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Digital Marketing & Social Media: Your SMB’s Blueprint for Generating Leads

In the bustling digital marketplace, the ability to attract and convert leads is the lifeblood of any small and medium-sized business (SMB) selling products or services. Let’s dive into a strategic approach to digital marketing and social media that generates leads and drives your business forward.

The Path to Lead Generation: Awareness, Engagement, Acquisition

Successfully generating leads online involves guiding potential customers through a journey that begins with them becoming aware of your brand and ends with choosing your products or services. Here’s how to navigate this path:

Awareness: Initiate contact by making your target audience aware of your brand. Think of this stage as laying down the foundation for future interactions. Your objective? Get your name out there and make it stick.
Engagement: This is where you turn up the heat. Engage potential leads with compelling content that speaks directly to their needs and challenges. Show them that you understand their pain points and have the expertise to solve them.
Acquisition: With trust established, it’s time to convert engaged audiences into leads and, ultimately, paying customers. Tailor your calls-to-action (CTAs) to be as irresistible as possible, making the decision to choose your business a no-brainer.

Choosing the Right Platforms for Lead Generation

Twitter (X): Ideal for quick, impactful messages that boost brand awareness. Use it to share insights and product updates and engage in industry conversations.
Facebook: A powerhouse for engagement and lead generation, Facebook allows for detailed targeting to reach potential leads who are most likely to be interested in what you offer.
LinkedIn: Not just for B2B, LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for B2C businesses by connecting with other businesses, joining groups, and publishing articles that showcase your expertise.

What Really Works: Focusing on Leads

Retargeting Ads: These are gold for turning website visitors into leads. Use retargeting on platforms like Facebook and Google to keep your brand top-of-mind and encourage return visits.
Specialized Content: Create content that addresses specific needs or interests of your target audience. SEO-optimized posts and articles that rank for niche keywords can draw in highly qualified leads.
Active Engagement: Transform passive followers into active leads by promoting content that requires interaction—think downloadable guides, sign-up forms, and free trials.

Generating leads through digital marketing and social media isn’t about casting the widest net—it’s about casting the right one. Focus on building a targeted strategy that moves potential customers through the journey from awareness to acquisition with a mix of insightful content, strategic ad placements, and an engaging social media presence.

Your aim should be to capture attention and maintain it, gradually building up trust until potential leads are ready to make a purchase. With a consistent and focused approach, your SMB can turn digital channels into a powerful engine for lead generation.

Remember, in the digital world, patience and persistence pay off. Keep refining your strategy based on what works, and soon, you’ll see a steady stream of leads ready to be nurtured into loyal customers.

Stop Wasting Time on Social Media Content? Think Again: Why It’s Your Key to Marketing Success

In today’s digital age, small businesses face a daunting challenge: making their social media content heard above the overwhelming noise. Just look at the staggering amount of content published on each platform daily:

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TikTok – 23 million
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YouTube – 216 million
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Facebook – 350 million
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X (formerly Twitter) – 500 million
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LinkedIn – 2 million
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Instagram – 95 million
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With millions of pieces of content flooding these platforms every day, it’s no wonder that a significant portion of social media posts go unnoticed, with 59.41% receiving zero engagement. This statistic paints a grim picture for content creators, suggesting that most of their efforts might be in vain, drowned in a sea of digital content.

However, this doesn’t mean small businesses should abandon ship and stop creating social media content altogether. On the contrary, social media remains an invaluable channel for marketing a company, product, service, or personal brand. The key lies not in abandoning the platform but in adjusting the strategy to stand out in the crowded digital marketplace.

The Strategy Shift: From Imitation to Innovation

Emulating popular posts has proven to be less effective than one might hope. Instead, small businesses need to focus on offering something new and fresh that hasn’t been seen before. This approach requires innovation, courage, and authenticity.

Innovate with Unique Content: Your content should offer a new perspective or idea that sets it apart. This uniqueness will capture the audience’s attention like repetitive and derivative content cannot.
Voice Your Opinions: Don’t shy away from expressing your own views. Authenticity resonates with audiences, making your content more memorable and engaging.
Deliver Value: Whether through educational insights, statistics, or data, ensure your audience gains something from your content. Providing value fosters engagement and loyalty.
Trend Wisely: While leveraging trends can be beneficial, it’s crucial to do so only when they align with your industry. This relevance ensures your content resonates with your target audience.
Collaborate for Amplification: Partnering with others in your space, regardless of their follower count, can significantly extend your reach. Collaboration opens doors to new audiences and enhances visibility.
Share Personal Experiences: Content grounded in personal experiences is difficult for others to replicate. It adds a layer of authenticity and relatability that is highly appealing to audiences.
Platform-Specific Content: Understand and cater to the content preferences of each social network. While infographics may have lost their allure, staying attuned to evolving platform trends can optimize your content’s impact.

