Jun 14, 2012 Staff

Integrating Social Media and Lead Nurturing


Lead nurturing is defined as consistent and targeted communication to move your leads further down the funnel. Since research also shows that social media and purchase decisions are closely linked, it follows that social media offers a natural opportunity for lead nurturing. From Hubspot, here are eight simple ways to combine your lead nurturing and social media marketing.

"Include social follow widgets in lead nurturing emails."
The more points of contact you can have with your leads, the better. Talking to your leads through both email and social  media gives you twice as many opportunities to expose them to content and pull them further down the sales funnel.

"Use social share modules in your emails."
Give your leads the opportunity to share your content with just one click. This can help build your company's social reach while also building a more personal relationship with your leads. Research has also shown that emails with social sharing buttons have a 115% higher click-through rate than emails that don't.

"Add social calls-to-action to thank-you pages."
A landing page should give viewers as many opportunities as possible to further connect with your company.

"Add social widgets in thank-you emails."
The first email a lead receives from you, often a thank you or confirmation email after they've taken advantage of a free offer, is an important point of contact and should include all your social widgets. A lead that follows you on social media is more likely to see other nurturing content that will move them further down the sales funnel.

"Initiate a lead nurturing workflow when a lead mentions your company on Twitter."
Integrated marketing automation can alert you when you're contacted by a lead via social media. This approach ensures leads don't fall through the cracks and utilizes multiple touchpoints.

"Utilize your employee's social media accounts."
Transparency on social media is expected. Prospects want to connect to actual people online. Encourage your employees to be active on social media and share your lead nurturing content to amplify your reach. Give your company a face by making it easy for leads to connect with sales people, and even management, via social media.

"Always respond to social inquiries."
Leads will often turn to social channels for feedback or questions. Unanswered inquiries will result in not only the lead probably not returning to your social channels, but also damage your company's online reputation. Closely monitor your Facebook account, Twitter mentions, LinkedIn comments, etc. to ensure that your leads are getting the attention they deserve.

"Monitor for branded terms that may indicate sales readiness."
Leads use social media to perform their research. Find sales-ready leads by social monitoring for branded terms in your industry.

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Published by Staff June 14, 2012