While just about everything you can think of online has evolved in at least some way over the last five years, blogging stands out as a medium that has really gone through a renaissance.

If you stop and look back to just a few years ago, you’ll likely remember that mainstream business acceptance of blogging was still quite low. But as more businesses started to see real results from their investments in blogging, it became clear that this form of content had progressed far beyond online journals for individuals.

Fast forward to the present, and blogging has become a standard method of online publishing for a significant percentage of businesses. While it’s great that more businesses have seen how they can benefit from consistently delivering great content to their target audiences, the huge increase in content has created some new challenges.

Businesses Have to Step Up Their Blogging Game

It wasn’t that long ago when simply keeping a blog active was enough to give a business a significant competitive advantage in regards to both search engine rankings and successfully executing a social media strategy. But now that so many businesses have embraced blogging as a channel for increasing search engine traffic and making the most of social media marketing, competition levels have greatly risen.

As a result of this increase in competition, not only are businesses investing in things like social media training, but they’re also looking for ways to optimize their blogging efforts. One area that has received a lot of focus is content length. As a result of different case studies and theories about Google’s updates, many businesses feel that they need to produce content that hits a certain word count goal. Whether it’s 500 words or 1,200 words, businesses often get tunnel vision in regards to what really determines the quality of a blog post.

Focus on Value Instead of Length

While word count goals can serve as a guide for people just getting into the swing of writing for online audiences, this metric isn’t really the one that blogging efforts should be optimized around. The reason that obsessing over word count isn’t really all that productive is different topics deserve and require varying amounts of detail.

Since there is definitely value in trying to optimize business blogging efforts, a better approach is to focus on finding ways to identify exactly what an audience wants to read. And then whenever a post is published on one of those topics, its goal should be to provide as much value about that topic as possible. This approach ensures that regardless of how long or short a post ends up being, readers will feel that the post really delivered on its title. This positive feeling will lead to a greater number of people wanting to spend more time on a company’s site, which in turn will increase new online leads or customers.

It’s no secret that maintaining an engaging content strategy is one of the best things you can do to grow your online visibility, but writing content on a regular basis can take a lot of work.  Learn more about our content writing services.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

You’ve probably read at least a handful of blog posts that talk about content marketing. If you spend a fair amount of time reading about online marketing, you’ve probably actually come across a few case studies about content marketing. While both blog post and case studies are useful sources of information about content marketing, they’re generally focused on how small and large businesses are utilizing this marketing technique.

What most sources of information about this topic don’t touch on is whether or not content marketing is a good fit for personal branding. The answer to that question is not only is it a good fit, but if you’re serious about building a strong personal brand, you definitely need to be engaged in content marketing. Let’s go over four different reasons why content marketing works so well:

Build Relationships with Content Marketing

It’s always easier to make progress when there’s someone to vouch for you. Even if someone you’re trying to do business with doesn’t know you, if someone they do know gives you a positive recommendation, there’s a very good chance you’re going to get the opportunity to show what you’re great at doing. That reality is why relationships are such an important part of personal branding. By utilizing content marketing techniques like guest blogging, you can build those types of relationships.

Show Why You’re an Expert with Content Marketing

Even though building a great personal brand definitely takes work, one of the reasons it’s worth investing the time and energy needed to do so is because people will begin to seek you out when they have a problem related to your area of expertise. By becoming a go-to person, you’ll open yourself up to lots of opportunities that wouldn’t have been otherwise available. How this relates to content marketing is using different forms of content is the best way to show exactly why you’re an expert in your field.

Benefit from Search Engine Traffic from Content Marketing

Publishing quality content on a regular basis and promoting it through different channels is a great way to increase the amount of targeted organic search engine traffic that your own website receives. When visitors like what they read, they may start following one of your social media profiles or even get in touch with you directly.

