Do you need (and secretly pray for) more leads? Some years back, someone heard you and came up with the social-media-4-biz solution. *smile Yes, we’d dare say that there’s a Social Media Fairy to drive more leads to your online shop, but, please, let’s keep it between us. Just shove your traffic numbers under your pillow every night and in the morning get inspiration from our article on how to drive more traffic from Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Have you noticed the obvious – how we have and get the greatest impact and the best response to an initiative in that short time right after the breakthrough? Well, this post is for you if you’re interested in how to still leverage that, how to capitalize NOW on social media’s breakthroughs from 10 years ago. We need to understand how to do business today so that we can actually do it. And hack it, eventually! That’s why they teach history in schools, right? *wink
3 A-Ha Moments for Online Shop Owners:
- Always start with the end in your mind: It’s not about you, it’s about them, the customers!
- Social Branding is Cultural Branding and that means a different approach when trying to generate leads.
- If you didn’t measure it, it didn’t happen!
The 2 Questions we’re going to answer with each point are:
- What did social media do and how it really changed the Business Game Rules?
- How can you capitalize on that today to generate more leads?
We’re also feeling generous today, so we’ll let you know what’s the SIMPLEST 1 ACTION you can take RIGHT NOW to generate more leads!
1. Wider Markets Generate More Leads!
How did widening markets change the way we did business?
Borderless, online markets became emergent and they’re in full speed developing mode as we speak. Thus, providers dive into international realms and try them out. On the other side, social media also enabled customers to break geographical barriers and group into multicultural cohorts of data propagators. In order to maximize their penetration, offerers must somewhat reposition; whereas, from a business perspective, clients only need to do what they do best – talk to their friends and friends of friends about what they like – recommend brands.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Defining your group target and coming up with a viable, detailed Buyer Persona!
- Spending time on all social media where your Buyer Persona is with a genuine curiosity to find out who they are, what they truly need and whom they want you to be!
Asking the right questions:
- What’s their subculture about? The subculture they’re part of tells you about the big picture and how you’ll fit in there!
- What are they complaining about? What “hurts” (as in what disturbs them) and how do they want to feel instead? Yes, problem solver is our middle name. Sign your tag name!
- What delights them? – This is how to impress and surprise them. This deep glee is what’ll make them talk about you. You have 10 ways to delight your customers right here! Use them wisely, my friend.
Your Key Learning Points:
- It’s not about you, but about them!
- You’re here to solve their problems! That’s all. If that’s not your purpose in business, then… It was a pleasure meeting you, but buh-bye for now.
- Borders have widened, but (unlike popular belief) you need to narrow your approach!
2. Speed Up Is The New LEADS Up!
How did speeding up our processes change the way we did business?
It’s all about speed these days! Both technical and personal information volumes have gone through the roof since social media. So, if we want to keep current, we need to digest more and more chunks of material in the same amount of time. This is what makes gadgets and apps relevant for our day to day life. We start with push notifications keeping us informed with the latest news on BrExit, move up to the European championship halftime score, then, another pop up with the newest Pokemon Go! news, and end with how our high school sweetheart has a new relationship status.
That’s all in our mobiles, now!
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Organizing your content into Informational Nuggets!
- Add a Push Notifications service to your store, so that customers know when you post a new article, offer/product. ConversionXL – one of the sites I’m always on the waiting for notifications from – works with Pushcrew.
Your Key Learning Point:
- It’s all about bits and pieces of information that make a difference or that solve a dilemma for your customers!
3. The Right Numbers Determine The Right Actions, Which In Turn, Drive More LEADS!
How did taking the right actions change the way we did business?
As we briefly stated above, the right numbers drive success in business and especially in e-commerce. Over time and with technological advancement, in order to enhance value while saving time and effort, the purpose became that of automating decision-making processes. We have 5 main components to juggle with: data, analytics, human input, decisions and action. Thus, to enable predictive accuracy we tend to reduce human input and increase the added value of statistics so that decisions can be supported and automated.
There are 4 types of analytics that we work with:
- Descriptive Analytics – it describes what has happened.
- Diagnostic Analytics – it explains why certain events have happened. Finding the actual root of our challenge helps with understanding the overall process and pinpointing exactly where improvements are to be brought.
