There’s a lot of talk about growing a strong social media presence for your business, but in the end there’s no point if you can’t convert your reading audience into a buying one. To make 2012 your biggest year ever, here are seven tips for turning followers into customers.
1. Focus on retweets. Your message will a much bigger reach if you can get others talking about it. The key to this is simple: give what you want to get. If you’re generous about retweeting others in your community, they are more likely to retweet you in turn.
2. Get a reputation for responsiveness. People want a company that won’t ignore them. Get in the habit of responding to every question and comment on your social media accounts, always be prompt, and you’ll get that ever-important reputation for good customer service.
3. Participate in discussions. Get in the habit of searching Twitter frequently, looking for people who are asking questions your business can answer. Being the one who helps someone out can put you in a very good light when they’re ready to buy.
4. Use LinkedIn Answers for B2B leads. Linked in is a great place for businesses to connect with other businesses, so if this is something that would be helpful for you, get involved with the Answers forum and show your expertise.
5. Create a study with a survey. Host a survey on your blog, publish the results along with your thoughts, and advertise your findings on your social network accounts. This also opens the door for you to contact other relevant blogs about sharing your study with a wider circle.
6. If you’re not making videos, you should. You can get a pretty decent little camcorder for very little money these days, and there are plenty of online tutorials to teach you some video production skills. Making videos will help your audience get to know the real you, and what your company does and stands for. This connection is important.
7. Concentrate on the networks that matter. Not everyone has accounts everywhere – have you done your market research to find out where your potential customers are? If they’re mostly on Facebook, then most of your social media effort should be there. If they’re more likely on Twitter, get to tweeting! It’s more productive in terms of leads to give a more concentrated effort in fewer places, than to try to spread yourself evenly everywhere.