Create a Large Online Presence with Content Marketing

One of the things that helps to accelerate the development of a personal brand is being able to have a presence on lots of different venues. In addition to using social media, a great way to do that is by guest blogging. If someone sees a guest post from you on a high profile blog, and then sees a different guest post from you a few weeks later on another high profile blog, chances are they’re going to start paying attention to what you have to say.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

Mobile devices have become larger than PC sales while 86% of adults own a mobile phone and 52% access the internet with it. Mobile Internet use is up because it’s more convenient and we carry them everywhere we go. Mobile Internet is becoming the Internet. To ensure these mobile users don’t encounter any problems when they try to access your website and interact with it, you need to have a mobile-friendly website.

Should My Business Have an App?
While apps are a good fit for some businesses, for most, a mobile website is a better solution. The problem with many apps produced by small to medium businesses is instead of enhancing someone’s mobile experience, they actually take away from it. If someone just wants to see when your business is open or if you’re currently having any sales, they can simply navigate to your mobile website and find out within a matter of seconds.

But with an app, they first have to download the app (which may require typing in their password for iTunes or an equivalent account), followed by going to their home screen and launching it. Because that can be a hassle, many people will simply abandon the process and go with a competitor that isn’t as complicated.

How to Make a Great Mobile Website

The most common mistake businesses make in regards to a mobile website is simply cloning their existing site. One of the main strengths of a mobile site is you can optimize it to provide the best possible experience on a smaller screen. Since what’s ideal for a 3.5″ iPhone screen is obviously going to be different than the best design for a 14″ laptop screen or 22″ desktop screen, here are the key areas of mobile website design where you want to focus:

Fast
While it’s fine to use images, be sure to compress them so that your site loads quickly even when it’s being transmitted over a slower mobile connection.

Easy to Read
Use large font sizes so people can read the text on your mobile site just by glancing at it.

Emphasize Contact Information
You’ll want to put the phone number and address for your business at the very top of your mobile site. You may also want to provide a map or at least a link that automatically loads your address into Google Maps.

Simplified Navigation
If your standard site has a lot of menus, you’ll want to consolidate them into a shorter list of mobile navigation options.

Ability to Switch
Although most people will prefer your mobile site, some may want to access your full site on their mobile device. To avoid frustrating them, be sure to add a Switch link to your mobile site’s footer.

Don’t Forget to Test
Prior to rolling out your new mobile website, don’t forget to ask your family and friends to test it out on their various mobile devices. Not only will this allow you to catch and fix any technical glitches, but it will also give you a chance to get feedback in terms of how usable people find your mobile site to be.

Once you’ve completed testing and ironed out any kinks, you can push the site live and start fully engaging potential customers regardless of where they’re accessing your site from!

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

Businesses often face two major challenges with social media. The first is getting started. Once a business passes that challenge by gaining some momentum and attracting followers, the next challenge that often comes up is converting those followers into customers.

While having a lot of followers is a great ego boost and can provide some benefits like credibility, that’s generally not enough for a business. Instead, a business needs social media to drive revenue in order for this channel to be worthwhile. So if your business is in the position of having some traction on social media but you’ve yet to see that traction translate into followers, here’s how to start seeing the results you really want:

Don’t Be Afraid to Promote

Although it seems simple, businesses are sometimes hesitant to share promotions through social media. Social media can drive some followers to your site who then buy without ever needing to mention a specific promotion. However, you’ll get far more conversions if you give your social media followers a compelling reason to buy. When it comes to concerns about seeming overly self-promotional, as long as you provide a mix of content and don’t simply bombard your followers to buy in every single post, you won’t have anything to worry about.

Get Creative with Promotions

There’s a good chance that even the simplest promotion will get some of your followers to buy. But if you get a little creative with your promotions, you’ll find that the results you’re able to drive are even more significant. In terms of what makes a promotion creative, there isn’t a certain rulebook you have to follow. Instead, you should think about your specific followers and the things they like. By coming up with promotion ideas that make them feel special and engaged, you’ll be able to maximize your social media conversion rates.

Pay Attention to What Works (And What Doesn’t)

As with most aspects of social media, converting followers into customers is all about applying a handful of best practices and then refining your efforts based on what works, as well as what falls short. It’s great to have lots of ideas about what you want to do with your social media followers. But until you actually put them to the test, you won’t know what’s actually going to work. The good news is it’s easier than ever to collect lots of useful data from both social media platforms and your website, so you should be able to pinpoint exactly what’s driving the best results for your business.

