Is there a way to use social media in lead generation?

[akw]

Can I use social media in lead generation? Is it a good idea? pros/cons?

[cadman_chui]

Of course you can use social media. It is one of the new ways to generate interest and brand awareness. Apart from directly advertising on them, you can use a viral technique as well. Look up the Tropicana's Inuvik campaign or The Cove Save the Dolphins campaign on Facebook for viral examples.

[LoveGolf]

My only caution is to make sure you do not add the noise people receive on products. I had my son complain to me how Facebook is causing email spam -- these are issues marketers have long struggled to perfect. It is clear though, that social media for many products and offerings is a great forum to use for raising awareness.

[akw]

[quote="cadman_chui"]Of course you can use social media. It is one of the new ways to generate interest and brand awareness. Apart from directly advertising on them, you can use a viral technique as well. Look up the Tropicana's Inuvik campaign or The Cove Save the Dolphins campaign on Facebook for viral examples.[/quote]

Thanks for the info on the two campaigns - I'll look them up.

Given that I'm a rookie marketer. A few questions

1) How would I track where the leads come from?
2) How does brand awareness relate to leads or said differently how can i track how many leads my brand awareness is bringing in.

[dalleave]

Absolutely. Social media should be part of your search engine optimization strategy. Most search engines use links generated from social media applications to help rank your site based on a given search. Using social media to help drive those links is important as it can drive prospects to your site. The more followers you have in twitter the greater your authority and the more weight that search engine companies will assign to that account. It is then your job to nurture those prospects through your site in a manner that will qualify them as a viable prospect. Once they are properly qualified they can be passed onto your sales team. So by all means look at all your social media outlets to help improve your search engine ranking.

[cadman_chui]

AKW,


To track the leads from any online source, just send them to a specific landing page on your website related to your social media campaign. Then you can figure out from the web logs where those people came from. A more sophisticated way to do this is to use cookies and have them installed on their browser on the landing page. The next time they fill out a form on your website (even if it's months down the road) you can extract the cookie and figure out which campaign they first laid eyes on your company.



Cadman.

[mike.ziarko]

I agree with Cadman.

Lead generation is exactly what social media should be used for. Pro: it allows you to connect to millions of people quickly and easily. Con: when communicating as a business in an open forum you must ensure you represent yourself in a planned and intentional manner.