@Said Karfa, Business Consultant

Are you looking for a smart way to use social channels for lead conversion?

Are you tracking and leveraging your target customers’ path to buying your product?

Collecting fans and followers is one thing, converting them to paying customers can be

quite another.

That is, unless you have a customized sales funnel in place.

Are you looking for a smart way to use social channels for lead conversion?

Are you tracking and leveraging your target customers’ path to buying your product?

Collecting fans and followers is one thing, converting them to paying customers can be

quite another.

That is, unless you have a customized sales funnel in place.

Why Is Your Marketing and Sales Funnel Such a Big Deal?

Why Is Your Marketing and Sales Funnel Such a Big Deal?

• Social media marketing (#smm) is about using social networks and tools to guide prospects through a series of steps–a funnel–to get them to take the actions you want (e.g., becoming a fan, sharing their email address or buying your products or services).

Social Media Marketing MixSocial Media Marketing Mix

CONTENT GROUPS of influencers ADVERTISING

BRANDAWARENESS BRAND AMBASSADORS SALES

LONG-SALES CYCLE SHORT-SALES CYCLE

How do you decide which ones fit within your sales funnel?

How do you decide which ones fit within your sales funnel?

• Know who your potential customers are (demographics, gender…).

• Know how you can reach them most effectively (B2B or B2C…).

• Know your company’s goals, how to measure those goals (i.e metrics) and what your target numbers are for those metrics.

Step #1: Define and Implement Channels Step #1: Define and Implement Channels • Start by determining what your high-level sales

path should look like. In the example a little further down, I’m using Awareness, Repeat Visibility and Engagement and Sales.

• Next, prioritize the social channels and tools your audience is already using and that you’re familiar with, then organize those by their primary function.

Facebook is great for raising awareness and driving leads, but not for converting sales. Email blasts are excellent for conversions, but not awareness.

Social Media Sales FunnelSocial Media Sales Funnel

Adjust Your TacticsAdjust Your Tactics• Social media channels may overlap to lead to your

ultimate goal: sales; for instance, different social ads in the Awareness part of the funnel. In addition, each channel may have different facets (e.g., Facebook ads versus Facebook fans).

• Your funnel should be stable, but not inflexible. If your company cares more about email marketing than its number of followers, adjust your tactics accordingly.

Instead of using Facebook ads to increase brand awareness and gain more fans, jump straight to an ad campaign targeted at list building (LeadPages). Create an ad that sends leads to an optimized landing page on your website where you ask them to share their email address to access content, a download, etc.

Step #2: Assign and Measure Key MetricsStep #2: Assign and Measure Key Metrics

Social Media Tracking ToolsSocial Media Tracking Tools

• Look at which of your tactics and funnel sections are best or worst compared to industry averages and adjust as needed.

• Are you making the most of your analytics and tracking what you need to track? – Awareness metrics, – Facebook Insights and – Google Analytics

If you’re tracking awareness, I suggest looking at impressions instead of reach.

Step #3: Test and Tweak, Then Test AgainStep #3: Test and Tweak, Then Test Again

• The number-one thing you can do to boost your results is test everything. Every good idea you think of is something to test.

• As you test, always think in terms of your key metrics and make use of your analytics to find out what works and what doesn’t.

Let’s use Facebook as an ExampleLet’s use Facebook as an Example

• You can constantly test your Facebook success by trying a variety of status updates. Which has the best engagement rate—photos, text, links or video?

• Does your audience prefer news or funny videos or messages?

• Take the time to analyze your previous and current posts to see what worked and what didn’t.

• If you want to find your engagement rate for a given post, I suggest dividing its total engagement (likes, shares, comments, clicks, etc.) by total post impressions.

• If you’re using Facebook ads, the Facebook ad display algorithm shows which posts get the most engagement.

Are You Using Ad?Are You Using Ad?

• Ads burn out fast, so it’s important to create and test ads weekly. If you have the budget for it, you can create, test and optimize new ads three times a week or more.

Not sure which channel ads to spend money on?

Not sure which channel ads to spend money on?

• Compare your options. Run Facebook, Twitter and even Reddit ("read/edit") ads to see which works best for your audience and gives you the best awareness or conversions for your money.

Content CalendarContent Calendar• A lot of brands use a content calendar to create a month of posts (for

Facebook, Google+ or any other channel) ahead of time. In this example, I am using Hootsuite.com: select a profile/audience (#1), then compose message, shrink hyperlink (#2), and schedule (#3).

Messaging Messaging

• A message (post/tweet…) is usually composed of two or three blocks:

Question or Statement Value Proposition Call to Action

ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion

• Customers like to make decisions on their own terms. In most cases, they’re looking for a relationship with a company, not necessarily a hard sell. You can use this human nature to your advantage.

• Take note of the social channels your audience is using most, then use those channels to guide them through your sales process.

• Your biggest sales results will come from constant measuring and testing.

Selling through Social Media is a One-on-One Strategy

with a Two-Step Process:

Selling through Social Media is a One-on-One Strategy

with a Two-Step Process:

1. Raise Awareness & Leverage Influencers2. Help Prospects & Engage Leads1. Raise Awareness & Leverage Influencers2. Help Prospects & Engage Leads

Questions?Questions?

BONUS: How to Use LinkedIn to Build Business Success Faster than Your Competitors?

BONUS: How to Use LinkedIn to Build Business Success Faster than Your Competitors?

• Having had success already on LinkedIn I decided to use it again to find joint venture partnerships.

• Over the next 6 months, I connected with over 500 firms out of which I created 16 partnerships and grew my business by over 328%. So finding, connecting and developing joint venture partnership is my first recommendation.

• My second recommendation would be to attract one on one clients especially if their clients are B2B. Over the past 3 years I have gone from 50 contacts to over 750 and successfully used that to and hundreds of clients as well as generating leads for my business.

• With over 300 millions members and 49% of them being key decision makers, LinkedIn has become one of the most powerful business tools of the 21 century.