When you log onto social media each day, you’re presented with information about what’s happened while you were gone. You see Chris just Snapchatted his pizza and that Holly is live tweeting interior design tips from an industry conference. You were also served an ad from your local clothing boutique about their summer clearance sale.
Recognizing your digital footprints
These are your digital footprints. You chose to follow particular people or businesses because of the products they sell or the knowledge they provide. You may have purchased a product via an ad you were served, clicked through to Holly’s website to read her blog or sought advice from her via Twitter when you were redesigning your home. Even more footprints.
Translating Personal Social to Business Social
It’s time to start thinking about your brand the same way you think about your personal social media channels. You are being targeted based on what you’ve left behind. It’s time to use that knowledge to find prospects that will be not only customers but repeat customers and even brand advocates. While you’re most likely using social media as a branding tool, it’s time to think of it as a way to increase revenue and potentially decrease revenue you may be spending on traditional marketing approaches.
After all, each member of your potential customer base is most likely on at least one social media channel.
who is trying to talk with you?
If you own a coffee shop, you should be checking in to see who is engaging with your brand, what the sentiment is and even what your competitors are saying. Start thinking about how your customers are finding your business. What are the keywords they use to search for you? Indirect mentions matter, too. If your competitors are showing up in your search, take note. If your competitors dominate the conversation locally, engage with individuals within it so your business can be in a considered set of options.
Who stands out in conversation?
As you’re searching, you’ll start to notice particular leaders in the conversation. These are your leads. They left you footprints. Follow them to see what else they’re interested in, which of your products might fit their lifestyle and how you can potentially turn them into your paying customers.
And make sure you’re picking the right channels. Who your leads are on Instagram will be different from who your leads are on LinkedIn. How you interact with them will be, too. Sharing a GIF on LinkedIn won’t get as much traction and won’t resonate with your audience the same way as it will on Twitter
Three Tips for Business Success on Social
How your brand is perceived on social media may have an impact on the way your leads see your brand. So it’s important to make sure you’re appropriately setting yourself up for success. These three tips will help:
- Engage back with those engaging with you. This sounds like a no brainer, but in a fast moving environment, it’s easy to forget.
- Provide helpful customer service. If your audience (and beyond) see you as resourceful and helpful, they’re more likely to consider you.
- Answer questions to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry – even if you weren’t initially in the conversation.
A handy workbook to get you started
This social media prospecting workbook will help you follow the footsteps your potential leads are leaving behind on social media. You’ll get started by answering some of the questions mentioned above and move on to analyzing your brand’s search and keywords result to help identify leads. We’ll also provide more tips to set your brand up for success and how you can take action that will lead to an increase in sales on individual channels.
