information about your business with social media press releases.

HARO serves as a vital social networking resource for sources, reporters and advertisers.

#9: Icons

Social media icons help users share your content and offer ways for people to like your content. Likes are valuable votes of confidence and go a long way with users who may have come to your site for the first time. Make your content easy to share.

#10: Joy

In Guy Kawasaki’s new book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions, he tells us that achieving trustworthiness will go a long way for a business. People want to do business with companies and people they can trust. And sometimes it means that we may end up giving our time or some kind of service that we’re not compensated for. Guy suggests that we give with joy.

#11: Knowledge-sharing

Share your knowledge freely in blog posts and white papers. Some businesses are afraid they’ll give away all of their secrets. Your knowledge is a valuable asset; don’t be afraid to share what you know.

HubSpot's inbound Internet marketing blog regularly shares the blogger's personal experiences in marketing and is very generous about sharing tips.

#12: Leverage Content Products

Jeff Bullas recommends using 7 content products for marketing: social media, e-newsletters, blogs, white papers, article marketing, case studies and online videos.

Use a good mix of content, because not all users will read a case study or watch an online video. You’ll increase your odds of being seen by more people by using a mix of content products.

#13: Monitor Conversations

Monitor conversations about your brand and competitors. There are many social media listening tools that will help you keep a pulse on what’s being talked about. The more you know, the more responsive you can be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#14: Nobodies Are the New Somebodies

One of the most serious mistakes we can make is to pass up a potential lead because we don’t perceive the company or person to be a valuable lead. As Guy Kawasaki says, “Nobodies are the new somebodies in the world of wide-open communications.” Treat everyone with the same attention and respect.

#15: Offline Skills

Online skills don’t have to be inherently different than the way we act offline. Erica Swallow suggests that we use our offline skills and go out there and “Meet people, communicate and build relationships… Be genuine, track conversations and respond to inquiries promptly and thoroughly.”

#16: Produce Content

Not only do we have to produce content, we also have to produce enough of it. HubSpot provides some interesting recommendations: “Businesses must produce enough content for their blog to kick off growth in leads, which starts with about 24 to 51 posts.” HubSpot found that more indexed pages on Google also translate to more leads. They suggest that every 50 to 100 incremental indexed pages can mean double-digit lead growth.

#17: Questions

Lisa Barone recommends that social media marketers should “answer questions because they’re a good way to establish your authority, but also for people to ‘test’ you out.”

#18: Relationships

Lisa Barone also suggests that “social media is an emerging lead generation tool because it lowers the barrier to the sale by building relationships, displaying expertise and through networking you’re able to bring in more people than cold calling ever could.”

#19: Showcase Your Experience

According to Erica Swallow, “The first step to engaging a community of potential customers is sharing content that showcases your expertise. A simple social media update usually isn’t enough to convey a full analysis on a topic. Include links with your updates that expand on key ideas. Keep in mind that your goal is to create value for your followers. Learn what your fans respond to and what they don’t, and then adjust your updates based on that information.”

#20: Target Personas

Buyer personas have been around long before social media hit our radar screens, but marketers have found that having a good picture in mind of the target customer is beneficial in terms of how we write our content.

A blog, for example, can have multiple categories of topics and so you may find that certain categories speak more to certain personas than others. And certain Facebook and Twitter updates may appeal to certain users.

Regardless of how you segment these groups, it’s incredibly beneficial to share target persona information with whoever is developing content for your social media channels.

Before writing, review your persona list to remind yourself whom you're conversing with.

#21: Useful Content

Kristina Halvorson, author of Content Strategy for the Web, says that if our content isn’t supporting the successful fulfillment of our business objectives or our users’ top goals, then it’s a waste of pixels. She suggests adding two columns to a content inventory: value to user and value to business.

#22: Value

Guy Kawasaki says there are three types of value: 1) pointers to useful, inspiring or entertaining content, 2) personal insights, observations or content, 3) advice and assistance. Guy’s recommendation is to pass along these gems to friends and followers to help them derive more value from online resources.

#23: Word of Mouth

The Marqui Web Marketing Blog’s post 6 Ways Social Media Marketing Helps B2B Lead Generation says, “Word of mouth has been, and continues to be, one of the best ways to generate more leads for your business. Buyers tend to trust peer referrals more than any other source of information and since social media allows people to share their experiences (both good and bad) with a wide range of people, this can help increase trust in your company’s products and services.”

#24: Excellence

The Network Singularity blog says “there are 5 C’s to social media excellence: coordination of social media activities, commitment means engaging with your environment and deliberately pursuing social interactions, confidence in your social media activities, comprehension of social media, and cultivation of worthwhile and friendly relationships.”

