Many B2B marketers are turning to social media for lead generation. However, with an overwhelming amount of information shared through social media channels, it is becoming harder for companies to stand out and engage their target audiences. Plus, when companies attempt to use social networks as another direct marketing channel, many find that this approach backfires and results in negative ROI.

There is a way to achieve ROI and generate high-quality leads through social media — learn to build long-term relationships with customers rather than going after a quick sale. In my recent live chat on Twitter with host The Social CMO, I answered the top questions on “How to Create Social Media Content that Drives Action.”

Here are the 5 biggest questions about creating content that turns social media fans and followers into sales leads.

1. Question: What is “social content”?

Answer: Social content is ANY content people will share. It’s not just what you post to social media, but anything on your website or elsewhere that your community will want to share. These can be reports, videos, case studies or other content. When you think about it, all of your marketing can be social.

2. Question: How do you make your content sharable?

Answer: Make it relevant. The more relevant your content is to your audience, the more they will share it. If you don’t know if something will resonate, you can ask. Twitter is a good tool to get instant feedback on your ideas before you commit time to developing and publishing them.

3. Question: How do you write copy for the social web?

Answer: Focus on providing your audience with educational content. People are looking for solutions to their problems. The more you educate them, the more they will see you as a trusted advisor. Use the word ‘you,’ instead of ‘I’ or ‘our company’. Focus your content on your readers and their needs. Be casual and friendly. People will respond to you if they view you as a likable person, not a faceless corporation.

4. Question: Can you make sales through social media?

Answer: It’s possible to make sales through social media, but selling shouldn’t be your focus. Instead of trying to sell products or services through social media, try to sell readers on the next step. For example, ask them to click a link to your blog, comment on a post, download something free or provide you with feedback. The point is to ask them to take risk-free baby steps until they begin to trust you. Then, they will be willing to take bigger steps such as opting into your list or eventually … buying something.

5. Question: Are there any examples of B2B companies that have successfully used social media to drive leads or sales?

Answer: The Social Media Marketing Industry Report said that 48% of respondents have used social media to help close sales. Here are some case studies:

Cisco launched a product using only social media. They saved $100K on the launch and gained 3 times the media coverage …

IdeaPaint, a Boston start-up, says social media is their largest source of leads and traffic…

If you missed this informative live Twitter chat, where I answered all these questions plus more in greater detail, you can check out the full transcript here:

Transcript of How to Create Social Media Content that Drives Action

What about you? What are your biggest questions about creating content that drives action? Feel free to share your comments and questions on my blog.

Rachel Foster

This approach can work if your customers are also your peers and would be interested in both your thought leadership and your products. However, if your customers are from other sectors, you may need to consider another strategy. When your social media messages speak to different audiences, you’ll have a hard time engaging anybody. For example, a potential customer from the retail sector may see your blog posts about the future of the software industry and assume that your content is not relevant.

Below are key points to think about when you position your brand across the social web.

5 Considerations When You Use Social Media to Position Yourself as a Leader in Your Industry

1. Your main objective: To be recognized as a leader and innovator in your industry.
2. Your target audience: Others in your industry, including associates, colleagues and competitors. You may want to increase your chances of getting media coverage by connecting with bloggers, journalists and podcasters who cover your field. If you use public speaking as part of your marketing strategy, you can also reach out to associations and conference organizers who plan events for people in your industry.
3. The types of content you can share: Anything that focuses on the future of your field. You can share your thoughts on the latest industry trends and best practices. This content can take the form of videos of your live presentations, excerpts from your books, articles, blog posts and special reports. Some of this content should be yours, but you should also share what other thought leaders are saying about your industry.
4. Desired results: You’ll become recognized as a leader in your niche. You’ll receive invitations to speak at events, participate in panels and give your expert opinion to the media. Others in your industry will come to you for advice.
5. You may be focusing too much on attracting customers if … you’re not getting press coverage, people aren’t sharing your content and no one is inviting you to speak at events. However, if your social media activities seem to be attracting new customers, you may want to build on the momentum and change your strategy to focus more on lead generation.

5 Considerations When You Use Social Media to Attract Customers

1. Your main objective: To use social media as a lead generation tool. You may want more people to visit your website and opt in to your list so you can send them sales messages in the future.
2. Your target audience: Potential and current customers.
3. The types of content you can share: Articles, blog posts, videos, reports, white papers or anything else that your ideal customers would find interesting. This information can be a combination of your own content and content from other sources. You can also invite your social community to free webinars and other events that are designed to educate them while helping you generate leads
4. Desired results: More potential customers will visit your website and subscribe to your list. You’ll fill your webinars and live events with qualified leads. When you track your sales, you’ll discover that social media has played a large role in the sales process.
5. You may be focusing too much on thought leadership if … your social media activities are not leading to sales and you wonder why all your competitors want to connect with you on Twitter.

If you want to attract both industry recognition and new customers, you can maintain multiple social media accounts or blogs to connect with different audiences. For example, you could keep a customer-focused blog and also ask key employees to share their thought leadership on a separate blog.

However, you may not have the time or resources to devote to multiple blogs and social media accounts. If that is the case, concentrate all your efforts on only one of these strategies. You may find that, over time, you’ll receive the benefits of both new customers and increased recognition within your industry.

Rachel Foster

Imagine this scenario …

You hear how one of your competitors is driving business through Twitter and want to see if you can achieve the same results. You open an account and become overwhelmed by Twitter’s language – a mix of symbols and slang that makes no sense to you.