Beyond Content Creation: The Power of Influence

The effectiveness of your social media strategy extends beyond the content itself. Engaging with influencers and leveraging their reach can exponentially amplify your message. A well-placed tweet or mention from a prominent figure or company in your industry can eclipse the impact of substantial investments in traditional advertising and SEO. This influence-driven approach underscores the importance of networking and building relationships within the digital ecosystem.

In the crowded landscape of social media, the secret to standing out lies not in the volume of your content but in its uniqueness and value. Harness the power of innovation, authentic storytelling, and strategic influencer collaboration to transform your social media efforts into a beacon of engagement and growth for your small business.

Unlocking LinkedIn: Creative Tactics for Lead Generation

LinkedIn is more than just a digital resume; it’s a bustling marketplace brimming with opportunities for those daring enough to think outside the box. While the basics are essential, a sprinkle of creativity can sometimes differentiate you from the crowd. Dive into these ingenious tactics to boost your lead generation on the platform:

Cold Messaging with a Twist: The cold approach isn’t new, but the secret lies in the delivery. Instead of launching into a sales pitch, why not start with value? Share a relevant article, a compliment about their recent work, or even a free tool. Your prospects will appreciate the non-pushy approach.
Profile Funneling: Your LinkedIn profile shouldn’t just be about past jobs; it should guide visitors toward a desired action. This could be visiting your website, subscribing to a newsletter, or dropping you a message. Craft your profile strategically to funnel visitors seamlessly.
Engage with Comments on Popular Posts: Visibility is the game. You can get your profile in front of a vast audience by commenting on popular industry posts. But remember, your comments should be insightful and add value to the conversation.
Run Thought-Provoking Polls: LinkedIn’s polling feature isn’t just for fun questions. Use it to generate insights, understand market needs, or spark a debate. Engaging in polls can set the stage for deeper conversations with participants.
Harness Advanced Search: This feature is a gold mine. Find prospects based on specific criteria such as job titles, locations, etc. Creating a targeted list can make your outreach more personalized and effective.
Dive into Video with Cover Story: With LinkedIn’s “Cover Story”, make a lasting first impression. Create a personalized video pitch that gives visitors a snapshot of who you are and how you can help.
Host LinkedIn Live Sessions: If you can access LinkedIn Live, you’re sitting on a treasure. Hosting live sessions, be it Q&As, webinars, or discussions, can attract a large, engaged audience.
Engage with Your New Followers: A simple “thank you” can go a long way. Reach out to new followers with a warm message. This can open the door for more profound interactions down the line.
Showcase Recommendations and Endorsements: Social proof is powerful. Encourage satisfied clients or colleagues to endorse your skills and pen down recommendations. This not only builds credibility but also showcases your expertise.
Launch a LinkedIn Newsletter: Regular updates, insights, and valuable content sent straight to your network can solidify your position as an industry thought leader.
Reconnect with Alumni: Old classmates or colleagues could be potential leads or offer referrals. Use LinkedIn’s Alumni feature to rekindle those connections.
Humanize with Employee Testimonials: Let your team share their stories. Employee testimonials humanize your brand and portray a positive company culture.
Collaborative Ventures: Partner with non-competing businesses on LinkedIn. Whether it’s sharing each other’s content, co-hosting webinars, or running promotions, collaboration can amplify your reach.

LinkedIn Company Pages: Your Gateway to Engage and Expand Your Target Audience

LinkedIn has emerged as an influential platform for businesses, providing a vital link between your company and your target market. With the ever-increasing active user base, social media channels like LinkedIn have become indispensable for professionals, particularly financial advisors. They offer a potent avenue to connect with potential clients and influencers and nurture existing relationships.

In fact, LinkedIn boasts an impressive statistic: 80% of B2B leads originate here, making it the premier platform for promotion.

For comprehensive guidance on leveraging LinkedIn for business, Hootsuite’s in-depth guide, “How to Use LinkedIn for Business: A Step-by-Step Guide for Marketers,” is a valuable resource.

After setting up your LinkedIn Company Page, engaging your employees in its promotion is crucial. Encourage them to interact, ‘like,’ and share posts from your company page. This involvement can significantly amplify the reach of your original blog content and company announcements on LinkedIn.

Lastly, integrating your website with your LinkedIn Company Page is a strategic move. It can drive reciprocal traffic between the platforms, effectively attracting potential clients.

A LinkedIn Company Page is not just a point of contact; it’s a powerful tool to reach, engage, and grow your audience.”

Remember, SEO is not just about incorporating keywords. It’s also about creating high-quality, engaging content your audience will want to read and share. Ensure your content is well-structured, uses a good mix of relevant keywords, and provides value to your readers.