#25: Yes

Being likable on social media enhances our potential for lead generation. Guy Kawasaki says one way to become likable is to “adopt a yes attitude. This means your default response to people’s requests is yes… By contrast, a no response stops everything… To make a default yes work, you must assume people are reasonable, honest and grateful.”

#26: Zeal

Enthusiasm is contagious. By showing the fervor you have for your business, products and services, and through the content you share on your social media channels, users will be inclined to want to stick around, engage and build a relationship. Reach out and show your enthusiasm.

What ways have you generated leads with social media? What would you add to this list? Leave your comments in the box below.

Article Source:http://goo.gl/1vkjdH

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7 Social Media Trends for Marketers: New Research

Are you wondering what the latest social media trends are for marketers?

Want to make sure you don’t miss out on the next trend in social media?

Fresh from the 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report (which surveyed 2,800+ marketers), 

this article will highlight some of the newest social media trends faced by marketers.

Here’s what you need to know from the latest social media research.

Latest Research Reveals Social Media Trends

Not surprisingly, the use of visual content (infographics and memes) is set to increase over the next year—70% of marketers plan on increasing their use of these content forms.

Speaking of infographics, here’s one that illustrates some key findings from the survey:

Social media marketing trends for 2014.

Here is emebed code for this infographic:

<a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-trends/" target="_blank"><img alt="social media examiner marketing trends infographic" src="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/pr-sme-infographic-2014-480px.jpg" width="480" height="2800" /></a> Social media marketing trends for 2014 from <a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-trends/" target="_blank">Social Media Examiner.</a>

Let’s take a deeper look at some key findings from the survey.

#1: The Written Word Rules

Over half of the marketers (58%) surveyed chose original written content as their most important form of social media content, followed at a distance by original visual assets (19%) and original videos (12%).

Marketers were asked to select the most important form of content for their business.

Key Considerations:

For marketers who have something valuable to share—like industry insight or compelling information (e.g., the Social Media Marketing Industry Report)—written content works brilliantly and provides an opportunity for true thought leadership.

LinkedIn understands the power of the written word and that’s why they opened up their publishing platform to all members in February of this year.

As a content marketer, that should make you jump for joy. Now you can really leverage LinkedIn’s core strengths: lead generation opportunities and direct access to decision makers.

But access to this new platform doesn’t mean you should migrate from your blog to LinkedIn. Instead, use LinkedIn to complement your brand’s message.

On LinkedIn, you blog as an individual rather than as the “company voice.” That means you can tailor your message to be more opinionated and insightful, and less corporate. In fact, it’s a bad idea to copy and paste articles from your company blog to LinkedIn.

#2: Blogging Biggest Area for Increase

Blogging has become increasingly important to social media marketers—68% of marketers plan to increase their future use of blogging. In fact, over the last two years, the importance of blogging has incrementally climbed from the number-four spot in 2012 to number three in 2013 to number one in 2014.

Marketers were asked how they planned to change their future blogging activities.

Key Considerations:

As you think about your future blogging activities, consider the biggest challenge of blogging: There’s too much content out there that’s not being read.

Earlier this year, Mark Schaefer stoked the fire of the old “information overload” debate in his highly controversial post, Content Shock. The gist of the article is that just because you have a blog doesn’t mean people will read it.

I believe Marcus Sheridan has the best answer to this problem: Be more opinionated.

“Too many businesses are stuck in this ‘grey area’ where they’re so afraid of having any opinion at all because they want to please everyone. As a result their blogs stink and they don’t get any traction.”—Epic Content Marketing, (p. 62).

If you’re not causing people to raise their eyebrows, you’re not going to make it big in blogging.

#3: Google+ Tops Marketers’ Interest Lists

When asked what social media platform they wanted to master, 65% of marketers said Google+, displacing blogging, which took the top spot in 2013. The first runner-up this year was LinkedIn with 57% of marketers.

Google+ takes first place as the social media platform marketers want most to learn about.

Key Considerations:

Many people say Google+ is a waste of time and nobody uses it, but there are a few reasons marketers should think differently about Google+.

According to a new Forrester report (The Case for Google Plus), Google+ has more monthly active users than you think (about 540 million). With those numbers, you can build a really solid follower base on Google+. In fact, some top brands have 90% as many fans on Google+ as they do on Twitter.

 

Google authorship is another reason Google+ is important. When authors link their Google+ profile with content they’ve written and published, that content is given Google authorship markup. This helps articles stand out because Google displays the author’s picture with the article title in search results, which encourages more clicks.