By following the tips we covered above and taking advantage of my social media management services, you’ll be able to maximize the positive impact that social media has on your business!

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day.

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location, and more. Just let her know how she can help!

If you’re looking to start creating successful social media marketing campaigns for your company that helps build your online presence and gain new leads, Social Media Certification is what you need. Through three 2-hour training sessions, Michelle will teach you everything you need to know to become a successful Social Media Manager.

Session 1: Targeted Marketing Strategies

• Learn how to discover the right social media networks to engage your target audience
• Introduction to the Social Media Manager’s role in successful online marketing
• In-depth review and analysis of current social media strategy
• Breakout Learning Session: Find the right social media targets for your business
• Homework: Create Your Social Media Targeted Marketing Strategy

Session 2: Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy

• Learn how to build brand awareness by creating an engaging content strategy to create social media followers
• Go over the best practices for developing an engaging social media content strategy
• Review tools and resources that will help you build your content and marketing campaigns
• Breakout Learning Session: Find the right content strategy for your business
• Homework: Create Your Editorial Content Marketing Calendar

Session 3: Executing Your Marketing Strategy

• Review best practices for social media marketing
• Implement your marketing strategy
• Review Social Media Management Dashboard
• Break out Learning Session: Set up your Social Media Dashboard
• Homework: Input your Editorial Dashboard into Social Media Dashboard

At the end of the course, you’ll get the chance to show what you’ve learned and once you pass the final exam, you’ll receive an image badge that will show everyone you know the ins and outs of social media management.

Offering Easy Ways to Learn to Fit Your Schedule

Learning how to become a Social Media Manager is easy with two great ways that will fit even the busiest of schedules

Social Media Marketing Training Online– Offered on the first Monday of every month, this session offers training through virtual sessions with screen sharing software and live voice and chat.

Live Social Media Training– In-person training sessions are scheduled in various cities so reserve your spot today. Or request a quote to have the training delivered to your company, group, or organization to fit your busy schedule.

Michelle Hummel is a Social Media Trainer, Franchise Marketing Expert, Published Author, and Keynote Speaker. With over 15 years of experience helping develop businesses online and build successful social media marketing strategies, Michelle has been sharing her wisdom through her three-book series The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media, as well as a contributing editor to The Social Media Monthly and The Franchise Dictionary Magazine. So contact her today to see how she can help you.

“Right from the moment of our birth, we are under the care and kindness of our parents, and then later on in our life when we are oppressed by sickness and become old, we are again dependent on the kindness of others. Since at the beginning and end of our lives we are so dependent on other’s kindness, how can it be in ……the middle that we would neglect kindness towards others?” Dalai Lama      

Action of the day: Exceed your customers expectations with kindness!

1. Know your customers

Create forms on your website for customers to let you know what their needs and preferences are when signing up for your newsletter. Once you create these lists in your database you can send targeted messages to your customers based on their interests. This information helps you keep in touch with and best serve your customers.

2. Inform your customers

Say you own a wine store and you just received a shipment of Cabernet Sauvignon. Go through your files to see who buys Cabernet Sauvignon and send them an email about it. Reference the fact that they’ve bought this from you in the past, then offer to hold some for them for a few days. Since you’re loyal to them, they’ll be loyal to you.

3. Help your customers

Post helpful information through your blog, email and/or social networks to keep customers or clients stay informed about issues that might relate to them. Changes in the tax code, computer-software compatibility problems, etc. Give people information they can use and they will think of you as a valuable resource.

4. Surprise your customers

Send your best customers a Gift Certificate in the off-season or a useful premium with your business name on it. Since they haven’t asked for this and haven’t “earned it” through some points program, they are surprised and delighted.

5. Delight your customers

Send a friendly email to wish them a happy birthday or happy holidays with a nice card personalized to them.

6. Thank your customers

“Please” and “Thank you” may be the most powerful words in the English language. Use them an email. A sincere thank-you letter following up a purchase is always appreciated. Say, “Please let me know if there’s anything else we can do for you,” and customers may take you up on your offer.

