Everyone talks about the power of social media, but do you really understand how to convert social media followers into customers? For B2B marketing, LinkedIn can be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing toolbox, if you understand how to leverage it properly. By building the right kind of following and giving followers a strong call-to-action (CTA), LinkedIn could become your most valuable source of new sales leads.
HubSpot research shows that the more Likes and Comments a post receives, the more Likes and Comments that post attracts. And Facebook now allows you to add CTAs to Facebook cover photos. In fact, including CTAs such as “Like this post” or “Tell me what you think” are more likely to attract more followers.
LinkedIn has learned from Facebook and now lets you add CTAs within your LinkedIn company page. You can even use multiple graphics, each with its own linked CTA that sends the follower to a landing page. A great example is the Marketo company page - note that there are three separate images, each with its own message, CTA, and associated landing page. And you can use multiple messages to support different marketing campaigns.
To build sales lead traffic using LinkedIn you have a few approaches:
1. The direct approach, where you post status updates on you profile with links to the latest campaign.
2. Use CTAs in your company profile and use that as a target to drive your network contacts to see the latest offer.
3. Use LinkedIn Groups to attract new followers and visitors. This approach requires finesse. Rather than posting an overt sales message, you want to identify subjects related to your campaign or company and interject an opinion, inviting readers to follow you. They then go to your profile or company page, with then leads them to the web site landing page. This may seem a roundabout way or attracting new leads, but that’s the power of engagement through social media.
One strategy is to use blog entries or new marketing content as “teasers” to promote LinkedIn traffic. You can ask a question related to your latest blog topic and post a link to the blog in target groups to build a following. For example, if you are looking to attract marketing professionals as prospects, you can use this blog post for LinkedIn lead generation. First, would post a link to your blot to marketing and social media groups and rather than saying “read my blog,” ask a question such as, “What’s your favorite strategy to convert followers to sales leads using social media?” This will build your following through the LinkedIn groups and eventually, the right followers will volunteer to become customers.
Once you bring that lead into the web site and the visitor surrenders his or her email or contact information, you have a new prospect. However, prospects don’t become customers unless you nurture them. According to MarketingSherpa, 79 percent of leads never convert to sales due to poor lead nurturing. You should have a plan in place to guide leads to a buying decision using multiple touch points, such as email, direct mail, social media, etc.
Converting leads from social media is only the first step in the program. A good integrated marketing campaign draws leads from various sources, including social media, and then nurtures those leads until they are ready to convert to customers. It can take between seven and 13 touches to close a qualified sales lead. Once you capture that lead through LinkedIn, your lead conversion work really begins.
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