Are You Using Webinars To Build Sales Leads?

Webinars are a great tool for building sales leads in the new social media marketing world. The question is, are you using them to get closer to your customers?

I know you are getting inundated with webinar promotions and I know what you are probably saying, why in the world would anyone come to my webinar? Well, if you have Fans, Followers, email lists and the like, you have a bunch of people that like you and want to get to know you better. Webinars are another way to get your prospects down the funnel to become a buyer!

Webinars should be a consistent feature to your social media marking program. Use your distributed presence on all those web 2.0 sites and your blog to promote your webinars. You have a big presence now. Use it to drive people to get more involved with your business.

Tips for Success

1. Sign up for a Webex or GoToWebinar account. You will be able to do customization of various forms and email templates that participants will see when you invite them or when they are waiting for the webinar to start. Make sure you have logos and pictures available so you can customize the webinar software for your business. It’s a nice touch and you will look more professional than the others.
2. Create a presentation that your target prospects will want to hear. Go back to your research about the most burning questions that they have. Maybe use a topic from an article or whitepaper that you have for “link bait”. Get comfortable giving that presentation. Most webinar software has a practice webinar feature that your can work with so you get familiar with the mechanics or using the software.
3. Follow the instructions for creating and sending invitations for whatever webinar service you are using. Make sure you are also familiar with all the tools and ticks like polls, answering questions, how to switch presenters and most important, how to record. Promote the webinar to all the audience you think are interested in the subject. Use your owned vehicles (blog, web 2.0 sites) and also go into other forums and blogs and make comments and invite people (be careful that you do not come off too much like you are selling; this is an informative webinar)
4. Get your audience to participate. Use polls, ask questions, get them to take action on your website. The idea is to get them involved with you and your business in a deeper way.
5. Follow up! You need to get these folks onto one of your auto-responders on your main list…not just the webinar software. That is why you want to get them to take an action on your website (sign up for something) so you can get a double optin and continue a dialogue with them.

Now go do it! You will get closer to your customers and enjoy the opporutnity to talk about what you love most…serving the market you are in.

Social Media Marketing: Why Videos are Cool Tools for Generating Leads

A huge part of the fun that social media marketing holds for innovative owners is the wide array of business marketing tools that are available to promote any company. You’re at liberty to try and then use whatever tool is more effective for your own business situation; it’s a matter of trying out and going with what works as each company is unique.

One very cool social media tool is video. If you’re into making movies, you may already have some up on YouTube. YouTube is now the world’s top search engine, having recently bypassed Google. But don’t worry about Google losing its edge—it bought YouTube in 2006. Together, YouTube and Google are behemoths of the search engine world.

YouTube’s tagline is: “Broadcast Yourself.” I might add, the better to sell your ideas and skills.

For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you might feel more at ease in showing how to design and balance white space with images in laying out an attractive magazine page—rather than write an article on how to do it. Video then is a terrific medium to show-n-tell with your voice-over explaining the steps, in synch with your hand actions.

Video production requires good lighting and a distinctive background to promote your brand image. So does a clear and crisp sound. Speak slowly and lucidly. Make sure there are no extraneous background noises. Script your production by outlining the process including words you’ll use. Rehearse beforehand. 2-4 minute videos are most effective.

Meantime, you’ll have a silent production partner promoting your company. That is, use a white board as your backdrop with your business name and website written on it. Just be sure it’s in the eye of the camera.

The whole idea behind social marketing is to get people to start commenting on, and exchanging, ideas. As I mentioned in one of my articles, that’s how I met up with Michael Licamele, VP of Marketing at TotalMortgage.com. As a result of our meeting through social networking, we’re now teaming up to write a book on how real estate agents can use social media for marketing properties. From out of the blue!

Don’t let Internet marketing for small business slip by you. Don’t play small, either. Stretch your reach and be amazed at how you can cultivate leads that last a lifetime—based on authentic, relationship-building.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Online Marketing and Advertising, go to http://www.gennextmedia.com today.

“Crush It” without Being Crushed By Social Media Marketing

Last night I listened in on a discussion with Gary Vaynerchuck, the author of the social media best seller “Crush It” and Eban Pagan. Eban did a masterful job as usual with the interview and Gary did not disappoint with his energy and enthusiasm for what he does, social media marketing 24/7, 365 days a year.

Gary lives the lifestyle. I have to confess I get tiered just thinking about how much Gary is engaged in his social community. The way I understand it, he personally answers all email, Tweets, Facebook comments, blog posts, creates a daily video show…and then he comments and contributes to other blogs and forums. Phew!

It was interesting when I check out Chris Brogans post this morning about social media needing to be a team sport. Our experience working on several products within the GenNext Social Media Labs, as well as our clients businesses large and small, is consistent with the observations Chris makes in his posts.

CEO and other senior level executives at any size organization will have a very tough time doing their job, and personally implementing the social media marketing processes and tactics Gary outlines in his book and in the interview. That does not mean the are wrong or misguided in any way, so please don’t send hate mail.  In fact, as Gary points out in his book, this creates a terrific opportunity for business owners who are passionate about a market to grow and be very successful by putting both large and small organizations on an equal playing field.

We think the key to social media marketing success over the long term is to implement work flow and tools that makes social marketing a group effort, both within your company and in some cases incorporating outside contractors for things like writing, video production, event planning an other specialties.

