On February 21, Lauren Vaccarello, Senior Director of Digital at Salesforce.com, will host a webinar titled, “How to Generate Leads for B2B with Online Media.” The webinar will show how search marketing, retargeting, and conversion optimization can be used to drive B2B leads.

In anticipation of Lauren’s presentation, we decided to give you a few ideas for generating leads for B2B using social media.

Build a Strong Network of Ties

Did you know that 60% of the sales cycle is over before a buyer talks to your salesperson? That’s why building a relationship with potential customers is a critical first, second, and third step. To create strong ties, you need three things: interaction, affection, and time, all of which social media can aid. Connect with people online, provide valuable content and insight and then nurture these connections over time to build strong ties.

Influence Connections for Content Sharing

Publishing and sharing content online is the biggest way to increase lead generation. Content should be solution-based, rather than product-based, so you need to create helpful content. One way to do this is to follow the 10-4-1 rule, in which your social accounts drive to 10 third-party articles, 4 of your blog posts and 1 landing page. Base this ratio on how long it takes you to create four blog posts.

Master Social Conversion

Social conversion is the idea that you can leverage social activities to improve your conversion rate. Social conversion can help more people read, share, and click on call-to-action buttons. The formula for social conversion: social proof + strong ties = social conversion. Social proof helps people relieve anxiety about taking actions based on the actions of others. For instance, showing a ticker of the number of social shares on a blog post shows that others have already shared that post.

Buy Social Ads

Paid advertising on social media can help you generate leads. Some examples of ways to do so are:

  • Use a Facebook ad to drive traffic to your website
  • Link back to dedicated landing pages for conversion
  • Organize ad distribution by target personas

Are you interested in other ways in which you can generate leads to B2B using online media? Register now for our webinar with Lauren Vaccarello on Thursday, February 21.