Social media has to produce results for business. With the amount of time being invested in social media marketing, there has to be a return on investment for business, especially with my clients in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who use social media for their Internet marketing.
Social media can produce results for business
Over the past five years, I have delivered approximately 1800 hours of computer and social media training. I have seen a lot of leads generated, even while delivering my social media programs. I know that social media can generate leads, but it’s up to the individual to take that lead and bring it to a close.
Let me share a few stories that I hope will inspire you and direct you in the right path when it comes to using social media for marketing your business. These stories are based on my own experiences that I have seen and heard in my social media workshops.
There was a car salesman in an afternoon social media workshop in Halifax. He found someone who had just written off their car and was searching for help on Twitter. The salesman quickly engaged this person and tried to assist him in finding a car as quickly as possible. That particular afternoon session was only three hours in length. Before the workshop was finished, the person that had written off their car had (1) walked on the car lot, (2) bought a car and (3) drove away with a new car. This car salesman continues to see success with social media even today. He continues to build his brand and create greater awareness in the Halifax area around what he does and how he can help others.
When I delivered many social media workshops for real estate agents in the Halifax, Dartmouth area, it was not uncommon for those agents to have to leave the workshop to pursue leads that they just received in class. I remember one lead in particular, which happened on Facebook. The agent received a sales lead on a Facebook chat while I was delivering training. It was not uncommon to generate 3 to 4 leads all week in each social media workshop. I typically delivered four workshops per week over a 13 week. The math says that in those four social media programs, that we generated over 200 leads. The real estate agents with were very good at taking leads all the way to a close. The end result was millions of dollars in increased sales and a prestigious award for the brokerage.
In one social media workshop for mortgage professionals, I remember one individual getting a lead for a mortgage directly off of Facebook, right in the middle of the class. This lead went all the way to a close. It’s exciting to hear business people generating leads, following up on most leads, and producing sales. During this social media workshop for mortgage professionals, there were more leads generated as well. It brings me great joy to see the businesses I train producing results.
These are but a few stories of how social media generating leads that end up as sales. It’s great to hear how social media is helping businesses do better, but let’s look at why this is happening in the first place, and how it can happen for you.
In all the examples above, these business people did two things that helped them generate business from social media. Here’s the two main things that they did:
- They found the lead, and
- They followed up on the lead with the customer.
The success of your social media efforts requires that you not only generate leads, but that you follow-up on those leads. It’s important that business people look for opportunities everywhere. Business people need to be able to take a lead, and is much as possible, take that lead to a close.
Opportunities come to us all the time, but we need to be up to recognize them and act on them. Social media will not be effective or of any use at all for business unless people are prepared to follow-up on all the leads with proper sales techniques.
There’s no mystery in using social media for business. Leads get generated by your social media activity. For the most part it’s not going to be activity that is considered broadcasting. Your friends and others will find out what you do and how you can help them. This often is sufficient to generate several leads. After all, people want to work with people they trust. When people know that you do a certain thing, and they trust you, leads can come.
I believe many people have a “disconnect” between social media and real life. They do not see how closely both are intertwined together. I tell people that social media is “in real life”, and that they need to conduct themselves as if they were face-to-face with that individual that they are engaging with on social media.
If someone asked you about business face-to-face, you would follow-up by explaining what you do and how you can help them with their need. It’s the same way with social media. You create the opportunity for the customer, your friends and the community around you, and then you follow-up with a solution to their problem.
The problem for many business people on social media is that they’re using social media to blast their customers with their sales messages. We no longer live in an age we push our stuff at people. They are pulling the information they want by search. These people never generate the right type of leads on social media. My grandfather used to say…”You get more flies with honey, then you do with vinegar.” He was right. It’s called attraction marketing, not “blasting” or “broadcasting” marketing.
Generating these new type of leads to take time and effort to build momentum. Businesses are also going to have to focus on creating better customer relationships. Relationships are key to generating leads in this new economy.
But at the end of the day, if social media is generating leads for you and you not recognizing them, then you’re going to miss those leads. If you get the leads I don’t follow up on them, then you’re not to generate business.
My military days tell me that I need to follow the KISS principle. I need to keep business simple. I need to generate leads and follow-up on them period. I can’t say that social media is a waste of time if I am not willing to put in the effort to make social media work for me.
In summary, social media has to produce results for business. With the amount of time being invested in social media marketing, there has to be a return on investment for business, especially with my clients in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