While stats may tell us users spend more time on Facebook than Google+, have you thought about the upside to that? Less time equals less noise. It’s hard to cut through the clutter on Facebook, but since that’s not a problem on Google+, you can get much more engagement when you share high-quality content on a regular basis.

There’s also a compelling link between email marketing and Google+. When you send email to people or businesses that use a personal Gmail account or Gmail for business account, Google gives your brand prime real estate on the right side of the page.

Take a look at this email newsletter I received from NY&Co. Notice their Google+ profile branding on the right side of my opened email.

When integrated with email marketing, Google+ provides more branding opportunities for your business.

Your email subscribers have the opportunity to follow your company on Google+ right from their email account! Notice, too, that the Gmail–Google+ integration shows your recent posts right next to the opened email. That helps drive more views to your Google+ posts.

#4: Tactics Are Top Challenge

The burning question for the vast majority (91%) of marketers is, “What social tactics work best?” This is followed closely by 89% of marketers who wanted to know, “What is the best way to engage audiences with social media?” These are valid questions, considering the constant changes across social media platforms.

As social channels change, tactics and engagement remain big challenges for marketers. Image: iStockPhoto.com.

Key Considerations:

A couple of years ago, I attended Content Marketing World, where Jay Baer informed us that to get his attention on social media, we had to be more interesting than his wife!

Seth Godin put it this way: “If people aren’t talking about you, there’s a reason—you’re boring.” Ouch!! But point made.

I believe questions like “What tactics should we use?” or “How do we ramp up social media engagement?” are secondary to the main question: “How can we be more interesting so people want to engage with us?”

If you’re not interesting to begin with, it doesn’t matter what tactics or platforms you use, nobody will engage with your brand.

When you’ve found a way to capture people’s interest, then you can start to think about how to encourage more Facebook engagement or how to build on other established social media relationships.

#5: Social ROI Remains a Mystery

Measuring social media ROI remains murky and elusive for marketers. Only 37% are able to measure their social activities (compared to 26% in 2013), while 35% aren’t sure and 28% can’t measure it at all.

To what extent do marketers agree that they’re able to measure social media ROI?

Key Considerations:

The confusion about social media ROI isn’t new. However, the inability to measure overall social media results doesn’t mean there’s a problem with a particular channel. It just means that marketers aren’t going about it the right way.

From the very beginning of your campaign, set things up so data are clearly defined, available and measurable.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask your fans and followers to do something specific (i.e., provide a clear call to action) and then track their responses (e.g., email signups, downloads or shares).

That doesn’t mean you should ignore metrics like reach or engagement, but for many marketers those metrics don’t always provide a clear path to sales and revenue.

So if you’re tired of pulling your hair out over social media ROI, try keeping it simple by asking your fans to perform ONE simple, measurable action.

What do you think? What are your thoughts on this latest social media marketing research? Do the findings reflect your own experiences? Have you had different results with your social media marketing?

Article Source:http://goo.gl/s1Ejw0

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Local PR Business Listings to Top Most Websites Google, Bing, yahoo Etc

Google: Hundreds of millions of people use Google Search, Maps, Mobile and Google+ to find and discover great local businesses.  Premium and Ultimate Plans

Bing Places: Bing is one of the leading search engines in the US and attracts over 150 million consumers each month. claim your listing…

MapQuest: Over 27 million people a month use MapQuest to find businesses and to get directions to their locations! 

Yahoo! Local: Get ahead of the competition with an Enhanced Listing on Yahoo! Local. Attract more attention with a richer listing including photos and detailed company information.

Yelp: Yelp helps more than 40 million people a month find great local businesses like restaurants, dentists, lawyers and movers, and is known for its audience that is loyal and active.

Foursquare: Foursquare currently has over 10 million users worldwide and over 400,000 merchants actively managing their businesses on the  network!

Facebook: Facebook is the world’s biggest social network with more than 1 billion users. Local PR Media Sync for Facebook makes it easy to manage post and update information.

ChamberofCommerce: Provides information on 14MM businesses, facilitating connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

8coupons: 8coupons collects deals from over 500 sources to bring you only the stuff you care about from your neighborhood restaurants, bars, salons, and stores!

CitySquares: CitySquares provides small businesses an opportunity to reach a qualified, local consumer audience through an optimized profile on it’s website. read more…

CoPilot: CoPilot is a navigation app with unique routing features and an interactive user interface that makes navigation easily accessible and useful.

Superpages: Superpages is a go-to resource for over 7 million consumers looking for information on local businesses and retailers, with maps, coupons, reviews and more.

