FREE Training:
How to Convert Social Media Contacts into Customers
Step 2 - React
Learn what PRM is and how ‘PRM NOW’, can help you Manage, Nurture and win more customers.
Are you posting loads of stuff on Social Media, but not getting the sales conversion you want?
In this ‘PRM NOW’ guide, I will take you through 6 quick and simple steps. These will show you how to convert your social media Contacts into Prospects, and then how you can win more sales from them, once they are customers.
Conversations, Conversations, Conversations
An interaction, such as a like, share, or comment, is an acknowledgement. It therefore opens up the space to talk. If it is the right time to do so, continuing that conversation can eventually lead to developing trust. After that, you’ve got a great chance of a successful conversion.
The Void
This is important because, as we all know, social media can make exposure extremely temporary, if not immediately pointless. There’s a real risk of a potential future prospect simply not seeing you in time. Whilst things like reposts, featured posts/pinned Tweets and hashtags help against the constant tide of content, this isn’t always preventable.
So starting a conversation and holding onto it is vital. By residing in their notifications, you can anchor yourself to the minds of the leads who might become your future customers.
But being present and memorable isn’t the end of the conversation. If a lead remembers you but never follows up, then they might as well not remember you at all. They need to be encouraged to actually do business with you. If you react now, and frequently, it will encourage them to react to you in the future.
Social media can be likened to a party, for example, or a conference event. Everything is there and everyone is talking. It’s loud, it’s noisy, and it’s easy to get distracted. At a party, you’d ask to take the conversation outside so you can hear each other better. You want to hear them properly, so you can react to their responses as best you can. This is the same as taking the conversation away from social media, and into channels you control. These are predominantly email, or direct chat, or over the phone. If they’re prospects worth your time, they’ll meet you there. To do this, you should (once permitted) collect their contact information.
LinkedIn stores information perfect for a CRM, so you can copy this data into your system. LinkedIn has the ability to download your contact’s details (see our infographic on How to Export your Linkedin Contacts). Alternatively, once you are connected with them, you can simply collect their details from the profile page. That way, with the information in place, you can always have them accessible so you never forget to follow up. Making them aware of your intention is especially important after GDPR came into effect in 2018.
This is where a direct request for conversation does best. You could invite contacts to follow your company on your various social media pages. One example of these would be social media forums. On Facebook, you can set up a Group revolving around your business to encourage conversation, problem-solving and reviews. This makes you more accessible to existing customers and leads, and make your company appear direct, open and contactable.
Another easy way to do this is by putting lead magnets in your content. These are offers marketers or companies make in exchange for contact information, usually an email address—for example, marketers offer content such as a downloadable guide automatically adds their email address to a specific campaign in your CRM. This could then be directly linked to, or shared to a wider audience through an offline or paid advertising campaign.
A Time and A Place
It is important not to scare contacts off. Typically the person that declares you their best friend forever five minutes after meeting you at a party won’t be the sort of individual you want to mix with again. Jumping the gun and overloading your lead with too much interaction too early on in the game drive them away.
This is why we suggest tagging/mentioning leads, especially on platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook, where the setting is serious and professional. But they have to be comfortable with you putting that first foot forward, and that usually requires some time to have passed with multiple interactions already under your belt. Even then, it has to be content they would be interested in—perhaps a local event, or a question they might be the right demographic for. When this goes well, this really solidifies that trust. They feel valued as an individual, which will turn them into a prospect and can increase the likelihood of an eventual sale.
Are They Good Enough?
In order to move onto the next stage, you need to know when you would turn a lead into a prospect. This is called prospect qualification, and it’s something your CRM can help with. So you need to ask: what are the questions you need your prospect to answer? What do you need to find out about them?
Five essential prospect qualifiers are:
1. Do they want/need your product/service?
2. Do they have ability to buy?
3. Are they the person with the bank details?
4. How likely is the purchase?
5. Are they eligible?
You can find out more about these here.
popcorn has prospect scoring built in, so when your leads tick the boxes, their score goes up. You can take this even further by setting up automation rules: when they reach a target number, you decide what automatically happens. Whether it’s a new place in the sales pipeline, or an email inviting them to a more direct conversation, it ensures you’re speaking to the right people.
And now you’ve had the right conversations with your contacts, you’re ready to move onto the next stage, Manage!
Discover the steps to PRM NOW
Step 1 – POST (4 mins)
‘NURTURE’ is about cultivating your leads, so that the opportunities stand out.
Step 2 – REACT (5 mins)
‘REACT’ discusses how to drive more ‘POST’ engagement and how to identify time wasters and real prospects.
Step 1 – MANAGE (3 mins)
‘MANAGE’ is a vital part of converting your Social Media Contacts whilst ensuring that leads are not missed.
Step 4 – NURTURE (4 mins)
‘NURTURE’ is about cultivating your leads, so that the opportunities stand out.
Step 5 – OPPORTUNITY (5 mins)
‘OPPORTUNITY’ goes though how to turn all the opportunities and successfully spot the HOT prospects.
Step 6 – WON (6 mins)
Now you’ve “WON” the customer, what should you do to turn them into advocates?
Ready to get started with popcorn Lead Management?
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