Social Media ROI: Three Ways Digital Marketers Can Show its Worth

If you’re not showing C-suite executives exactly what you make off your social media marketing program, show them how much money they’re saving.

ROI: Beyond the Dollar Bills

That’s one of the messages from social media metrics analyst Cappy Popp of Thought Labs. To make the most of social media marketing, digital marketers, Popp said, can define social media metrics in three ways: activity, engagement and acquisition — and do a lot of it with free tools.

“ROI no longer just means money to a lot of C-Suite executives,” said Popp, who caught up with his us after his presentation last month at the Kentico Connection conference in Burlington, MA. “They also see it as a cost-savings measure and also see it as a brand-mention or personality play. It can also be for crisis management and crisis aversion.”

Digital marketers should be tracking the type of content they post, and the frequency it’s posted.

Activity: Tracking Content

“It will allow you to easily determine what content actually resonates with your community,” Popp said. “And therefore, you can also optimize when you post your content to save money. Basically, you’re saving dollars for doing less work, which affects your bottom line.”

Free tools also affect bottom lines.

Facebook, Popp said, provides new tools in its free Page Insights app that shows when a page's fans are online and most likely to engage with its content. Free tools like Buffer make it incredibly easy to optimally publish posts on all major networks based on algorithms that determine when your posts get the most engagement on a specific network, Popp added.

“It makes the most sense to do some manual work up front to determine — through experimentation using the data each platform provides — when your posts get the highest engagement and then test posting at different times to validate this,” Popp said. “Automated tools like Buffer analyze a discrete time period so it's important that they get the most accurate data possible before you depend upon them too heavily.”

Image courtesy of nopporn (Shutterstock)

Engagement: How Does Your Audience Evolve?

You’ve grown your fan base. That’s all good. But what is the value of those fans? What kind of engagement do you have?

“We hear a lot of people talking about the number of fans they have,” Popp said, “and these tend to be value metrics that don’t work as well anymore because they don’t really mean that much by themselves.”

However, see how your audience has changed over time and compare that to historical data and your competition. Are you behind? In which areas has your audience grown on a demographic scale?

Traditionally, organizations have been taking their total number of fans on their social media sites and dividing that by the total number of likes, shares, comments and all types of interaction.

But for better engagement measures, organizations can use total engagement as it relates to total reach. How? For Facebook, add the likes, comments and shares and divide that by the total number of fans to get an engagement rate.

Question the Data

Take this data, however, for what it’s worth. It includes data from non-fans and relates them to fans. Users don't have to be fans to like, comment or share a page's content.

“If you divide all engagement by total fans you are inflating the engagement rate because non-fan interactions are included,” Popp said.

And remember — traditional calculations don't necessarily include other important activities such as clicks on a post, views of a video or views past a call to action within a video.

Further, this approach can interpret one person’s likes as dozens of unique users, not a single one.

“Most importantly, traditional approaches don't take reach into account,” Popp said. “Facebook severely limits the number of people that see a page's content organically. Traditional methods relate engagement to total fans; however, a vanishingly small percentage of these fans may have ever had the opportunity to interact with the content in the first place because they never saw it.”

Better Method: Engagement Divided by Reach

Using total engagement divided by total reach is much more accurate: 

• Total engagement: includes all activity taken on a piece of content, not just likes, comments and shares.
• Total reach: includes fans and non-fans and also takes into account the number of user that actually saw the content.

Further, target your campaign messages specifically with demographic data.

“You can see where your data is being used and seen,” Popp said. “If you’re targeting the wrong people, and your messaging doesn’t reach the people you’re targeting, you’re wasting your money. We see a lot of that being a problem.”

Acquisition Metrics: Finding Your Top Fans

Acquiring your top fans can be done via a number of different platforms, whether it’s manually or with social analytics tools.

Ultimately you’re looking to see if your social media presence has an impact on your web traffic. Tools like Google Analytics' free social acquisition reports make it “easier than ever to track conversions through social media channels online,” Popp said.

You can track which social networks sent you the most traffic, which users saved your social content, which landing pages users hit on your site when coming from social networks, activity from social plugins like the Google+ +1 button or the Facebook social plugins.

