B2B Social Media and Lead Nurturing: How Can They Work Together?

In the past, before the internet and websites were such important selling tools the only way that information was available to prospects was by contacting sales. Now more and more information is available and buyers tend to avoid “marketing speak” and instead take to platforms like social media to get word of mouth recommendations about brands and products. Prospects are less likely to register for early stage content or sales interactions and are more likely to contact companies later in the buying cycle after doing their own research through online channels. Because of this, the process of effective lead nurturing has been forced to evolve and absorb social media into its process to help build relationships with prospects before they even become leads.

Social media can be a great platform for nurturing prospects but it’s important to remember that it isn’t the same process as nurturing leads that come in through your website. With social media, you’re often nurturing prospects before they have registered or given you their information and you’re doing it in real-time, rather than through activity-triggered or timed responses.

So how does social media help you effectively nurture prospects?

1. Social media offers a wealth of prospect data. Traditionally lead nurturing begins once a prospect gives you their information (by registering for a demo, or filling in a form on your website etc).  This is a very different situation than with social media. Social media profiles often contain a plethora of prospect information including name, company, title, geographical location, employment history, likes and preferences as well as their history of social media interactions with your competitors and opinions about brands and products. Listening to your prospects via social media can help to give you insight into the best ways to interact with them and can help you segment your social media campaigns long before your prospects even become leads, allowing you to create buyer personas with minimal investment.
2. Establishing online personality can help to build trust. Social media allows your employees’ and company’s personality to shine through in a way that regular lead nurturing doesn’t. By showing that your company is made of real people, with real personalities it can help you develop relationships more easily and help to build trust in your brand. 
3. Connect with your prospects in real-time. Social media is one of the best tools for interacting with your prospects in real-time. With social media there is no time lag between when a prospect contacts you and you are able to respond. If you’re monitoring your social media accounts properly, you can interact with a prospect within seconds of them connecting with you, and let’s face it, most of the time, when a prospect contacts you they are feeling a sense of urgency. They want your attention NOW and forcing them to turn themselves into a lead before you can begin nurturing them can waste valuable time. 
4. Creating a social media brand presence keeps you “front of mind.” If you’re using social media right, you’re updating it frequently, you’re being authentic and transparent, your initiating conversations and listening to your prospects then you’re probably doing a good job of staying at the front of your prospects’ minds. With traditional lead nurturing campaigns, your touches or interactions are often based on activity-triggered or timed responses, with social media you’re able to consistently remind your prospects of your brand’s presence in an ongoing nurturing process 

Posted by Amberlie Denny at August 12, 2010 8:30 AM

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