7. Reward your customers

Call it a “Membership Card,” take some personal information before you give it out, and use email to take the rewards program to a higher level. Send members of the program a card on their birthday, with an offer of a discount or free gift. The card becomes a symbol of a more personal relationship.

8. Free Advertising

Ask your members to share success stories, helpful tips or valuable information that you can then add to your website with a link back to their business.

If you want expert help creating the right online strategy, be sure to take a look at how Web Strategy Plus can help.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

Most businesses understand the value of a quality lead. Although it would be great if people would visit your website once and then make a purchase, that’s simply not how most purchasing is done. For most people to actually pull out their credit card and make a purchase, they first need to have some kind of a relationship with a business so that they trust them.

Social media is a great way to build that type of relationship. When someone follows your business on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or another social site, they will be exposed to your content on a regular basis. This will not only keep your business on their mind, but it also means they’ll start to build a connection to your brand. Because of this relationship, many businesses categorize their social media followers as either leads or current customers. And if you want to take things a step further by getting them on your email list, that’s much easier to do when you already have an existing social media relationship.

What Role Do Social Media Agencies Play in Lead Generation?

Although social media can be used to generate quality leads, that doesn’t mean it’s easy or guaranteed. Before you can start building a relationship with anyone, they first need to have a reason to follow you. And in order for someone who follows you to be a quality lead, they need to fall into the right demographic.

A common mistake businesses make is trying to increase their social media follower count as quickly as possible. While that may provide an ego boost, if a business is going after anyone and everyone on social media, that strategy isn’t going to have a positive effect on their bottom line.

A social media agency can help you avoid this mistake by formulating a targeted plan. Because agencies have lots of experience filtering through social media platforms and finding specific demographics, they’ll be able to pinpoint the one you want to target. From there, they’ll be able to gather lots of information about the type of content that demographic likes.

By having all of this data and compiled into an actionable format for your business, your social media efforts will be targeting the right segment from the very beginning. That includes ensuring resources are only being invested into social networks that are the right fit for your business.

Another common social pitfall for businesses is they start out with lots of enthusiasm, only to have their efforts wane off within a few months or even weeks. Since it takes time and consistency to build a the type of following that can generate leads, a social media agency can help formulate and execute a long-term strategy to ensure that no social efforts lose their momentum.

Since there are so many ways a great agency can help with social media, if you’re serious about generating targeted leads through your efforts, enlisting an agency’s help is the way to go.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

If you have a website for your business but aren’t happy with the results it’s delivering, there are a few issues you may need to resolve. One possible cause of this problem is a lack of a social media strategy. If your business isn’t engaged in social media marketing on a regular basis, the problem may stem from your site not being visible enough to your target audience.

The good news about this problem is it’s relatively easy to fix. Although effective social media management can be a challenge, you and your team can learn everything you need to know by going through a social media training course. By completing a proven social media certification, you’ll be able to utilize the power of social media for your business.

Another common reason that businesses struggle to get the results they desire from their website is because its design is outdated. Because design affects everything from how much visitors trust a site to their ability to read it on different devices, it’s important to have a quality design.

If you’re trying to figure out if your design is up to the task of serving what people want, the best way to find out is by seeing if it’s in line with the most influential web design trends:

Mobile is Driving Desktop Experiences

Now that mobile has become so ubiquitous, it has actually taken the lead in influencing design. Because many designs are considered mobile-first, it’s important for your website to perform equally well on screens of all sizes.

Long Scroll Makes Content More Accessible

Research has found that in many cases, people prefer to keep scrolling instead of clicking from one page to the next. That behavior is why the home or other key pages with lots of content to scroll through have become a popular design option.

Typography Matters a Lot

Not only is typography important for getting people’s attention, but it’s also crucial for ensuring that they can read the content on a site. Even if the content is great, few will read it if the font used to display it is too small or unclear.

Making the Right Use of Video

Thanks to HTML5, it’s now possible to use video as a background element. While this element does make good eye candy, the best uses of it are those that share something useful about a business.

Always Thinking About the User

Because people can leave your site whenever they want, it’s important to go above and beyond to deliver a great experience. Eliminating any glitches or elements that may get in someone’s way is vital for maximizing engagement with your site.