“Tools like these were very expensive and difficult to use until recently and now Google is giving them away free of charge,” Popp said. “There's no reason not to use them.”

Remember Organization Vision

Definitely not. However, be sure when trying to “sell” your social media marketing program that while these formulas and tools may produce sharp charts and bar graphs for the execs, you must reflect on your organization’s mission through its social media platform.

What were the original goals? And does your program produce tangible results that adhere to those goals?

We’re thinking the answers to these questions on a couple of slides for the executives meeting will be even more impressive.

Image in opening paragraph courtesy of Sarawut Aiemsinsuk (Shutterstock).

By Dom Nicastro.  Article Source: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/social-media-roi-three-ways-digital-marketers-can-show-its-worth-022772.php

7 ways Twitter could make money (beyond cozying up to TV networks)

Twitter’s IPO filing reveals that despite its glossy brand, it is a money-losing machine. Despite revenues tripling last year to $317 million, it lost $79 million, and the bleeding is only getting worse, as ad rates fell 46 percent last quarter. It’s likely to lose even more money this year. In the first six months alone it racked up $69 million in losses. Meanwhile, its user base has been growing more slowly. In the US last quarter, Twitter registered a scant 2 percent growth in Twitterati.

The micro-blogging-conversation platform-social network-short-form messaging service-personalized news wire-mental masturbation machine (or insert your favorite description here) needs to make money if it’s to succeed long term. As with cable TV, where you can have thousands of channels but can’t find anything worth watching, Twitter has amassed hundreds of millions of users and still not be able to wring a dime in profit.

What can it do?

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo told Jeff Bercovici in a revealing hot-off-the-presses Forbes magazine cover story that “the characteristics that make up Twitter — public, real-time and conversational — make it a perfect complement to television.” What’s more, ”TV has always been social and conversation-driven. It’s just that in the past, the reach of that conversation was limited by the number of people in a room or who you could talk to on the phone or the next day at the water cooler. Broadcasters have come to understand that Twitter is a force multiplier for the media they’ve created.”

If you doubt Costolo’s interest in TV, he even retweeted an AllThingsD story by Peter Kafka, reporting that “Twitter Gets Its Strongest TV Tie-Up So Far, With an Ambitious Comcast Deal.”

With its eye on television, Twitter wants to build on its role as TV companion, to be, as Bercovici put it, the “second screen experience that transforms TV into a participatory activity, allowing Twitter users to broadcast wisecracks, critiques and theories in real time.” In a nut shell, tweets of shows become marketing and, the theory goes, induce more people who see these tweets to tune in, boosting ratings, pushing up ad rates, and achieving singularity in the universe.

There are, I think, other ways Twitter could generate revenue, and without messing up the user experience. The search of a new ad unit beyond the oft-ridiculed banner and keyword advertisement — one that Facebook and others also seek — remains elusive.

So here are seven other revenue-generating possibilities that wouldn’t muck with the user experience.

1. Charge companies to use Twitter.

Advertisers, brands, and corporations, the ABC of American capitalism, are on Twitter, because they can market themselves to us. For this privilege, why shouldn’t they pay Twitter? Charge subscriptions of $10,000 a year to JetBlue, McDonalds, Victoria’s Secret, the Gap, and all of these other corporations (Small- to mid-sized businesses could pay far less.) Either they pay up or vacate the premises. Would any of us miss these businesses if they were blocked from promoting low air fares, Big Macs, and lingerie on Twitter?

2. Make users with more than, say, 500,000 followers pay.

It doesn’t have to be 500,000 users. It could be 1 million or 100,000. But once you get beyond a certain threshold of users, you become a brand, and, as I said above, brands should pay. So Ashton Kutcher (15 million followers), Miley Cyrus (14.6 million), and President Barack Obama (almost 38 million) get out your checkbooks, whip out your credit cards or ready your bitcoins, because you should pony up if you want to communicate over Twitter with your legions of admirers. In essence, Twitter would be adopting a freemium model, and premium users should pay premium prices.

