Social Media Content and Lead Nurturing

I promise that this blog is not going to just tell you the same old thing about how to nurture leads through social media.

Too often I find that the same things are being said over and over, and in circles, about the importance of maintaining a "connection" or "relationship" with prospects. Don't get me wrong – relationship building is at the very core of what I preach in my selling platform, but to really go the extra mile with lead nurturing, you have to take it to a deeper level. And social media is another great tool to help get you to that deeper level.

In this blog I have sifted through all of the generics , and present to you some basic, concrete stuff to work with. So the following are some of what I believe works when it comes to nurturing a lead.

As selling and buying cycles get more involved, it’s no longer enough for marketing to just deliver leads to their sales team. Rather, many successful companies are now investing in lead management, to maximize the performance of both marketing and sales. The result is an increase in sales-ready opportunities, a decrease in the cost per qualifiable leads, and the best one of all: higher revenue.

Companies need to come out of the mindset of how business was done in prior years and embrace the new tools available to them to get that information out there, such as the social media arena.

Once again, social media is not a magic bullet – however, it's yet another effective way of reaching out to customers and prospects, as well as allowing you to maintain a way of getting feedback and communicate with your audience.l To effectively nurture prospects, you need to understand the buying phases, putting yourself in the mind of the prospect while they are in these phases, while also keeping in mind that there is not usually just one buyer in the process. You therefore need to set up different buying profiles for the different people that you may be dealing with in the company as well.

An effective social media campaign will greatly enhance your sales strategy – but only if done correctly.

Planning and strategizing for these scenarios will keep prospects moving along the sales funnel and help you feel more prepared for the process.

* Each nurturing method should directly correlate with where you are in the sales process – by presenting relevant information and content, reaching prospects at just the right time.
Studies have shown that up to 80% of unqualified leads will eventually go on to buy within the next two years. You need to capitalize on this, and create a relationship with prospects and begin nurturing leads at the earliest point in the process as you can. Lead nurturing tactics are very impactful during a recession when buying cycles get significantly longer.

Lead nurturing campaigns help prevent the loss of qualified opportunities that may not be ready to make a purchase but have already entered the sales pipeline. If budgets are cut, or the sales cycle is longer than predicted, lead nurturing can help keep these opportunities stay "warm". All to often, leads will slip through the pipeline because organizations do not have formal processes in place that will allow communication to continue with these individuals appropriately.

So, where do you begin?

The first thing you need to do is to map your prospects buying cycle through content mapping, which I will cover in full in my next blog, and consists of content that can support the prospect through the different stages of the buying cycle. Be sure to know what marketing channels your prospects are most likely to be found in.

Though sometimes overlooked, it's important to talk to sales to find out specifically what they look for in helping then determine what is a qualified opportunity.

Put into effect a formal process that allowing sales to pass opportunities that have become "stuck" back to marketing for further nurturing. Any opportunities that are allowed to fall through cracks in the funnel are basically lost revenue, and one of the main goals of sales and marketing and your social media campaign is to do whatever they can to keep this from happening.

Another thing to remember is: patience, patience, patience.

This is sometimes easier said than done. You should not expect to get results overnight, as there does seem to be some lag time between the nurturing process and getting the sale. However, once you begin to get the leads into the sales funnel, they tend to be typically fairly consistent. It is not a failure if you do not see results for months.

Your sales strategy should be continuously evolving, and maintaining an effective social media platform will add to everything else that you do. The biggest problem I see companies doing in regard to social media is that they think it's easier than it really is. You have to make sure that your audience "gets you" and understands your product. This is not always easy to do through a computer screen, so make sure that you get professionals to help you with your social media campaign if you need it.