- Predictive Analytics – given the numbers, it anticipates what is expected to happen.
- Prescriptive Analytics – it gathers inter-disciplinary, big data; it takes into consideration business rules and processes and gathers them together into predictive models; in the end, it comes up with decision suggestions based on the previous forecasts.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Deciding which are your Key Performance Indicators and how can you measure them. We talked more about how social media supports decision making here.
Your Key Learning Point:
- Businesses are decision-making machines! To drive more decisions, faster, you need the right kind of data.
4. Goal Driven Metrics Generate Even More LEADS!
How did goal driven metrics change the way we did business?
Goal driven metrics in today’s context means that business goals are measured based on social media data collection and analysis. This focus provides ways to understand how driving traffic from social networks to our sites really works and later on, the capability of improving those conversion rates. Because there are at least 100 ways and at least 100 performance indicators for social media results, we need to choose those specific data that apply to our endeavors and thriving identity. At the same time, are these the indicators that hide your needed answers?
Somewhat off topic, here: take a second and think of what you’re really measuring. In the words of Tristan Harris, do we value the net, positive contribution we’re making to human life? If we want to create a new context, in which we truly add value to our customers’ lives, we should measure our offering to THEIR LIVES, instead of our input to our own bottom line. Right? *wink.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Step 1: Ask yourself: What brings real value to my customers’ lives? / What’s the net, positive contribution I’m bringing to my customers’ lives?
How do I measure that? - Step 2: Follow Noah’s awesome, scientific approach to marketing.
Your Key Learning Point:
- If you didn’t measure it, it didn’t happen!
5. Customer Centricity Generates LEADS!
How did customer centricity change the way we did business?
The very hip and popular strategic move you see all over the internet these days is customer centricity. Ever since customers started to loudly voice their demands on social media and get closer to the overall business environment, we shifted from customer-centric marketing to customer-centric everything. Being more encouraged to offering feedback and reviewing, consumers are being actively engaged in more and more production sectors. Representing the highlight of the care and delight scheme, clients are more and more involved, making it a two-way dialogue. If they want to stay relevant, companies are somewhat compelled to add this new customer filter to their business.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Designing all organizational/business tools around your customers. Keep it simple and start with Simon Sinek’s golden circle.
This would be AYG Romania’s focus circle, as an example. The consumer centricity is bold, being our core focus. *wink
- Blogging to get strangers’ attention, attract them to your shop and then turn them into visitors
- Designing a Landing Page to turn visitors into leads
- E-mailing to turn leads into customers
- Social monitoring so that you could delight your clients
Your Key Learning Points:
- Again, it’s not about you, but about them – the customers!
- Attract, Convert, Close, and Delight your customers!
You are halfway to finding out the simplest way you can take instantly to generate more leads to your online shop… *wink
6. Influencers Drive LEADS!
How did being able to access influencers change the way we did business?
Another improvement and a key piece of your marketing plan in today’s social media puzzle is reaching the people you wouldn’t normally do. In terms of working smart, not hard, providers’ purpose is to get to the people who can determine the other people who buy. They are called influencers or tribe leaders and they have an audience – sometimes small, other times large. But it’s not always about the numbers. In this matter, for instance, it has to do with engagement and how dedicated his crowd is.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Using the BuzzSumo App – an awesome content profiler tool that besides returning the most popular content for a chosen keyword or domain, it can also help you spot your influencers and start approaching them individually.
Your Key Learning Point:
- Work smart, not hard! Target the ones who influence the crowds!
7. Web Personalization Techniques Skyrocket LEADS Numbers!
How did influencing buys change the way we did business?
Going from screen to screen might be tiring sometimes. That’s why Google search anticipates the end of our sentences, Facebook feeds us with commercials on the clothes we just searched, and Twitter displays the trends in our geographical area. And so much more. All social networks want to anticipate our needs and feed us with the exact subjects of our interests. They even give us menu limited options for that *wink – so they can help us focus. *double-wink They’re all using web personalization techniques to reach us directly and close us as clients.
- Implementing Web Personalization techniques, such as: A/B Split campaigns to see which out of two slightly different designs are more appealing to your audience, or heat maps to see what parts of your screen are more and more appealing to your customers – as in where do they look first or for the longest time, etc.