3. Create a premium app.

I don’t know about you, but I find Twitter a hot mess to navigate and would pay for an app that would combine advanced metrics with artificial intelligence engines to curate tweets and content based on my interests. The longer I’m on Twitter, the more people I follow, the more I miss. Subscribing to the 80-20 rule (thank you Pareto Principle) even if two out of 10 tweets is actually useful, a lot of juicy stuff speeds through my tweetstream unread. I’d like an app to pick out the relevant bits and line up all those good links to content I might like in a tasty interface. While Twitter is at it, it could allow me entree to some useful metrics. Help me tailor my tweets to generate more impact and point me to other conversation threads I might enjoy.

That’s something for which I’d pay a monthly subscription. I dole out about $10 a month to music streaming companies like MOG. I’d do the same for an app that opened up a whole new world of Twitter absorption. If 1 million people joined me, that’d be $120 per user x a million, or $120 million a year in revenue. That alone would more than offset the company’s losses.

4. Sell premium tweets longer than 140 characters.

Have you ever gotten into a Twitter hullabaloo with someone or someone and found that 140 characters wasn’t sufficient for expressing yourself? Of course you have. So maybe Twitter could let you pay extra for tweets fatter than 140 characters. Say, charge $5 for them so they’re expensive enough that users would only pay up if they really needed to. With 200 million plus users, $5 a pop could really add up.

5. Charge third party app developers.

Twitter hasn’t exactly been friendly to third party developers over the years. It’s also not been very interested in unifying the user experience. I use YoruFukurou on my laptop to access Twitter and Twitter’s own mobile app on my iPhone. Sometimes, if I want to check out someone else’s stream, I find it easier to go to Twitter.com. Not a seamless experience.

Third party developers worry that they could create something, only to have Twitter create the same product and drive them off the platform. So why not make third party apps pay, which would give them peace of mind while also bringing in some cold cash to the company?

6. Sell personalized Twitter portals modeled roughly on Flipboard.

You tweet and months later it’s gone or unfindable. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a place that collected all your tweets a la RebelMouse, curated and categorized them based on their content, glitzed them up with Pinterest-y photos and made your entire Twitter history searchable? I’d pay, say, $25 a year for this like I do with Apple’s iCloud. If 1 million users joined me that would be another $25 million in annual revenue for Twitter.

7. Allow high voltage users to create premium communities.

Let’s face it. Some Twitter-ers have more influence than you or I do. Every word they utter is an intellectual elixir that can fix everything that ails you. So why not let them charge followers for these nuggets of wisdom? Twitter could take a cut of these transactions and make enough money to cover snacks and soft drinks at corporate HQ.

Done right, these seven strategies could turn Twitter’s balance sheet from red to black, and ensure repeatable revenue for years to come. Not sexy as with Hollywood and TV, but, I think, definitely hashtag worthwhile.

BY ADAM L. PENENBERG.  Article source: http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/09/7-ways-twitter-could-make-money-beyond-cozying-up-to-tv-networks/

7 Social Media Tips You Can Learn From Richard Branson

Blog Post By Carmine Gallo.

In a recent blog post Richard Branson offered six tips on using social media. Specifically, he revealed how Virgin Unite and other non-profits are leveraging social media to get their message across. I believe these six tips apply to any social media campaign for any business, not just non-profits. Here are the six tips along with one bonus tip based on my personal observation of Richard Branson.

1. Tell stories. “People respond to stories, not data.”
2. Be creative. “Experiment with new ways of telling stories and make the most of all the new tools out there like Tumblr and Storify.”
3. Choose the right channel. “Match your content to different platforms and audiences.”
4. Be truthful. “Don’t pretend you’re something you’re not.”
5. Work together. “Collaborate with people and organizations who are fighting for the same cause.”
6. Have fun. “Work should be fun and making work fun brings success.”

Bonus tip #7. Do it yourself. The most successful leaders on social media are actively engaged themselves on social platforms; they don’t delegate social media. I spent a day with Branson, which I wrote about in this Forbes.com article. In between our conversations, I had the opportunity to see how Branson interacts with his team, employees, and customers. I was surprised to see him carrying a smartphone and sending out his own tweets. For example, when his marketing manager showed him a photograph of a Virgin employee, he said, “Send me the picture. I’ll think of a funny caption and I’ll post it.” The Twitter posts from the handle @richardbranson go out to 3.5 million followers and most are from Branson himself. Branson also writes his own blog posts.

