The first step to successful online lead generation is growing your business/social network database. The second step is to attract as much traffic as possible from your social channels to your website landing pages and converting these visitors into engaged contacts and clients.
The dual process of increasing social following and leading it to your product pages will help generate fresh interest in your business.
The lead generation process should be tied-in with marketing analytics so that you can track performance of the social channels you use compared to other marketing and sales channels. This often presents a set of unique challenges for marketers, especially when dealing with a relatively new social network like Google+.
Below is a study of the Google+ lead generation process as well as some of the features on Google+ that will help you increase your sales.
What is Lead Generation?
To be successful on Google+ it is crucial that you understand the lead generation process. For starters, the 'landing page' listed below is a web page that contains a form where an website visitor enters his or her business contact details in exchange for free information like an eBook, a product demonstration, a product consultation or webinar.
An 'online lead' is the person that completes your landing page form. An inbound lead is the person who has visited your site because he or she submitted their contact details and received the free information. This means that they already have an idea of what your business is all about as well as what products and services you offer.
This will save your sales team in terms of time and money, as well as allowing them to establish trust and credibility from the very start of the sales process.
The Google+ Lead Generation Process Explained
For the Google+ lead generation process to take place, the following 2 steps have to be achieved:
Step 1: Increase your following on your Google+ page
For you to increase the number of +1s on your Google+ page, you need to provide fresh and relevant content regularly. You should also increase the number of Circles or Communities you are are part of. This process involves the identification of goals and optimization of your Google+ page.
Identification and setting of goals & metrics: Before jumping into lead generation with Google+, it is crucial to set goals for your marketing efforts and always keep track of your progress. You need to put in place the correct marketing analytics to get an accurate picture of where you are heading with your campaign.
Optimize your Google+ page: It is important to optimize your entire profile for conversion. An optimized page means a more complete page featuring compelling cover and profile images, an informative and concise introduction, an about section that includes links as well as adding product videos and photos.
Step 2: Drive Google+ traffic to your landing page
With a solid following and engagement with your G+ communities you can lead them to your company’s landing pages. This is achievable using links on your status updates, hangouts, pictures or videos.
Generating New Leads Through Content Updates
One of the best means to utilize Google+ for the generation of leads is through posting compelling and relevant content updates that contain links to your landing page.
Therefore, you need to capture the interest of people using interesting blog posts, videos, webinars, white papers & eBooks, reports and interviews. Such content will help generate discussions around your products and topics as well as get your followers to visit your site to consume the linked content or read additional pages on your site. To achieve this you need to:
Share quality, compelling content
Time the frequency of your postings - don't have too much content coming out on the same day and nothing appearing for days
Learn from other companies that have put Google+ to good use
Make your posts personal
Generating Leads Through Videos and Images
Google+ offers you with the facility to add images and videos. You can also either add a photo as a profile picture or a page cover. This allows you to add a link leading to your landing page on the actual video, image or as part of the description text.
Generating Leads Through Google Circles
Google Circles allows you to segment your followers into different groups, thus letting you share different sets of information with different people. This will allow your company to provide targeted messages to specific customers based upon their behaviors and demographics.
To Create Circles You Can Either:
- Assign different groups of followers to specific circles
- Ask the followers to choose the Google+ Circle best suited for them
- Others will however create a combination of the above by allowing followers to select the Circle while the administrator assigns them to specific groupings.
Add the +1 Button to Your Website
+1 buttons can be added to any page on your website and are helpful in expanding the reach of your content. When you encourage your reader to share the link in his or her Circles, it contributes significantly to the efforts made during the segmentation process. The button also helps to accumulate social recommendations thereby building “social proof” meaning that prospective clients are likely to trust you more once they see the large number of people who like your products.
Google+ provides you with uniquely creative opportunities to generate more sales leads for your business. However, while debating the lead generation path to take, it is crucial that you take into consideration how it fits in your inbound marketing strategy. The most important point - provide people with quality content that they want and that will encourage them to start interacting with your business.