411.com: WhitePages has powered over 2 billion searches across its network of sites including Whitepages.com, 411.com, PhoneNumber.com and Switchboard.com

AirYell: AirYell’s online directory and mobile platform lets searchers hold the world of reference material in the palm of their hands.

AmericanTowns: AmericanTowns offers communities a single online location for everything–and everyone — needed to navigate daily life in their town.

Avantar: Yellow Pages mobile application sees over 8 million unique visits per month. As one of the first local search mobile apps, Avantar is a leader in the space and continues to grow.

Citysearch: Citysearch is a leading online local guide that covers more than 75,000 locations nationwide. Their mission is to connect people to both the most popular places in their area.

eLocal: eLocal’s goal is to connect customers with local businesses. Founded in 2006, eLocal streamlines its site so the important information is not lost in the clutter and is easily found.

Cricket: Cricket is a pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services, serving millions of customers nationwide who use their mobile devices to find local businesses in their area.

EZlocal: EZlocal is a local search marketing company focused on helping small businesses connect with the people who are actively searching online for products and services in their area.

Factual: Factual, founded in 2007, is an open data platform that focuses on making data more accessible. It allows for the creation of more innovative tools and apps.

HopStop: HopStop is a leading location-based service, providing door-to-door walking, biking and mass transit directions to city residents and tourists alike.

Local.com: Local.com attracts over 4 million visitors each month seeking relevant information on local businesses, products and services.

Local Database: Local guide designed to offer targeted in-depth information to US based communities. Their platform is designed to continuously grow through multiple data sources.

LocalPages: LocalPages connects companies and businesses with the people who are actively searching the internet for products and services in their local community.

MerchantCircle: MerchantCircle helps small businesses network with other local businesses and reach local customers through free marketing tools and social media features.

MetroPCS: MetroPCS is a popular wireless phone company and has over 8 million subscribers, many of whom actively use the search feature on their handset to find local businesses.

MojoPages: MojoPages is an online directory geared towards rating small businesses based on an analysis of all their online reviews.

Navmii: Navmii is a leading publisher of satellite navigation location-based applications for mobile phones. Over half a million users in the US use the Navfree navigation app.

PennySaver: PennySaver is a direct mail shopping publication in the U.S. with over 950 local editions reaching over 11.5 million people online, in print and on mobile.

PhoneNumber.com: WhitePages has powered over 2 billion searches across its network of sites including Whitepages.com, 411.com, PhoneNumber.com and Switchboard.com.

Pocketly: Pocketly is the on-the-go money-saving app that uses geolocation and a database of 14 million businesses to find coupons and offers, stores, services and entertainment nearby.

ShowMeLocal: ShowMeLocal.com gives local business owners the tools to promote their business online and local consumers a place to go to learn about businesses in their area.

Switchboard: WhitePages has powered over 2 billion searches across its network of sites including Whitepages.com, 411.com, PhoneNumber.com and Switchboard.com.

Topix: Topix is the leading community news website in the U.S., connecting over six million users a month to the information and discussions that matter to them in every city and towny.

Tupalo: Tupalo is an online community of thousands of people that discover, review and share their favorite spots and let others know where and where not to go.

USCity.net: USCity.net is one of the oldest business directories. USCity.net was recently acquired by Duke Investments and launched a complete redesign in May 2012 with a renewed focus on category search.

Where To?: Where To? is a top local search app that combines ground breaking technology with a simple interface to allow consumers to easily find local businesses in their area.

WhitePages: WhitePages has powered over 2 billion searches across its network of sites including Whitepages.com, 411.com, PhoneNumber.com and Switchboard.com.

YaSabe: YaSabe is America’s largest and fastest growing local search destination for businesses, coupons and jobs that cater to Hispanic consumers.

Yellowbot: Yellowbot helps over a million searchers a month find and review places within their community.

Yellowise: Yellowise.com is a local search engine that helps over 6 million users find local businesses every month.

 

YellowMoxie: YellowMoxie.com is the local expert and a top online resource for finding information and insights on local businesses and retailers.

YellowPageCity.com: Currently, there are over 2600 online phone books within the YellowPageCity.com network with new ones being added each month.

White & Yellow Pages: With all the offerings of the Yellow Pages combined with the access of the White Pages, this app turns an iPhone, iPod or iPad into a portable reference guide.

GetFave: The GetFave.com search engine solution has been designed to work in harmony with Google and the other major search engines .

GoLocal247: GoLocal24/7 is the fastest growing hyper-local network of directories with community portals.

 

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