As his tips suggest, Branson has fun with his Tweets. It’s not uncommon to for him to post photos of himself at a party or simply having a good time.

This week he posted this tweet about the new Virgin Active health clubs in South Africa: “When Nelson Mandela phoned yours truly in the bath, who knew by 2012 we would open this: ‪http://virg.in/yowyVHe once posted, “There are no baby planes because @virgin always pulls out on time. Ask your mother to explain…” I understand that not every exec can be as irreverent, cheeky, and outspoken as Branson, but his approach is unique and engaging precisely because it’s authentic.

Many of the leaders who I meet or interview are completely disengaged from their company’s social media. They delegate Twitter and Facebook to their Public Relations manager or outside PR agency to use as a broadcast tool instead of a platform to facilitate conversations. I’ve lost count at how many Tweets I’ve sent to executives, leaders, experts, and brands that go unanswered. It’s rare to get a response and I’m giving them an opportunity to be featured in this column. It tells me there’s no authentic voice behind the account. I can hear some of you say, “Carmine, you can’t expect a leader to respond to all three million followers.” True. But most people don’t have anywhere near three million Twitter followers. They’re simply disengaged.

Branson’s six tips are excellent and will work for any leader or brand on social media. The seventh tip, however, makes the first six more effective. Don’t be on social media just to say you’re on it. By definition, “social” is the opposite of isolation. If you’re going to join a community, go all in.

By Carmine Gallo.  Article Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/10/04/7-social-media-tips-you-can-learn-from-richard-branson/

5 Ways to Sell With Social Media

Do you want to convert your fans and followers into paying customers?

Are your social activities working?

In this article I’ll show you 5 simple ways to tweak your social media updates for better sales conversion.

Some social media updates can go further toward bringing in sales than others. And they can do this without detracting from the spirit of social media.

Some social media updates can help with sales more than others. Image source: iStockPhoto.

#1: Incorporate a Clear Call to Action

Your customers and fans visit your social media pages for a variety of reasons, but generally speaking, they want to do something or learn something.

Some people are looking for information about your company, some are looking for details about products and services, some want access to special deals and coupons, some want to see if you have any contests or promotions running and some may be looking for expert tips and how-to tricks.

If you don’t give them what they’re after, they won’t return. Use status updates to give them what they want and what you want: a sale.

Post calls to action like “Click here for a Facebook fan exclusive coupon,” or “Enter to win…”

Here you see how Target offers daily deals on Twitter.

Target has a Twitter account where followers can see deals the retailer has in stores.

But remember to stay true to the 70-20-10 rule: 70 percent of your page’s content should be information that’s valuable and relevant to your fans; 20 percent should be content that comes from other people and 10 percent should be promotional.

Once you know why your audience wants to interact with you on social media, be sure to give them the types of information they’re looking for.

#2: Convey a Sense of Urgency

Due to the ticker-tape nature of most social media platforms, you have a very limited amount of time to catch the attention of your customers/fans/followers. If they see an update with verbiage that compels them to “act now,” you win.

Using words like “For a limited time” or “On sale this week” or “Own it first” will catch the eye of your visitors.

You can also offer incentives for booking or buying immediately instead of later. Depending on your business, you could waive shipping fees, offer an extra week of your service or even a buy-one/get-one, etc. Ideally, post different time-sensitive offers on different networks.

For example, “The next 10 people who retweet this will receive 10% off their next purchase.” On Facebook you could use an app to make an offer like, “The first 10 people to share this on Facebook get $25 off a $50 purchase,” and so on.

Here, Chili’s uses their Facebook cover photo to connect and offer a deal.

Chili's uses their cover photo to announce a limited-time offer.

This is one way to use the instant nature of social media to your advantage.

#3: Offer Followers and Fans Exclusive Deals

This idea is similar to the previous one, but you want to make sure that your fans know the deals you’re offering are for fans of a particular network only.