Social Media Crisis Action Plan For 2022

Whether your a big or a SMB company, a celebrity or some kind of a famous personality with a large amount external public exposure, chances are you may have to deal with some kind of social media crisis sooner or later. A crisis can occur at random (insensitive tweet), or it can occur with a product misstep or even a social media account hacked. In this digital world, speed of these harmful conversations can implode on you or your company in mere seconds.

While there is no “one size fits all” approach, the below basic social media action plan will help you quickly identify the crisis (issue) and resolve it before it goes viral and turns into disaster.

The first stage of social media crisis planning is to identify the problem or issue in real-time before it gets out of control and goes viral. There are many tools out there that can help you keep tabs and monitor the majority of social media platforms. Most of these social tracking tools depend on keywords important to you or your company. Keywords such as “Company” or “product name” “name of person” “events” “competitors” “social media accounts” etc.

A short list below:

Social Mention. A great social real-time listening tool for your brand. It measures your influence within four key categories: passion, sentiment, strength, and reach.

Google Alerts. Track your brand mentions across web and news sites.

Mention.net. Track your brand across blogs, news sites and forums.

Talkwalker. Track your brand across across mostly blogs.

HowSociable. Measure and track what your competition is doing in Social Media.

Sprout Social. Great tool for monitoring and measuring your brands.

Radian6. A salesforce product. It allows you to quickly and efficiently track, monitor, and react to comments, questions, and complaints as they happen on most all social media platforms.

Here are five basic steps to include in your social media crisis plan:

1. Act quickly. Speeds kills, but speed also resolves! Explain the issue or problem FIRST and what your going to do to address it ASAP before it takes hold on Social Media. Be very transparent. You need to do this before it destroys your brand or major lawsuit.
2. Take charge. Step up and take charge of the issue and move fast (even if its at 2am).
3. Be transparent. If its bad and your company screwed up. Take ownership. Own up to the problem or issue!
4. Engage. Engage all the nay-sayers. Engage all the Social Media Trolls and critics.
5. Spread the word. Post your PR response on your website, company blog, social media pages and media releases.

Bottom line: Don’t wait until the threat to your company’s reputation becomes visible. Identify the crisis and get out in front of it before it takes hold.

Fortune 500 Data on Social Media

As of 2018, nearly 97 percent of all Fortune 500 enterprises use at least one social media platform to promote their initiatives and foster positive communication with stakeholders. This statistic was back in 2017-2018. I’m guessing in 2021, the % change is almost 100%. Its clear that using at least one social media network, such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, in order to establish a good communication line with stakeholders, customers and advocates is crucial in 2021.

Determine which social platform serves your brand or service better. Whether you are a seasoned social media marketer, a marketer looking to venture into social media marketing, or a business owner looking to leverage on social media, it’s helpful to know the most popular social media sites around that will amplify your brand. Choose the most popular platform based on your company’s product or client demographics. For example, Financial Advisors would choose Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter over Instagram. Actual product Fortune 500 retail marketers that need more “visual” branding would gravitate towards Instagram or Pinterest.

Pro Tip: Don’t let your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram gather cobwebs, you need to “show up” day after day with fresh content. Instead of spreading yourself thin across 5 different sites, focus on 2-3 primary accounts. Incorporating social scheduling and automation saves time and energy. Picking and prioritizing your social networks based on your audience location. Repurpose content so your not always trying to reinvent the wheel. Build your presence and following on those accounts as much as possible. If you do not have Fortune 500 type social media resources, just pick and focus on 1 platform. Once you get the hang of it (content creation, scheduling) branch out and add another platform. You can also outsource the work to a contractor. When you outsource anything, one of the greatest outcomes is gaining expertise that isn’t currently available to you. This is especially true when you’re considering outsourcing social media management.

Content Posts: Facebook vs Instagram vs Twitter vs LinkedIn

Don’t post the same EXACT content or same post on each platform. The platform and the audience using each, are unique and as such require a unique post. Where does your business fit into all this? The main key to knowing which social media platform is right for your business is firstly knowing exactly who your target demographic audience is.

If you post the same content on each platform, you run the risk of customers “unfollowing” you on one if not all of your platforms. Customers (or audience) will grow tired of the duplicate posts/content. Posts can be similar, but not exactly the same. Facebook is the most popular social network among middle-aged adults. Instagram is mostly accessed via mobile and is more heavily-used by affluent youth. A majority of Instagram users are under 30, and many are in their teens. Instagram users are primarily looking at images and/or videos as posts or as Instagram Stories. Twitter has become a conduit for news, particularly with users between 18 and 29. Twitter provides a way for users to follow real-time news feeds. Popular with celebrities, politicians, journalists and news outlets, it is also well-liked by businesses in the tech sector. LinkedIn is a professional network that was initially created as a corporate recruitment platform. Now, it boasts many features similar to traditional social media sites, including status updates, blogging capabilities, and private messages. LinkedIn is better for lead generation.