Your Key Learning Point:
- Unique user experience is what you’re aiming at, your shop’s key trait.
8. A New Way Of Defining BRAND EXPERIENCE Lines Up To Trends That Generate More LEADS!
How did the new brand experience change the way we did business?
The brand concept has gone through a continuous metamorphosis through the years. It started just as brand awareness, then evolved into brand ambassadorship, and now it became about living through the entire brand journey. So, in time, it’s been mostly about needs (I’m selling the best product for you), reputation (I’m the best you can buy this product from) and culture (I’m selling the best product for your tribe). Now, the interesting point in brand evolution is that earlier concepts hadn’t been lost or left out, but were incorporated into the new ones. Hence, the brand awareness – brand experience jump. Customers today care about concepts and experiences. They want to sink in the entire meaning of who you are; they want to make sure you have the same values and principles as they do; and if so, you’re in – in their group/pack/tribe/cohort/etc., that is; they want to relate to and befriend you; they want to interact with you and talk about you; they want to get involved with your offerings, especially since they’re the end receivers; and they do all that just to get your product/service. Why? Because they’re under the impression that you’ve tailored it especially for them. In all our collective efforts to unite and come together, we still need to feel special.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Tailoring experiences and emphasizing on the stories behind your products!
- Selling stories by creating new content and blogging about what you’re offering
Your Key Learning Point:
- What’s the story behind the offer?
9. Driving TRAFFIC From Social Media Means More LEADS!
How did the new traffic generation change the way we did business?
We build our lives on social media – we use Facebook to find our businesses’ stories and identities, Pinterest to make a wishlist with all the products we desire, LinkedIn to look for jobs, Twitter to stay updated with company news and trends, etc. Consequently, it’s only natural that social media would drive all that traffic towards our websites. As stated in a previous article, we socially shop online because it’s time saving, more convenient, it allows us to still be flexible and, essentially, it makes no difference.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Updating all your social media profiles with the right kind of information and a link to your Landing/Home Page. In the picture below, from profile to profile, you can see the different Bio to match the audience interest – and also, the different kind of content for each page.
Your Key Learning Points:
- Connect your profiles in simplicity!
- Don’t recycle content, but customize!
10. Increased SALES Volumes Are A Direct Result Of LEADS Generation!
How did Social Media sales change how we did business?
This is when we start paying attention and actually reading, right? *smile. Consumers research all there is about us and make their purchase decisions based on social media content. Then, they buy. It’s as simple as that. The better (useful and satisfying) information we give, the clearer it is for them that we’re what they need, respectively the ones who contribute to adding value to their lives. That’s even easier now when Facebook has their “Buy” button up and working. Social media is going this way of allowing businesses to penetrate more in a for-customer-environment.
Generate more leads NOW by:
- Bringing your store on social networks by building a page and adding the “Buy” button directly.
Your Key Learning Point:
- Shorten the path to your customers!
All in all, social media opened a whole new range of opportunities and ways to reach out further than before. We mainly digitize as much as we can out of the offline and the actual stores. But the simplest 1 action that we promised at the beginning of this article is to… MEASURE EVERYTHING!
Actually, here’s what we’ll do – we’ll give you 3 final Tips & Tricks!
- MEASURE EVERYTHING! And after you’ve measured it find out THE WHY! What’s the story behind the numbers? That’s one of the most powerful questions you could ever ask yourself.
- READ our E-Book – The Definitive Guide on How to Build Clientele in Today’s E-Commerce Context! Yes, it’s long, *smile but it’s greatly synthesized and you’ll get some cool a-ha moments on how things work online, most probably a new perspective and a framework on how to implement a new marketing strategy on the traditional 4 pillars.
- Contact us directly and allow us to diagnose YOUR online shop for FREE and come up with suggestions on what you should pay attention to in the future!
Even more, we’re publishing weekly insights and articles like this one – doing our best to stay relevant for you and keep you updated on how to thrive and improve your online shop’s performance. So, if that’s something you’re interested in, tell us what you would like to read about. We promise we’ll make it happen!
And please do me a little favor and share this guide with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their marketing endeavors.