To grow your following on a variety of networks and inspire loyalty, offer deals that are exclusive to each network.

Kate Spade New York always has something special cookin’ for their Facebook fans. Periodically offering special deals is a great tactic for a business that wants to keep its fans coming back again and again. And doesn’t every business want that?

Kate Spade New York offers Facebook fans exclusive deals and coupons on a regular basis. It keeps them coming back again and again.

This is a great way to reach out to specific audiences within your social media strategy.

#4: Encourage Sharing

It never hurts to ask your fans and followers to retweet, repin or share. Ideally you’re offering such a great deal that your fans and followers will want to share it anyway, but a little nudge is okay.

If your update is about a Facebook contest, you can even let your followers know that if they share the news about your contest, they’ll get an extra chance (or chances) to win.

National Builder Supply uses Pinterest to give fans a chance to win a chandelier.

National Builder Supply gives fans a chance to win a new chandelier by repinning their contest image on Pinterest.

When you ask your audience to interact with your content, they’re more likely to do it.

#5: Keep All of Your Social Media Profiles Current

When potential customers land on your various social pages, they should have a clear idea of what your business/brand is all about. At the very least, go through each of your business’s social profiles (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) once a quarter and make sure all of the information is current, because social networks occasionally change dimensions and other details.

For example, earlier this year Facebook relaxed its rules about using calls to action on cover photos, but many companies haven’t yet updated their pages to make the most of this space.

Tip: You can now include price or purchase information on a Facebook cover photo including phrases like “40% off this week only” or “Download our new eBook here,” contact information or other calls to action such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.” The main image should also give customers and prospective customers some insights about you.

In this image, Trunk Club tells you everything about what they do right on their Pinterest page.

The men's personal shopping service Trunk Club has a fantastic Pinterest profile that tells you everything you need to know about what the company does.

Never forget to give your social media audience the information they need about your business.

Over to You

These are just a few opportunities for you to connect with potential leads for your business. But together with a strategic plan, they can help convert the quality leads your business is looking for.

What do you think? What kinds of posts and updates have you found are the most effective for making a sale? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

By Jim Belosic. Article source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-updates-for-more-sales/

A Dozen Ways to Build Your Personal Brand in an Online World

You have spent your entire working career carefully crafting and protecting your reputation. You’re honest with suppliers and work exceptionally hard to exceed your clients’ expectations. You are transparent, operate with integrity, and treat everyone with respect. Your references rave about what a great person you are.

And then you created a Facebook account.

From any mobile device, anywhere, at any time you can share what’s on your mind. Were you out with your buddies and heard a great joke? Share it with your friends! Have you received poor service at a new restaurant? Gripe about it and let the world know! Do you agree with the latest political rant? Share it with your online colleagues!

In today’s information rich and easy publishing world, when you post anything online you are disseminating your message to the world and, by default, you are promoting your brand—your personal brand. While big-company branding can cost millions and involve countless hours of thoughtful planning, your personal brand can be broadcast to a global network at virtually no cost and with a simple (and too often heedless) click of a mouse.

What is your personal brand? If I only know you by your Twitter and Facebook posts what is the unstated promise I believe you represent? What is the unstated promise I believe I will receive if I associate with you? Is it you the professional, or you the one who just posted the sexist joke?

What most people don’t understand is this: The Web is not anonymous nor can anyone control its flow of information. The Web, by definition, spreads and grows, connecting computers and people around the globe. Even one-to-one text messages or emails can be archived or shared with the masses. Consider this: Nothing stops me from posting on my Facebook page (and showing to the world) the email that you sent as a private communication meant for my eyes only. There is no such thing as “your online friends group” or “private message boards.” Once a comment is in a digital format, nothing is private. Moreover the opportunities for distribution are limitless and the content can be found, theoretically, forever.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, micro-blogs, Skype, texting, digital photography, YouTube, and other technologies allow us to communicate in ways previously unimaginable. With mobile devices, we can broadcast when something occurs. The great benefit of today’s Internet is that anyone can publish information for a worldwide audience. The great danger of today’s Internet is that anyone can publish information for a worldwide audience.

