4. See how social media can move from brand awareness to a lead generation tool
5. Learn how to get lead information and what information to get
6.
7. Goes beyond typical sales and marketing automation systems with:1- REAL revenue based ROI 2- Channel performance measurement 3- Automated VOC input into the sale and marketing process
15. However, if ROI is to be measured, awareness needs to convert into behavior which results in revenues gained from a marketing investment. These types of metrics won’t give you that kind of information.
18. Best practices for lead generation in social media Just because a medium is available, doesn’t mean you should use it. Know your audience and how they’re using social media tools. You must be social! That means not just sharing information, but promoting engagement. Engagement comes through listening and interacting. A solid Call to Action, preferably tailored to the social media audience, will start the process.
19. More about the Call to Action The CTA needs to be something a friend, follower, reader or watcher wants to do at that phase of the interaction with your brand. CTAs must be compelling enough for someone to want to give you their coveted information.
21. The details Ansell, leading provider of work gloves, began selling retail. Sponsored a car in the ARCA series. Driver of car was on his way to achieving a racing record. “Race for the Record” sweepstakes was created for a lead generation activity.People entered to win prizes. Twitter was used to promote sweepstakes and progress toward record.
23. The details Diapers.com referral program When an individual purchases, he/she has opportunity to refer friends to the site with a unique code. If referrals make a purchase, the referral receives a percentage off and the individual who forwarded the offer gets a credit to his/her account.
24. Some good examples – Real people doing “how to’s” of using your product, with links on where to buy
25. The details Hero Arts is a leading supplier of scrapbooking supplies. Realize that video is an emerging research tool for “how tos”. Expert shows a new scrapbooking technique using Hero Arts tools. Information on where to buy tools comes immediately after tutorial.
26. Some good examples – Rotating CTA’s based on what people are searching for “About social marketing” keyword blog
27. Some good examples – Rotating CTA’s based on what people are searching for 191471 “B2B Email Solutions” keyword blog
28. The details ExactTarget utilizes Compendium Blogware’s keyword blogs to promote organic search engine optimization. The blog uses CTA’s that are unique to the keywords the individual is using to search. If the searcher wants information “about social marketing,” a social marketing toolkit is offered. If searcher wants information on “B2B email solutions,” an ebook about the place for email in a marketing plan is offered.
30. Landing pages key to lead generation To generate the kind of information needed for sales team or more targeted marketing follow-up, companies need strategic landing pages tied to campaign. Links to general “contact us” pages are not effective. Pages must reinforce the desire to interact with the brand and tie specifically to the campaign.
31. More about landing pages Length of form can be tied to strength of offer. For example, you can ask people for more information if you’re offering a car, as opposed to a whitepaper download. The form needs to include at least one disposition question which gives you insight into where the individual is in the marketing/sales process. This information can help score the lead, indicating how “sales ready” it is.
33. More about landing pages In the Race for the Record promotion, Ansell knew it would attract many followers who were not prime candidates for follow-up time. Disposition questions helped define follow-up, whether it was a coupon for a retailer, forwarding to a distributor, a place on a promotional list or internal sales team contact.
35. Score. Route. Continual Follow-Up. Disposition questions determine where person is in the sales cycle. The lead is assigned a score relative to their likelihood of purchase. For leads with lower scores, keep these individuals in the marketing database and continue to develop CTAs that resonate. Ensure their score changes if more interaction with the brand occurs.
38. Measuring ROI By implementing solid lead generation practices (collection, scoring, routing), you have put in place what you need to measure ROI from your social media efforts. Revenues gained are reported through coupon redemption, the sales team, distributor channel and Voice of the Customer feedback. Lead management system ties leads back to social media campaigns.
Max Yoder will introduce you and give background on you, as well as give a little bit of information about NitroMojo.You’ll take the lead, thank him, then maybe reinforce the background on yourself, something like “With my experience in the agency world and now with a software that can help measure the effectiveness of marketing activities, today I’m going to give you some real world tips that you can implement right now to get more ROI from your social media activities, then show you how you can start measuring the ROI on those using a system like NitroMojo.”
Give a little background on what typical marketing and sales automation programs do – lead collection, lead scoring, routing to the sales force.
