Social Marketing: Connecting the Sell & Selling Connection

In digital marketing’s social-local-mobile convergence, social has proven its vital role in growing B2C leads today. Increasingly, social media is the force driving B2B and B2B2C sales, providing 360 degrees of digital influence.

Facebook ad spending grew substantially over the third and fourth quarters of 2011, outpacing the same periods in 2010 and even the impressive growth of paid-search spending. Facebook's ads proved increasingly popular among consumers, too, with ad impressions and click-through rates skyrocketing over last year.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s aggregating of industry-specific buzz proves more influential than ever, funneling traffic to destinations of special interest. In fact, Sherpa! Web Studios has observed the majority of referral visits to the site of one client’s website originate entirely from clicks on Tweeted links.

As social media channels increase and expand their ecosystem of sharing and firms adopt more savvy marketing tactics, these trends will accelerate.

The millennial generation, raised on a diet of interactive social networking, value online communities and shareable, user-generated content over other information sources, including friends and family. Access to consumer input across personalized social media channels and corporate websites is essential in their purchase decision and perception of a business’s credibility — anywhere, anytime, from any online device. Today, the spending power of the most connected generation exceeds $200 billion. In five years, it will eclipse the Baby Boomers’.

How will your company stay connected and, better yet, harvest the abundant information your customer community is willing to give?

Here are 10 ways to ensure your company stays propelled ahead by social media:

1. Calls to Action: Publicize your presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ across your website. The ultimate call to action is adding potential new customers to your social networks and vice versa.
2. Integrate: Add share buttons for major channels on top-visited pages, encouraging visitors to spread the word.
3. Entice: Incentivize people to like, follow, or add your company by offering social-only giveaways, contests, and discounts.
4. Sponsor: Launch a sweepstakes campaign underscoring personal brand experience, prompting followers to create a story and share.
5. Ask: Prompt your customers and prospects to review and comment on products and services.
6. Convert: Add fans and followers into email and SMS text subscriber lists with a quick web form, again providing an incentive.
7. Grow: Request new subscribers refer their friends, rewarding them with a coupon or greater value added to the social-only incentive offer.
8. Converse: Don’t just sit there; engage with your fans! Respond to their comments and posts.
9. Educate: Provide continuously refreshed, share-worthy content.
10. Analyze: Track responses to determine the most favorable time of day to engage with status updates, emails, and texts.

About Sherpa! Web Studios
Headquartered in Atlanta and with a global presence in Uruguay, Sherpa Web! Studios is a digital marketing agency with peer-ranked excellence in web design, search and social marketing, and digital technology solutions. Its award-winning blend of proven digital marketing strategies and cost-effective technical capabilities offers a holistic, results-oriented approach to digital marketing. In 2008 Sherpa! was awarded “Most Effective Search Marketing” by their industry peers, and was most recently awarded “Most Effective Local Marketing” in 2011. For more information, follow the firm at twitter.com/sherpastatus.