Lets take a look at opportunities that many marketers are missing in the battle for online lead generation. Many of these issues stem from not including calls to action (CTAs) alongside valuable and relevant content that is being shared on social media.
7 Missed Social Media Lead Generation Opportunities
1. No Blog CTA - Business blogs are great, because they are a social media asset that a company owns and completely controls. Businesses that blog get 55% more website traffic than those that don’t . However, it doesn’t help your business if those new visitors remain anonymous. Many businesses forget to include CTAs on their blog, preventing traffic from turning into leads. At HubSpot , we have found that putting CTAs at the end of blog posts works well to increase lead generation.2. No Referral Process - If you are sending social media followers to interesting blog content with CTAs, then some of them will become leads for your business. The next problem to solve is getting more followers so that you can continue to grow your flow of new leads. It is important to have some type of process that encourages people to follow your business on social media and recommend others to follow your business. This process could be a contest on Twitter or Facebook or could be as simple as occasionally asking your followers to recommend to others in their online community to follow your business.
3. Having a Facebook Page Without A Landing Page - The fewer clicks needed for someone to become a lead for your business, the better. One way to reduce this friction is to integrate lead capture forms into social media platforms where possible. You can add an offer and landing page as part of your Facebook page. If you are a HubSpot customer or trial user, you can now do this very easily .
4. Missing Social Media Bio Opportunities - Often the first pieces of content a potential new follower or lead sees on the social Web is your profile information. On Twitter, for example, the profile information for your account is in the sidebar of your page. There, most businesses simply put in the link to their home page. However, it is a better option to send them to a custom page only for Twitter users that features special content as well as a relevant offer to people who may follow you on Twitter.
5. Missing Social Signature Links - Signatures matter whether they are in your email, a blog comment or on a site like LinkedIn. Forgetting to include a signature with a link is a major mistake. When selecting the link to go into your signature, make sure you pick a relevant resource that also has potential to convert some visitors into leads for your business.
6. Boring Content - You can have the most amazing CTA and lead generation offer in the world, but if it is surround by boring content, no one will ever see it. If your content is boring and talks only about your product, it won’t attract any attention through social media or any other channel, for that matter. So focus on creating content that is about your industry and the problems that your customers are trying to solve.
7. Too Many Clicks - Don't make people work hard. In the case of social media lead generation, working too hard means making people click too many times to find the information they want. Going from anonymous Web visitor to a lead could also involve a lot of work. Examine your lead generation paths throughout your social media tactics and make sure that you have reduced friction as much as possible.
Great social media marketing is about combing awesome and relevant content with voluntary opportunities for prospects to get closer to your business, whether that'd mean becoming a follower, subscriber or a lead.
What other missed opportunities would you add to this list?
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Bella Grayson 5:05 PM on March 03, 2011
What type of contest would you recommend for Twitter or Facebook? The most Friend suggested or something along those lines?
Shara Peri 5:14 PM on March 03, 2011
Great article! To add to your list, too much content. Too wordy and Ads or offers that go on and on and on are *yawns* to me. I like it to be short, and to the point. Get on with it already!
Shara
tom 6:00 PM on March 03, 2011
thanks for the cta point, tom
Independent Watkins Products Ass.
Dan Sturdivant 8:12 PM on March 03, 2011
This is a great article! Depending on the subject matter, a 400 word article is best for most applications. Usually just long enough to provide quality information,but short enough for a quick read. The key is to find a service that can cover all of your article marketing needs in one easy process! Informative content is the way to go!
NEWJOBSINDIA 3:07 AM on March 04, 2011
Nice review.. and i hope i can using it to re-branding my pages..
thank's
Kapil 3:47 AM on March 04, 2011
Very much informative and interactive.
Aurelius Tjin 4:10 AM on March 04, 2011
Excellent post. Thanks for posting. Many ideas came into my mind. It's very helpful post. Thanks a lot. :)
shanemiller 7:58 AM on March 04, 2011
Hey man..really you have kept the collection of all these important points.Social media really helps you in generating leads.
Gail Cavanaugh 10:56 AM on March 04, 2011
Great tips. I like the advice to add a CTA - I would think that would help the readers to act on your post, rather than to dismiss it.
Ross O'Lochlainn 11:13 AM on March 04, 2011
Could someone give me some insight into how much of a CTA should be made to advertise a blog that is still not properly up and running?
I feel like making a big CTA on a poor blog would be like asking a friend over to dinner when your house is a mess.
Obviously I know that cleaning the house is the answer, but it's more of a long-term project :D
Dan Sturdivant 12:02 PM on March 04, 2011
@Ross.. I always suggest to my clients to make sure their foundation is solid before trying to build the house...so it is essential to have your website ready to go for the incoming reader to make a transaction or capture their information. Otherwise, all your CTA efforts are moot. Also, always be sure to setup your CTA as an avenue for the reader to get more information or receive something like a ebook or special report FREE. Just be sure to capture their email address so you can market to them through a drip system or contact them to pitch your product or service. Hope this helps!
Ross O'Lochlainn 12:25 PM on March 04, 2011
@Dan: I see what you're saying. I recently had a discussion with someone else in the SEO world and they also said that it is essential for your foundation (i.e. your website) to be solid prior to launching your blog and other online efforts, as these outlets will merely be used as a reference method to the website for conversions.
I suppose the same principal should apply to the blog, in that it should be solid before you start calling attention to it.
Thanks for your insight!
Mark 1:20 PM on March 04, 2011
Without content that attracts the reader, all the fancy CTAs mean nothing. Couldn't agree more. Thanks!
Christi Wharton 3:24 PM on March 04, 2011
As a Hubspot customer, I really appreciated this article. I thought I pretty much had the bases covered, but you have shown me some places I could use some work. Really excited about the Facebook welcome option.
I blogged about your list at http://blog.wharton-marketing.com/missed-social-media-opportunities/
I think as a small business, we tend to always use the excuse of too little time. But, you are right. If our efforts are not driving revenue, we are wasting the time we do spend.
Thank for the article!
Robert Nellis - Social Media Consultant 4:03 PM on March 04, 2011
Great article! I think the true concept of ROI (sales leads, recruiting leads, etc) is lacking among many social media professionals.
James Mcquaid 6:19 PM on March 04, 2011
Great article, one area missing is getting your business onto facebook marketplace (www.facebook.com/marketplace) so your business can get by everyone on facebook not just your fans
Shelley 10:12 PM on March 04, 2011
Great post! I particularly liked the idea about a custom page for Twitter. Thanks!
Nupur Maskara 1:49 AM on March 05, 2011
What's CTA?
piyal 2:48 AM on March 05, 2011
very very informative article.thanks a lot for posting it.
mahbub 2:59 AM on March 05, 2011
very very informative article.thanks a lot for posting it.but one think i am not clear please let me know what is CTA?
mrpsoft
Donna Filipiak 7:47 AM on March 05, 2011
This is an excellent article. I realized that I don't put a signature at the end of my blog posts. I'm changing that right now! Thanks.
Rachel 8:15 PM on March 05, 2011
Great tips and reminders! Thank you.
stephan Junghanns 11:49 AM on March 07, 2011
cta = call to action