Spend just a few minutes going through the steps. My experience has shown that the lead management process will only be successful if it supports your unique business model, for example:Inside sales vs. outside salesRetail, resellers, etc.NitroMojo can be customized to the fit that, rather than forcing you to fit your process into the systemOne other point is that VOC is very critical to the process. If you can’t validate your pipeline with feedback from the customer, then you’re operating in a vacuum.
Lots of software products coming into the market that will help you measure these things. Public relations people often subscribe to “clipping services” that find mentions of your products and brand in the media then analyze them on how beneficial they are to your product. Many of the social media monitoring systems can be equated to that.
And brand awareness is a good thing. It’s not a bad thing to be using social media to “get the word out” about your brand, your company’s news, etc. But you have to be realistic about what these activities are going to bring to your company in the way of sales. If your CMO wants to know (and he or she should want to know) if your social media strategy results in increased revenue for your company, just measuring brand awareness isn’t going to give you the answer.
In many companies, especially those in B2B there is a sales cycle and a whole sales team involved in it. Marketing teams are often measured on how many qualified leads they turn over to the sales team. This is why we define leads this way. The goal is to convert this person who talks about you into someone who buys your product.
So now we’re going to change the way we’re thinking about social media. Rather than it just being an information sharing mechanism, we’re going to think of it has a way to generate leads for your lead nurturing program or sales team follow up.There are a few axioms we have to abide by to make that work….
So, everyone ran out and picked up an agency to create a Facebook page for them. But did they stop to think Who was even using Facebook? Is it a leisure time tool or a business tool? Just like with a traditional advertising campaign, if you don’t consider the medium’s audience, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Some people see Facebook or Twitter as a way to showcase your company’s expertise on a topic and that’s not a bad thing, but there is so much “noise” out there right now, without something really unique to share, your information isn’t going to get shared.However, engaging people in something and giving them a reason to take the next step, and making it meaningful enough that they’ll want to give their friends the opportunity to participate – now that’s social. That is why resurrecting the Call to Action is paramount in turning social media into a lead generation tool.
So someone finds your blog through online search and it’s the first they’ve heard about your brand. You want them to schedule a demo or a sales call to see your product. Is that something they want to do at this stage of the game? Taking that step may be more of a third-date kind of move with your brand. Think of what their next logical step would be and provide it. There are lots of ways to participate in social media with just a username or a name and no profile information. This isn’t enough to qualify a next step sales lead. You must make an offer that is strong enough that the person is willing to give up their information so you can begin the lead nurturing process.
Ansell also has a tie in with ARCA racing and our affiliate agency has worked on the racing aspect for the company. This was a perfect social media opportunity. Fans are passionate about racing and it gave Ansell the opportunity to build a database of racing fans who were also in the construction field. The contest tied a sweepstakes in with the driver’s quest to seek a racing record. So, Twitter was an obvious media choice since the updates would be spread instantaneously. People are on Twitter for fun, so a fun sweepstakes made sense. But people had to enter their information, including their profession, into a database, which Ansell could then segment and send e-mail or direct mail to engage them in the nurturing process.
So, everyone ran out and picked up an agency to create a Facebook page for them. But did they stop to think Who was even using Facebook? Is it a leisure time tool or a business tool? Just like with a traditional advertising campaign, if you don’t consider the medium’s audience, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Some people see Facebook or Twitter as a way to showcase your company’s expertise on a topic and that’s not a bad thing, but there is so much “noise” out there right now, without something really unique to share, your information isn’t going to get shared.However, engaging people in something and giving them a reason to take the next step, and making it meaningful enough that they’ll want to give their friends the opportunity to participate – now that’s social. That is why resurrecting the Call to Action is paramount in turning social media into a lead generation tool.
Moms love to share a good deal. In this one, people who buy are assigned a unique code that they can pass onto friends. When friends use the code, the friend gets a discount and the initial buyer get a credit. Great way to track who are some of your “five star” buyers and reward them in this way. We’ll discuss a little later how you know who those five star customers are and track their buying behavior.