If you’re interested in working with an experienced consultant to have your business website design professionally reviewed, learn more about Michelle Hummel’s web design consulting.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

1) Build A Professional Looking Web Site
There are millions of websites on the Internet and many of them are very well designed. Make sure your website is as professional in appearance as your competition. You will be judged on the appearance of your site so make sure you don’t lose visitors because of a bad design.

2) Provide Visitors With All the Info They Need
If a visitor to your website has to put any effort into finding the information they need, you will lose them fast. Everything should be easily available to them with clear directions on how to get it. Make all important information no more than one click away.

3) Have A Newsletter Sign-Up
Having a form for people to opt-in to a newsletter is a great way to build a list of customers. It’s also a great way to build trust and a strong following. Pack it full of great information, resources, freebies, and more. You will bring them back for more plus they just might tell all their friends about you.

4) Make It Sell
Your site should have a direct call to action with your best products and/or services listed in highly visible places. Repeat the call to action at the end of your blog posts. Make it easy for visitors to know what you would like them to do.

5) Allow feedback
It’s important to have a way for your visitors to offer feedback to you. They should also have an easy way to ask questions and make comments. People will like this because they get to give their input about what they would like to see done. You will benefit by being able to know what your customers want or need.

If you want expert help creating the right web design, be sure to take a look at how Web Strategy Plus can help.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!

When I speak to businesses about their current social media strategy, one of the most common issues that come up is a desire to generate leads. While most businesses know that social media marketing can help move the needle for their business, figuring out how to make that happen can be a challenge.

Although creating a Facebook page or tweeting on a daily basis isn’t going to instantly translate to leads, the good news is there are plenty of ways to use social media for lead generation. The key to making that happen is understanding what works through social channels. Once you have that outline, you can customize your strategy for your specific business.

Since there are multiple ways to approach lead generation via social media, let’s take a look at the most effective options:

Create a Great Piece of Downloadable Content

While social media gives you a way to directly connect with potential customers, it’s important to remember that social media is very busy. Since there are at least a dozen different things competing for people’s attention whenever they’re on a social media site, you need a way to make your business stand out.

One of the best ways to grab people’s attention is to offer a free download. Whether it’s a cheat sheet, whitepaper, infographic, short ebook or checklist, having a downloadable piece of cornerstone content that directly appeals to your target demographic will make everything else you do via social that much easier.

Hold a Contest

If you’re in a B2C market, it’s still worth creating a great piece of downloadable content. But in addition to offering a free download, running contests on a regular basis can also be a great way to boost social activity and collect email addresses.

Don’t Rule Out Paid Social Ads

Even though social media has become a key part of many people’s daily routine, it’s important to remember that sites like Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest are still growing. As a result, they can offer advertising opportunities that would be cost prohibitive through channels like AdWords. Since opportunities are out there, it’s definitely worth testing to see if any type of social advertising is a good fit for your business.

Experiment with Different Mediums

Podcasts and webinars are two mediums that businesses should consider trying out. While they’re not going to work for every single industry, both podcasts and webinars can be very powerful lead generation tools that can tie directly into social media efforts.

If you’re interested in social media training for your employees or would like to have an experienced professional take care of your social media management, contact me to learn more about how I can help.

Michelle Hummel is CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full-service digital marketing agency focused on Franchise Marketing. She was recently nominated for the Woman-Owned Business of the Year! She’s a passionate Social Media Trainer with 15+ years of successful online business development, sales, and marketing experience. She also holds a valuable Internet Marketing Degree however with the ever-changing world of web marketing she strives to learn something new every day. 

She travels Nationwide visiting her 22 Social Media Enthusiasts Chapters delivering in-depth social media training. She also provides Social Media Certifications through founding Web Media University. A current contributing editor to The Franchise Dictionary Magazine and she has written 3 books in her series called, “The Social Media Magnet: Everything You Need to Know to Attract Customers with Social Media”, where she shares her best-kept secrets to success. She also specializes in helping Franchisors and Franchisees develop an integrated web marketing program to drive leads. She’s available for interviews via email, telephone, Skype video, news segments on location and more. Just let her know how she can help!