B2B Lead Generation and Qualification Benefitted By Social Media

 

The integration of social media in the process of B2B appointment setting and B2B lead generation and qualification is admittedly a bit challenging to understand at the first go. Experts opine that this difficulty mainly springs from the fact that in a basic B2B lead nurture ‘funnel’, communication processes are highly sequential. First and foremost thing is awareness; then the consideration; which then makes way for trial. Only after these three phases are completed, one can hope for a sale. It is believed that marketers heavily depend on the visualization of the sales funnel. It helps them to fine-tune the emails and tailor the sales pitches and make them more appealing to the prospects which increase the chances of a successful sale. The challenge lies in the fact that the prospects hardly ever think of using social media in a tidy and sequential pattern. It is this factor that makes it difficult for the marketers to clearly visualize the far-reaching impact of social media on the sales funnel. While analyzing the said impact, it is absolutely imperative to understand that a prospective buyer can engage with social media throughout his or her buying cycle. There can be no denial to the obvious fact that starting from the stage of awareness to the stage of vendor validation, the requirements of the clients evolve. And they expect that the related contribution of the social media would evolve accordingly too. It is because of this reason that, during the process of lead nurture; unparalleled scopes of social engagement come up. The intensity of the impact of social media on the B2B lead generation and qualification would probably be easier to understand if it is broken down into some simple steps or phases: i) The first phase centers on the factors of visibility and approachability. This is actually the initial stage when the marketers try to gain the trust of their prospective clients. In this phase extra-emphasis is put on the keyword-optimized content and thus, the prospects can easily find relevant web content in the organic searches that they conduct. This relevant content gradually creates brand awareness among the prospects and they slowly start believing that the marketed product or service would actually cater to their requirements. Social media works as a ‘thought influencer’ by giving the prospects the chance to ask for more information, find new solutions and be a part of the related communities. ii) The second phase focuses on content sharing. Social channels magnify the power of emails immensely and help the client to share the content with others. With the power of social media in hand the telemarketers can get a chance to research their client and chalk-out a sales process that suits the client perfectly. In this way, they get a wonderful scope to make the entire sales process more interesting and enjoyable for the client. iii) The third phase is all about the maintenance of the client’s trust that has been built over the first two phases. In this regard, the social sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Face book, etc. allow the consultative sales representatives to share their profiles with the prospect and thereby prove their professional expertise. This phase also contributes immensely in making the entire sales process much smoother and better; just like the second phase. Thus, social media not only facilitates the process of B2B appointment setting, but also enhances an organization’s quality of work through effective B2B lead generation and qualification.}