Social media attracts people of all ages. The young and the old connect and build and rekindle friendships, share their thoughts and ideas, and interact with businesses. As a business owner, it is critical that you not only acknowledge what social media could do for your business, but that you take advantage of it.
An essential part of taking advantage of the grasp that social media has on your potential customers is using it to nurture leads. Business leads are not necessarily interested in buying products or services yet, but they do have the potential to in the future. This helps you target people in your market and connect with new customers. Here are 8 ways to nurture leads using social media.
1. Share Your Own Content
One of the advantages of social media over e-mail campaigns is that customers feel less targeted. Instead of potential leads feeling as if they must read the content when it comes in, they can save it or share it for later. Additionally, unlike e-mail campaigns, sharing content on social media allows you to track what customers are saving/sharing your content and use this to gather intel that can help you manage marketing campaigns.
2. Use Links to Social Media to Nurture Relationships Early On
When you find a lead, it is essential that you begin to nurture your relationship as soon as possible. InTouch has two great ideas for this. The first is to include a link to your social media sites after a web form has been completed. Once a customer expresses interest in your business, it is important they are presented with the opportunity to connect as soon as possible. Following a similar idea, you can also include icons that link to your various social media accounts at the end of emails.
3. Respond in a Timely Fashion
Making an instant connection with leads is an important part of nurturing. One of the ways that businesses can do this is by using an automated response system. This should respond to a lead and let them know you will be in touch.
4. Gather Information and Use It
Every interaction that you have with a potential customer should have significance. If they provide information or give feedback about a particular product, know that it reflects their interests. When you can provide an interaction that reflects what you have learned about the customer, it nurtures your relationship. If they make a comment on your social media account or complain about something, take note of it. Use what they provide to make future interactions more meaningful.
5. Offer Real-Time Interaction on Social Media
Another key part of nurturing business leads is making the client feel important. One way to do this is to offer real-time interaction. This can be done on your company’s website, but it is just as effective to respond to messages, Tweets, and other communications on social media. Additionally, this makes it quicker and easier for leads to follow your page.
Connecting with customers in real-time is a feat that is possible even for small businesses. If you find that you do not have the funds to hire someone to respond to customers all day, offer instant contact through your social media account between set hours of the day.
6. Sync Your Social Media Accounts
Have you ever tried to manage more than one social media account? Between re-sharing information, re-posting links, and responding to leads on different sites, lead nurturing can become quite a hassle. In order to ease the process, sync your social media accounts. When you make a post on one, you have the option to modify it before posting it to other social media accounts. This allows you to easily customize each post, without the need to log in and out of each website.
7. Follow Up On Social Inquiries
What is your first instinct when you have a bad experience, whether it is with a terrible product at a store or a pizza delivery place? Unless it is a huge offense, chances are you don’t want to wait in line on a phone to speak to customer service or patiently wait for hours for a representative to respond to your email. Instead, most people take to social media. According to InTouch, it is much more common for people to leave questions, feedbacks, or even acknowledgement for quality service on social media. For that reason, keep an eye on your accounts. Responding in a quick and effective manner can help nurture your leads.
8. Offer Valuable Incentives for Connecting on Social Media
Before you can begin to culture a relationship on social media, you have to get potential leads to connect with your account. One way to do this is to offer a valuable incentive for the customer to follow your business or like its page on social media. Here are a few incentive ideas:
- Free E-Book Download
- Shopping Guide
- How-To Guide for a Product
- Exclusive Access to a Relevant Article
- Discount on First Purchase
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