I am not saying executives can abdicate this responsibility. Senior management directly involved in social media marketing, like blogging, posting comments and even more importantly, listening, will make the business strong and the team better. But to make social media marketing a strategic cornerstone of your marketing plan (and we think you need to), it should be built into the business work flow in a way that it is sustainable and natural for the organization. Many tools and techniques exist to do this effectively.

What’s your opinion?

CDC Uses Social Media To Tackle The Swine Flu

If you ever wondered whether social media is becoming a mainstream communications platform this may be your tipping point. Fact is that to help educate and inform the public about this nasty virus (and many other communications needs), the CDC turned to social media and Web 2.0 applications.

Why? The same reason your business should.  It is a very efficient and effective means to engage with customers, and through education and information, move them to take action.  Let’s look at what they did:

CDC in Social Networking Sites

The CDC made social networking sites a centerpiece of their outreach and education to effectively and inexpensively reach individuals with personalized and targeted health information. CDC currently participates in four social networking sites:

Facebook

CDC launched the official CDC Facebook profile in May 2009 to communicate up-to-date information about novel H1N1 flu. This profile communicates featured health information daily and also highlights new social media information.

MySpace

In November 2007, CDC launched the official CDC MySpace page. The CDC MySpace profile includes blog posts, quick access health information and much more. CDC is using MySpace as a channel to direct users to consumer health information on CDC.gov, In addition, CDC badges are available through the CDC MySpace page, and users can get information on incorporating CDC health messages and graphics into their own pages, empowering our friends to become our advocates.

Daily Strength

DailyStrength is a collection of safe, anonymous, online support groups focused on specific health topics to help people overcome their personal challenge or support a loved one through theirs. CDC hosts a  group page on DailyStrength that provides access to CDC’s featured health information to empower individuals to lead healthier, safer lives.

CaringBridge

CaringBridge connects family and friends during a critical illness, treatment or recovery. CDC provides access to the CDC A-Z Index via content syndication automatically to every single CaringBridge profile.

Twitter/Microblogs Updates

The CDC uses Twitter to update people on new content that is released on their webiste, keep in contact with professionals and ping any significant updates to the general population.

Online Videos

The CDC releases on-line videos that are educational (how to make sure you wash your hands properly) to educational (how to use disposable respirators). These become viral and also get indexed by search engines for people who are searching for solutions on these topics.

The CDC also uses RSS, Widgets, Text Messaging, website badges and other applications to complete the social media platform. You can learn more about what they are doing at http://www.cdc.gov/SocialMedia/Campaigns/H1N1/index.html.

The key here is the CDC has created a consumer and professional communications platform with all these a various tools.  They do not cost a ton of money to maintain, and they can activate people very quickly.  Wouldn’t that be nice to be able to do that for your business?  I also like the idea that the government is finding powerful but inexpensive ways to communicate to us!

Lead Generation Marketing: Bigger Profits and More Leads Using the Social Web

Learn the secrets of multiplying your online business profits through list building with social media tools?

Lead generation for businesses is a key component for creating a powerful list of subscribers to whom you can readily send information. If you are looking for a way for your online business to flourish and your brand to become a household name, you need to incorporate this into your marketing plan. List building is useful in that it provides a bank of names of which you have regular contact; submitting relevant content that will increase your website traffic and lead to more profit for your business. There are various social media tools that can help you build a relevant list.

Social Media Tools to Build Your List

As far as lead generation tools go, Facebook and Twitter are the hottest applications to capitalize on. In order to gather a following for either, you must present relevant data to users who already show an interest in your products and services. The key here is quality, not quantity. By providing appropriate information, you can attract people who are interested in your services in the future.

A key application to use in conjunction with these tools is the friend adder. This tool is great for local businesses because it allows you to search for people with specific interests in the same city. You can then send friend requests and get them to follow you and your business.

Blogs are another great tool to showcase your business and generate a list. You need to provide relevant text that can easily be found through search engine optimization, and build your list based on the interest of the reader. When you sell your product, keep it informative but entertaining so that people want to continue reading. Once you gain a large following, search engines will put your blog at the top of the list when your keywords are typed in, thus getting you more traffic.

Relevant Content to Build Your List

The products you are promoting need to contain compelling content that grabs people’s attention. Use networking hooks that encourage people to repost and share with friends. Focus your content on your niche, and specialize in offering a service that other competitors don’t. When you provide a solution to a problem that other businesses in your community aren’t addressing, you will build your list that much more quickly.

Activate the List to Produce Sales

List building is a powerful way to market your small business. As your list grows, many subscribers will come to consider you as a source of linkable content, if you are consistently providing high quality information in your posts. Many web content users are always on the hunt for relevant content that they can refer to in their own posts. If your content is consistently being used, that increases your chances of website traffic as people click on the links to find out more information.

When it comes to sales, the key is the relationship. People want to buy products and services from someone that they know and trust. You need to create the kind of relationship where users rely on you for information in your niche, because you are the expert. It is also important to ask questions. Questions as to how you can provide more information for them that they can’t find online, or what help they need in deciding on a purchase are great ways to get feedback and build credibility and trust with those on your list.

Once you create a reputation as the subject matter expert in your niche and have built credible relationships with your subscribers, you will see how they come back to you consistently in order to buy your products.

Chris Marentis is a serial entrepreneur and recognized Internet Marketing expert having served as SVP at AOL and CEO of Clearspring Technologies. For more information on Lead Generation Marketing, go to http://www.surefiresocial.com today.