So, everyone ran out and picked up an agency to create a Facebook page for them. But did they stop to think Who was even using Facebook? Is it a leisure time tool or a business tool? Just like with a traditional advertising campaign, if you don’t consider the medium’s audience, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Some people see Facebook or Twitter as a way to showcase your company’s expertise on a topic and that’s not a bad thing, but there is so much “noise” out there right now, without something really unique to share, your information isn’t going to get shared.However, engaging people in something and giving them a reason to take the next step, and making it meaningful enough that they’ll want to give their friends the opportunity to participate – now that’s social. That is why resurrecting the Call to Action is paramount in turning social media into a lead generation tool.
More and more, people are using video as a researching mechanism. We asked our staffers how they interact with social media. One of our staffers is an avid scrapbooker, so she gave us this example. You have a REAL person utilizing scrapbooking materials from the sponsoring company. Once the video is over, you’re given the URL of where to buy.
So, everyone ran out and picked up an agency to create a Facebook page for them. But did they stop to think Who was even using Facebook? Is it a leisure time tool or a business tool? Just like with a traditional advertising campaign, if you don’t consider the medium’s audience, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Some people see Facebook or Twitter as a way to showcase your company’s expertise on a topic and that’s not a bad thing, but there is so much “noise” out there right now, without something really unique to share, your information isn’t going to get shared.However, engaging people in something and giving them a reason to take the next step, and making it meaningful enough that they’ll want to give their friends the opportunity to participate – now that’s social. That is why resurrecting the Call to Action is paramount in turning social media into a lead generation tool.
Using Compendium Blogware’s technology, ExactTarget, an e-mail marketing company, knows what keywords were used to find their blogging site. They use dynamic CTA’s and base the content on how the searcher found them. For example, if the person searched Google for “about social media” they’d get the CTA to download a social media tool kit.
If they searched B2B email solutions, they’d be able to access an email utilization guide.This is great example of targeting your lead generation activities to what your audience is looking for, not necessarily what you want them to do next. This harkens back to the “listening” component of social media. Prospects are pushing against a “one size fits all” model for communications and you need to answer that call.
So, everyone ran out and picked up an agency to create a Facebook page for them. But did they stop to think Who was even using Facebook? Is it a leisure time tool or a business tool? Just like with a traditional advertising campaign, if you don’t consider the medium’s audience, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Some people see Facebook or Twitter as a way to showcase your company’s expertise on a topic and that’s not a bad thing, but there is so much “noise” out there right now, without something really unique to share, your information isn’t going to get shared.However, engaging people in something and giving them a reason to take the next step, and making it meaningful enough that they’ll want to give their friends the opportunity to participate – now that’s social. That is why resurrecting the Call to Action is paramount in turning social media into a lead generation tool.
So you’ve followed some of the best practices about choosing the right mediums for your time and message, you’ve fit your CTA to your prospect’s stage of the research process, you’ve given them compelling offers that make them want to interact with your brand. Now, how do you take them to the next step?
The answer is creating a landing page that supports the prospect joining your lead nurturing program, rather than deterring their participation. This is true for any form of lead generation, but it’s especially true for social media CTAs. This is a more casual way of communicating to your audience, your sort of on “their turf” (as opposed to a tradeshow booth where they’re on yours), so it’s critical to get the information you need without overstepping your social boundaries.You want to continue the consistency of the promotion on the landing page. Remind them again of why they clicked and what they’re going to get out of it. This way you won’t have as many drop off’s between the click and getting the information that will make them an actual leadIf you’re giving away a car, you can ask a few more questions than if you’re offering a free whitepaper. Also remember that the length can be tied to where the person is in the interaction process (like we talked about with the CTA). If it’s an initial contact, keep it shorter than if the promotion is being offered to people who have interacted with your brand previously.The disposition question should determine the individuals’ level of interest, so that you can know where they are in the sales cycle. As we’re going to look at in a few minutes, these questions can be used to score leads and determine what the next step should be in the lead nurturing and sales process.