When people type your name into Google or other search engines, what do they find? You can implement some simple tips to immediately manage your online reputation; to build and promote your personal brand. They can help you limit distribution of the wince-inducing comments and photos. And they can help you showcase accomplishments or experiences in the top results when someone searches your name.

1. Own Your Online Name. If your name is “Joe Smith,” do you own www.joesmith.com, www.joe-smith.com, and even www.joe-smith-sucks.com (and all of the .org and other variations of the above names)? If you don’t “own” your own name, then you’re leaving your online reputation in the hands of someone who does. To purchase your own name, visit NetworkSolutions.com or www.godaddy.com. Conduct a search and if the name you want is available, purchase it for a fee of about $10 per year.

2. Manage Your LinkedIn Account. LinkedIn has become a key site to find business executives. Setting up an account at Linkedin.com is easy. Make sure you complete all of the fields and craft a well-written, professional profile. Be honest, as it’s fairly easy to verify or refute any information you provide. To learn more about writing a compelling profile, visit samrichter.com/linkedinprofiles and check out the various links to several great profile-writing resources.

3. Leverage Your LinkedIn Account. Set up other accounts in places similar to LinkedIn such asNaymz.com, ZoomInfo.com, Plaxo.com, BrandYourself.com, and Workface.com. Copy the LinkedIn profile you so carefully crafted and then paste it into these accounts. Modify the information to fit the site’s specific format, and change the first few sentences so that the content showing up in a Google search result is different for each site.

4. Create a Google+ Account. Let Google know that you exist and who you are by setting up your own Google Profile at Google.com/plus. Set up your free account; link it to your website and social networks, and more. Again, leverage the LinkedIn profile you already wrote when creating your Google Profile biography.

5. Create a Twitter Account (and Use It). Create an account at Twitter.com and Tweet on a regular schedule. Refrain from Tweeting about what you had for breakfast. Instead, share information that others will find valuable such as educational articles related to your business or industry. Follow others whose reputation you respect, and that in turn could increase your followers.

6. Give Your Name a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Boost. Companies spend thousands of dollars—big ones spend millions—search engine optimizing their company websites. That means that when someone enters keywords associated with the company into a search engine, the company’s website shows up higher in the corresponding search results. You can do something similar with your own name with the help of BrandYourself, and you don’t have to mortgage your house to do it. Set up your free account at BrandYourself.com.  Use the prompts to conduct a search on your name. On the results page identify whether the result is a positive or negative one—or if it’s not you—and BrandYourself will give you a letter grade relating to how your names ranks in search results.

7. Manage Your Facebook Account. Create and manage your Facebook profile atwww.facebook.com. Remove any photos that don’t show you in a professional manner. Certainly share information about your personal life because that’s what people want to see on Facebook, but don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want your mom or grandmother to see—or great-grandkids 50 years from now.

8. Set Your Facebook Privacy. Do you want to keep your personal life personal? Make sure you set your Facebook Privacy settings to help you do that. Log in to your Facebook account and on the upper navigation menu look for the “Lock” icon. Click on it and familiarize yourself with the pull-down options related to protecting your privacy. Make sure you click on the “See More Settings” link.

9. Think Before You Post (or Send). Most communication is non-verbal. Although you might be only slightly miffed at someone, the comments you make in an email could be taken out of context and indicate that you are spiteful and mean, even if you use an emoticon (a smiley face J). Don’t send an email, don’t text a friend, don’t post a Tweet, don’t comment on an online post until you’re sure that what you say won’t be taken out of context, and how you say it is done in a calm, professional manner.

10. Email Yourself First. Did someone else’s message make you angry or emotional? Before responding via email, text or social media, write an email spewing out your anger and emotions. Sprinkle in some four-letter words. Share what you REALLY want to say. But don’t send the email to the other person. Instead, send it to yourself. Then wait a few hours or even until the next morning and read the email. Once you’ve had some time to reflect, you’ll most likely refrain from sending the message altogether or you’ll edit out the emotional parts before you hit “Send.”