Your content type will depend upon which Social Media platform your business will utilize.

Social Media Sales in 2022

Forward-thinking salespeople are embracing a more “social” approach to break down old communication barriers such as Cold Calls, and Email = Social Media. Social selling allows salespeople to laser-target prospects, establish rapport and with their networks, and possibly even ditch the dreaded practice of cold calling.

While determining the best way to connect with prospects and help coax a consumer down your sales funnel, buyers are consistently going to social networks and the Internet to research products they have an interest in purchasing. Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, potential buyers are looking on these social media platforms for product information. As smartphones are getting bigger form factors and faster processors, consumers are apt to looking, researching with these larger handheld mobile screens.

Here is a brief breakdown of Social Media as related to the Enterprise:

Business to Consumer = Facebook

Business-to-Business products (or services) = LinkedIn (if you have a first-level connection in common with the executive or buyer who will sign off on a PO)

All types of sales = Twitter

*Twitter is the best for “all kinds of sales” as it’s a very popular network (across all demographics) that doesn’t have privacy settings that keep you from high volume searches and actions.

Social Media Sales strategies

Twitter. Make sure you “add” to the conversation a little before directly engaging in customers:

Like (heart) a few Tweets
ReTweet one or two Tweets
Follow them

Friend, Follow, Follow Back or Connect with individuals with profiles that match you or your clients. Its VERY Important to build relationships on any Social Media platform. Not only can it help to generate leads, it can also help foster relationships with current customers.

Be in expert in your space. Provide solutions or tips and feedback to your customers or potential customers if they post a question or gripe on Twitter/Facebook. Prioritize the social channels and tools your audience is already using and that you’re familiar with, then organize those by their primary function.

Listening on social media is one of the most powerful tactics in a social selling strategy. Monitor for popular hashtags and keywords that are relevant to your industry or brand to find useful insights but also see what is being said about your competitors.

Never cold pitch on Social Media platforms. It comes off as desperate and will be ignored. If there is a conversation trending within your industry and potential customers, join in to offer meaningful commentary and interact with these potential buyers. Listening for these opportunities and finding out the pain points your potential customers are having will give sales people a feel for the conversation and allow them to add value.

Social media is “networking” more than it is “advertising”. The goal is to get them to call you (or vice versa), have an open mind about your product or service, and then make your sales pitch.

When its time to engage or pitch, follow these steps:

Ask for their email so that you can send them some info on your services.

Find them on LinkedIn and add “connect” with them.

Send a polite email and mention a conversation you had with them on Twitter or Facebook. You can also mention a tweet or Post that you “favorite” or “liked” from them.

Good Social Sales tools in this space that keeps track of conversations and engagement include:

Hootsuite. More for individuals and small business.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Enterprise grade and scalable.

Its apparent that Social Media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are not fads anymore. These platforms are now mature options to generate leads and sales online. By experimenting with different Social Media sales strategies, you can find the best way to convert them into real quantifiable results on all levels. There are no participation medals in social selling: if you’re going to do it, you have to do it right. That means providing valuable insight to the right prospects at the right time.

Social Media Outreach in 2022

From a product or services firm perspective: Pick two or three social media platforms and concentrate on mastering those (if resources allow). If resources are limited, concentrate on Facebook and Twitter first. Determine which serves your brand or service better. Whether you are a seasoned social media marketer, a marketer looking to venture into social media marketing, or a business owner looking to leverage on social media, it’s helpful to know the most popular social media sites around that will amplify your brand. Choose the most popular platform based on your company’s product or client demographics. For example, Financial Advisors would choose Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter over Instagram. Actual product marketers that need more “visual” branding would gravitate towards Instagram or Pinterest.

First things first. Establish Trust. People naturally look to other people as a guide for their own behavior. Don’t get spammy with your posts or tweets. Post social media content that is quality and compelling (always include an image). Encourage free exchange. Be open to change and continuous learning. Social proof (trust) typically rises exponentially, and it will become a self-perpetuating force.

Remember to establish reasonable goals once you start gaining momentum. Listen to your customers or fans (followers). Always gain feedback and adjust accordingly (iterate). Figure out what to measure when putting together goals. Example: do you measure “followers” or “likes” “retweets” or “retention” or “sales”?

Your goals should be distinct, in that you have a specific, defensible reason for participating in each platform. Take a look at your outreach strategy and review the reasons your business is implementing a social media marketing outreach plan. What do you want out of your social activities? Are you trying to drive visitors to your website, your blog, via Twitter or your Facebook page? Are your competitors on social media? Focusing on your ultimate goal will guide your next steps: what you do (what other channels you will use going forward), when you do it (what schedule you will aim for? Night or Daytime according to your demographic), and what content to share. Be vigilant and always participate every day (even if you have to schedule and automate it). Social Media marketing is a slow process that will pay off dividends in the future!