The answer is creating a landing page that supports the prospect joining your lead nurturing program, rather than deterring their participation. This is true for any form of lead generation, but it’s especially true for social media CTAs. This is a more casual way of communicating to your audience, your sort of on “their turf” (as opposed to a tradeshow booth where they’re on yours), so it’s critical to get the information you need without overstepping your social boundaries.You want to continue the consistency of the promotion on the landing page. Remind them again of why they clicked and what they’re going to get out of it. This way you won’t have as many drop off’s between the click and getting the information that will make them an actual leadIf you’re giving away a car, you can ask a few more questions than if you’re offering a free whitepaper. Also remember that the length can be tied to where the person is in the interaction process (like we talked about with the CTA). If it’s an initial contact, keep it shorter than if the promotion is being offered to people who have interacted with your brand previously.The disposition question should determine the individuals’ level of interest, so that you can know where they are in the sales cycle. As we’re going to look at in a few minutes, these questions can be used to score leads and determine what the next step should be in the lead nurturing and sales process.
On this form we’ve got the standard questions that we’d need to contact the person to win the sweepstakes. It’s also the information Ansell’s sales team needs to follow up with the person.Ansell knew they’d have a lot of racing fans who were not qualified purchasers enter the contest. These disposition forms help pull out who might be a qualified person to go into the lead database. You do not want to junk up your lead management or CRM system by putting anyone who fills out this form into it. Your system should have some rules associated with who gets put into the database and how that lead should be handled once it’s in there.
The answer is creating a landing page that supports the prospect joining your lead nurturing program, rather than deterring their participation. This is true for any form of lead generation, but it’s especially true for social media CTAs. This is a more casual way of communicating to your audience, your sort of on “their turf” (as opposed to a tradeshow booth where they’re on yours), so it’s critical to get the information you need without overstepping your social boundaries.You want to continue the consistency of the promotion on the landing page. Remind them again of why they clicked and what they’re going to get out of it. This way you won’t have as many drop off’s between the click and getting the information that will make them an actual leadIf you’re giving away a car, you can ask a few more questions than if you’re offering a free whitepaper. Also remember that the length can be tied to where the person is in the interaction process (like we talked about with the CTA). If it’s an initial contact, keep it shorter than if the promotion is being offered to people who have interacted with your brand previously.The disposition question should determine the individuals’ level of interest, so that you can know where they are in the sales cycle. As we’re going to look at in a few minutes, these questions can be used to score leads and determine what the next step should be in the lead nurturing and sales process.
For example, using the contact form we just saw. Based on the information that prospective customer entered, the next step in the sales process would be determined. If the person was a consume or small business, they’d get a coupon from the retailer closest to them. If they were a customer that used a distributor, the lead would be forwarded to the correct one. If it was possibly a large sales opportunity, the person would be forwarded to an inside sales specialist. If the person indicated that they were a Direct of Safety on the form, that individual would receiver a higher score and the lead might be get routed via a system like NitroMojo to a sales person for follow up.If the person indicated they wore gloves for a DIY purpose, a system like NitroMojo could send that person a coupon for discounts off Ansell gloves.
First and foremost, you want to measure how many leads came in through your social media efforts. If you’re only putting the qualified leads into the system, it will show you how successful your messaging was in getting people to click.
If are using different calls to action for different mediums, measuring which call to action was most effective in getting people to convert might show you which topics are most interesting to the audience. For example, this dashboard is from an company that participates on a women’s health forum. They could then see which topic brought in the most people and then which topic actually converted people to patients or customers.
But just because a campaign brought in leads and revenue doesn’t mean it generated the highest ROI. When calculating ROI, you must take the investment part into consideration. This graph shows you the most effective campaigns with revenues minus expenses.
I’m going to end today with this NItroMojo wheel of best practices in sales and marketing performance. This showcases how NitroMojo works, but the best practices are really those that can be followed in any organization no matter what technology you have supporting it. Of course if you don’t have a technology that effectively supports your business model, we’d love to talk to you!The most important takeaway from today is that social media needs to be treated like a lead generation tool. By nature of the medium, you can throw a whole lot of information out there (time and money too) and see nothing happen to it. But again, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Develop calls to action (aka content) that will resonate with your audience, put it out there in the right medium, get the information you need to foster someone through a lead nurturing program and make sure you track the engagement and have measures in place see ROI. Armed with this information, you’ll be able to make the right decisions about social media and justify them.
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