11. Give Yourself the Newspaper Test. Remember your digital messages are archived and theoretically searchable forever. Do you really want your permanent digital legacy to be one written in a time of anger? Ask yourself this question every time you’re about to hit “Send” or “Post”: “How would I feel if this post made the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper . . . would I be embarrassed if my professional network read this? Would I be embarrassed if my great-grandchildren read this? If the answer is yes, then don’t post it to the Web, send it in an email, or respond in a text message.

12. Don’t Leave Your Brand to Chance. When was the last time you searched your name on Google? How about Twitter? Negative information spreads like wildfire online and you cannot leave your personal brand and reputation to chance. Numerous free services can notify you when your name appears online. My favorites are Google Alerts (Google.com/alerts) and for Twitter, Topsy.com. When creating your Alert make sure to put your name within quotation marks, and then use additional words to further narrow your search, and the minus sign to filter results. In the future, anytime Google or Topsy finds an online mention of your name, you will receive an email.

In today’s information-rich world, it’s nearly impossible to stay off the online stage. Whether you post information about yourself, or someone else does, you are almost certain to have an online presence — an online personal brand. The key question is, who is going to control your brand? Others? Fate? Or you?

By Sam Richter. Article source: http://socialmediatoday.com/samrichter/1700011/ways-build-personal-brand-online-world

Photo Credit: NocturnaIMoTH and Yuuleeaye (www.imgur.com)

4 Ways to Use Social Media to Generate Leads

Are you unsure about where and how to focus your efforts to meet your lead generation goals?

Do you use social media to generate inbound leads for your business?

According to HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Annual Report, social media produces almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail or PPC.

If you’re starting a lead generation campaign, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ are all excellent places to begin, but knowing how to pull leads from the conversations that happen on these platforms takes some knowledge and practice.

In this article, I’ll share 4 ways you can use social media to generate inbound marketing leads for your business.

#1: Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are frequently scheduled discussions hosted by a Twitter account. Each chat uses a particular hashtag so that other Twitter users can follow the conversation even though topics change with each discussion.

Because of the focused audience communities that participate in Twitter chats, they are a great place to generate leads for your business.

The #SmallBizChat is an example of a Twitter chat that successfully engages its community every week.

How do you start? You can participate in Twitter chats in two ways: Join existing Twitter chats that are related to your industry or create and host your own Twitter chat. Whichever route you choose, join in on relevant chats that potential customers would be participating in to make sure you gain visibility with the right people.

You can find industry- and subject-specific chats that relate to your business in this extensive library of existing Twitter chats.

#Likeablechat is a weekly chat that offers social media tips and an opportunity to network with other marketers.

When participating in a Twitter chat, it’s important to be a good participant. This will help you to attract the leads you want for your business.

Use the hashtag set by the host. Ask and answer questions with contributions that are insightful and illustrate your understanding of the industry and your business offerings. Stay on topic and remember—this is not the forum for pitching your services.

Twitter chats are a place to establish thought leadership and credibility.

Join conversations in chat with valuable tips and insights to establish yourself as a credible source.

Here’s how to get the leads you’re looking for.

Once you’re taking part in a chat, research other participants who have tweeted you as part of the discussion or have participated in the chat overall.

Friendly conversation with other chat members can help strengthen your ties and build long-lasting relationships on Twitter.

Follow individuals who could be potential customers down the line and keep tabs on any of their conversations that relate to your services.

Tweet with these connections outside of the chat and, when the time is right,direct message them to share additional links to content or marketing materials you have that will further establish your expertise and what your business could offer them.

Be sensitive and strategic in your pitch. Don’t oversell, spam, over-tweet or be vague with these relationships.

Wait for the right time in conversation to message someone about your business offerings. When you focus on building the right relationships through your Twitter chats, you’re sure to gather leads.

#2: LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups are made up of a variety of subject areas, bringing together professionals of similar interests to discuss topics that relate to business. Again, you can find potential leads by either creating your own LinkedIn Group or by joining an existing group that focuses on your area of expertise.

While it’s possible to join up to 50 groups, I suggest you focus your efforts on a few of the right groups for your business.

Join LinkedIn Groups where potential customers or clients may be active, then engage in relevant conversations.

Browse the directory of groups to find the right match, join the discussions and connect with existing members. Begin by consistently posting your own content or others’ content that’s on topic. Participate in existing conversations by answering questions and providing resources.

