If you’re like most small business owners, you were seduced by the business community to use Twitter. You gave it a try, because you wanted more leads for your business. You noticed some successes such as watching your Twitter followers grow, and maybe you’ve noticed that it’s increasing traffic to your website, but you haven’t had any direct business leads from Twitter. Let’s look at how you can get targeted leads on Twitter that convert.
Don’t be seduced by your follower count
I believe in the power of random connections, but you have to cultivate a large network that you actively engage with to benefit. A lot of the people who are evangelical about how wonderful Social Media is for business know all the latest tools, trends and have planned processes in place. You probably don’t have time to learn all of that, so let’s move your Twitter strategy away from getting large numbers of followers to a more useful Social Media Marketing goal.
Step 1 – Decide a specific group of people you want to target
Failing to define a target market is to blame for most Social Media Marketing efforts not working. This is absolutely the most crucial step to get right. (If you don’t have a target market for your business, use Twitter or a Linkedin group to ask your ideal market for their opinion on your product / service. Ideally, you’ll need to do more research than that, but it’s a simple place to start.)
Example of a Target ‘Niche’ Market – Chartered Accountants in Manchester or women who read Vogue magazine.
Step 2 – Test the best way to search for your target market
Some target markets are easier to identify on Twitter than others. Using Chartered Accountants in Manchester as an example, there are approximately 15 Twitter profiles that come up in a search. You will want to start by connecting with those 15. You could adjust your niche market to include Chartered Accountants in another nearby area or look to target Accountants in Manchester to get more results to work with. Finding women who read Vogue is simple. Visit the Vogue twitter account and click on their Followers link.
Step 3 – Add targeted followers to a list
Create a list. Follow each person in your search and add them to your list. Do not add more than 100 followers in one day.
Step 4 – Monitor and start building relationships with your targeted list
Spend a little time each day monitoring your targeted Twitter list. Look for opportunities to communicate with them. Be both reactive and proactive with your communications. Respond to their questions, show sympathy for their gripes, respond to their comments. You can also ask them questions about their business or target market, ask them to participate in a Twitter poll or send them a link to a relevant survey, ask their opinion.
Step 5 – Get them into your sales process
I know that not all businesses have a formal sales process. If you don’t have a sales process in place, decide a way to more directly tell your Twitter leads about your products/ services. You could look up their phone number on their website and call them for an informal chat. You can send them a personal email. You could even send them a personal letter with a company brochure in the post. Asking what type of leads they are looking for helps reassure leads that you are looking to build relationships, not just bombard them with sales messages. Even if they don’t use your services, they now have a better understanding of your products / services and may refer business to you.
Change those ‘Great Expectations’ of Social Media Marketing to Realistic Expectations.
Small business owners need the marketing they invest time or money in to work. Often times business owners, get seduced by the lure of Social Media, as though it’s the answer to all of their little business prayers.
I always make sure customers have realistic expectations of what Social Media can do for their business. No point driving traffic to a website that needs updating or increasing follower or friend counts unless they are potential customers or can help the business in some way.
When I get an enquiry from a new customer without any particular goal or target market in mind, I work with them to agree a specific goal.
Having a large Social Network can take time to pay off. For example, I’ve been following a blogger who blogs for architects for three years. I’m not an architect, and I don’t specifically provide Virtual Assistant support for architects. Recently, I had a new client wanting to set up a Women Only Workspace. She needed a female architect in London. I contacted this woman, and she gave me a cracking referral for the perfect candidate. When I contacted this architect in my role as a Virtual Assistant, she also was interested in my services.
Over time, a wide and random network can pay off! Although if you are looking for a more immediate ROI, like with any marketing, you need to get really targeted. . .almost stalker like with the leads you want to work with.
Get on their radar by regularly chiming in on their Social conversations.
Find common points of interest, build familiarity.
Call or email them direct to tell ask if they’re interested in your product/service.
You absolutely need to set limits on your Social Media time! If you’re disciplined enough, schedule a small amount of time each day. Turn off all of the email notifications, because email is another beast that eats up your time. If you do want to keep the email notifications, set up an email filter. Make sure they automatically skip your inbox and go into a folder to be read during your daily allocated Social Media time.
Remember, if it was truly as simple to convert Social Media connections into customers as the ‘gurus’ say, the world wouldn’t be in such economic turmoil. Sure, plenty of people are using Facebook, but you have to know what your customers want if you’re going to catch their attention.
This is not meant to be discouraging. It’s just to remind you that if you have work to do on improving your business, do it. If you’re not clear who your ideal customer is, get clear. Then use Social Media to get connected.
Did you know that Google Analytics might be counting your visits in the totals?
If you have an IT Department, that won’t be the case. If you are like many small businesses in the UK, you might use BT Business Broadband. They charge you an extra £5 to have a static IP address. I’m not a technical person, so I’ll explain this in the way I understand it.
The Technical Stuff (Skip Ahead if you just want the solution)
An IP address identifies a device that is connected to your internet, so if you have your mobile phone, laptop and desktop computer all connected to wifi, each one will have a different IP address. Most basic broadband packages use dynamic IP addresses, that means that every time you turn off your computer and turn it back on again, you might have a different IP address.
Google Analytics – Problem with Dynamic IP Addresses
Google Analytics has a problem with dynamic IP addresses. It can’t exclude them, because they change. That makes it difficult for you to exclude your own visits to your website from the website statistics.
The Solution – Google Analytics Exclude Yourself
To exclude your own visits to your website simply add an extension to your browser.
After you have downloaded the extension, in Google Chrome, click Tools > Extensions
Click Options next to ‘Block Yourself from Analytics’
In the box at the bottom, add the websites you manage.
I’m test driving Visibli. I first noticed this Visibli being used by one of my supurb followers @EricTTung. I’ve decided to give it a whirl.
Visibli is a Social Marketing and Analytics platform that helps you optimize your social media engagement.
I found it was quite easy to set up. I am interested to see if I think Visibli cuts the mustard. What I like about it is it will show my customised toolbar with links to my Social Media profiles each time I share a link. That seems a very attractive feature, as hopefully it will help encourage people who like things I share to connect with me on other Social Networks.
What I really like about it is that I set my blog up using the Visibli API, so when I publish a blog and it gets sent to Twitter, it will have the Visibli bar along the top. Hopefully, this might encourage more people to engage with me and make a more meaningful connection.
Business people using Social Media who have been dreaming of having a Business Page on Google+ are in for a treat. This video shows you how I set up my first business page on Google+ in minutes.