After a while, you familiarize yourself with Twitter’s interface and grow excited by the possibility of getting your message out to a new audience. You post frequent tweets that ask your followers to check out your website, blog and latest promotions.

A few months go by, and nothing happens. No new leads. No sales. No amazing opportunities. You wonder if anyone noticed your efforts and reduce your time on the social networking site. You decide social media is a waste of your resources and go back to the old way of marketing your business.

Does this sound familiar?

If you’re like many marketers who experiment with social media, you may not understand how to develop messages that not only get noticed as they fall in the dense social media forest – but also get acted upon. Sysomos, a company that specializes in business intelligence for social media, conducted a study of Twitter retweets and replies. They determined that 71% of all tweets are ignored.

To succeed with social media, you must create messages that fall into the other 29% and inspire action. Let’s explore some methods to help you write content that resonates with your target audience, motivates them to take action and ensures your tweets are heard.

Make Your Calls to Action Social Media-Friendly

A major difference between writing direct marketing copy and writing for social media is the nature of your call to action. In direct marketing, most calls to action are designed to push leads further along the sales cycle. Since blatant selling doesn’t mesh with the conversational nature of social media, your calls to action should focus on building trust and sharing relevant information.

Here are 5 examples of calls to action for social media:

• Ask your community to click a link to a blog post, video or other educational content.
• Invite others to share their comments on a blog post.
• Pose a question for your community to answer.
• Encourage others to share your content with their friends.
• Invite your community to download premium content.

Social media is often the start of a longer relationship that can lead to sales. Use these low-pressure, no-commitment calls to actions to start a conversation. Once potential customers grow to trust you, they will be more likely to take the relationship further by completing an opt-in form on your website, making direct contact with you or downloading a free trial of your product.

Stay tuned for The Social CMO’s upcoming book and especially my section of Chapter 3 ACTIVATE which shares many more ideas on how to create social media content that inspires action!

Rachel Foster

Although Don is forward-thinking in his campaigns, he failed to recognize the importance of the interview and how the PR could affect the agency. He put his need to guard himself ahead of the needs of his colleagues, his clients and even the Ad Age readers.

Don’s reluctance to be transparent reminds me of today’s executives who are still hesitant to adopt social media.

Perhaps these executives are used to having tight control over their brands and are reluctant to make themselves open for public critique. However, the critiques will happen – regardless of whether you’re using social media or not. Consider how you will look if people talk about your company on the social web and you have no way to respond.

Here are three things Don Draper can teach you about social media:

1. Transparency is key – Don learned a big lesson about transparency in the season four opener. To save his image, he had to overcome his desire to remain aloof and open up to the public. The importance of transparency also applies to social media today. People will relate to you better if they get to know you as a person – not just as a brand or logo. Social media allows you to build your reputation by engaging in public conversations with your audience.
2. You can get a second chance – Although Don mangled his interview with Ad Age, he had the opportunity to redeem himself during an interview with The Wall Street Journal. When you’re active on social media, you can also create your own second chances. You can immediately respond to criticism and turn negative publicity into something positive.
3. Tell a good story – Don’s first interview bombed because it wasn’t memorable. During his second interview, Don changed tactics and told a compelling story that would get everyone talking about his agency. He recognized that people remember and share good stories. Today, you can tell your stories through social media. The more compelling the story, the more word-of-mouth you will generate.

What do you think? Is Don’s experience in the season four premiere relevant to marketing professionals today? If Mad Men took place in 2010, would Don blog and tweet?

Rachel Foster

When I reached about 1,000 followers, I decided to take a proactive approach to Twitter. I began to seek and follow people in my industry – people who care about the same topics I care about. Once this happened, I generated some great opportunities through the social networking platform.

Below are five ways you can develop a targeted following on Twitter:

• Don’t overlook your contacts – You can start building a targeted following by encouraging your contacts to engage with you on Twitter. Include a link to your Twitter account in your email signature, on your website, on your blog and in all your other social media accounts.

• Conduct a search – As Twitter grows, it’s becoming easier to find people who are tweeting about your hot topics. You can use the Twitter search function, Twitter directories or a third-party application such as TweetAdder to search for people to follow. Before you follow someone, just be sure to check the date of the person’s last tweet. Since 73% of Twitter’s users are inactive, you want to make sure you follow active users.

• Use hashtags – Many people think hashtags are just for promoting events. However, you should add them to as many of your tweets as possible. People search for hashtags related to their industries and will follow you if you’re using their favourite hashtags.

• Engage in conversations – The most important thing you should do on Twitter is engage in one-on-one conversations every day. You can reply to someone’s tweet, answer a question or give someone information they might find valuable. Doing this helps you build relationships and establishes you as an expert in your industry.

• Weed out spammers – As your following grows, you’ll find that spammers will manage to sneak past you. I recently cut over 10% of my followers using TwitSweeper, a service that checks your account for spammers and gives you the option to block them. Weeding out spammers clears junk from your stream and provides you with much more relevant content – you won’t have to read tweets about teeth-whitening products!

If you use these tactics, you’ll discover you don’t need a large following to grow an active and engaged community. I’m currently helping a nonprofit organization build a presence on Twitter and am careful to follow only people who are discussing their cause. Although the organization’s new account has fewer than 200 followers, their following is very active. The organization gets responses to almost all their tweets, and they are reaching their initial goal of engaging people in conversation around their cause on Twitter.