People ask questions in almost every LinkedIn Group, answer them to bring value and help establish relationships.

Here’s how to get the leads you’re looking for.

Identify group members who continually ask questions about your line of business or members who are generally looking for help. Publicly answer their questions from within the group, providing value and using brevity, then follow up with a more in-depth message by using the Reply Privately feature. This way you have both a public and a private point of contact with them.

The Reply Privately feature is an often-overlooked tactic for generating quality leads from a one-on-one conversation where you’re able to provide value and build trust. This feature is found below a group member’s question under the More tab or by hovering over one of their comments in the discussion.

In your private message, answer their question in full and let them know you’re available to chat more extensively on the topic by phone, if need be. Phone calls within the right context, like a LinkedIn intro, are more likely than a cold call to turn this conversation into a potential lead-builder for your business.

When you focus on establishing credibility with the information you share and then take the relationships you make in LinkedIn Groups to the next step and one-on-one conversations, you’ll gather leads.

#3: Facebook Advertising

Running ads on Facebook can fulfill many different goals, one of which is generating leads from the right audience. Promoted Posts—an engaging form of Facebook advertising—highlight your content in the newsfeed of that audience.

Promoted Posts generate more views of your content than it would organically receive on its own on Facebook, giving it that extra boost.

While Facebook isn’t often conducive to direct sales, you can build trust with Facebook users when you consistently distribute quality content and engage in one-to-one communication through long-term interactions.

Use Promoted Posts to highlight quality content from your Facebook Page or your website. Share a link to your latest contest, ebook, instructional video, blog post, lookbook or other content that doesn’t send Facebook users directly to a product or services landing page.

Signup forms like this one from Offerpop require Facebook users to enter information about themselves in order to enter a contest or see original content.

Here’s how to get the leads you’re looking for.

To help you capitalize on the click-through of a Facebook user, use a signup form that reveals the content on your website or Facebook tab only after the user fills out any required information that you define. This could be an email address, demographic data or geographic location information.

The more information your business has about a Facebook user, the better you can personalize your future messaging to match their interests, making it more likely that they will convert from lead to customer in the future.

With a content strategy adapted to your audience on Facebook and the consistent visibility offered by Promoted Posts, you’ll likely gather leads from your community on Facebook.

#4: Google+ Hangouts

Google+ Hangouts on Air give you the ability to communicate directly with your audience online, in real time.

Consider hosting a hangout focused on your offerings as a business to show the audience your unique value and, most importantly, to show a human face behind your business.

The types of hangouts that are beneficial for lead generation are:

• Customer service sessions
• Interviews with experts and leaders
• Giveaways and contests
• Free product demos
  

  Sephora hosted a Google+ Hangout on Air to discuss what’s happening behind the scenes and to talk with beauty bloggers and experts about the latest trends in beauty.

There are many ways to host a Hangout on Air with your audience. You can allow anyone to join in the conversation or limit the discussion to a few individuals. Choose the approach best suited to your the goals.

From the beginning, define what you’re looking to achieve from your hangout and how you plan to connect with your audience before, during and after the event.

Here’s how to get the leads you’re looking for.

Offer value above all, and use strong calls to action throughout your Hangout on Air. Encourage participants and viewers to interact with your business, learn more about your offerings and give people the tools and information they need to make an informed decision about their purchases.

Record your Google+ hangout and save it to YouTube so you can use the video in a blog post, share it across social media and add it to relevant YouTube playlists.

To further drive leads for your business, add links to the products and services discussed on the hangout in the description of the YouTube video for easy reference.

In the YouTube video from their hangout, Sephora included links to the products they discussed to make it as easy as possible for people to become customers.

Google+ Hangouts on Air offer businesses a great opportunity to create content and connect with potential clients.

Over to You

Social media offers many untapped opportunities to connect with potential leads for your business. These are just a few suggestions on how you can activate your social audiences and generate leads that can affect your bottom line.

What do you think? How are you using social media to drive leads for your business? What social media channels have you found most successful for generating leads? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Author: Brian Honigman  Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-to-generate-leads