“Social media and lead management systems will unlock the power that lies within your sales team as these most important business trends gain momentum in 2021,” said Jason Kramer, CEO of Cultivize.
But only the companies with a plan and the right tools in place to grow an audience – and then engage them – have a fighting chance.
Today, it is important to keep your products and services top of mind with customers over a sustained period to see a return on investment. This means to use technology to create an experience by moving from a general conversation to a personal conversation about them and their needs.
Marketing on Social Media
Activity to generate leads on social media boomed during the pandemic, and some businesses found themselves overwhelmed by the messages and traffic. Companies that did not use social media, or use it effectively, must get better at it in 2021.
“Social media can be an effective marketing tool to grow your business,” said Adam Coughlin of Business.com.
Social media allows companies to create and scale an online presence, share their knowledge, sell their services, and connect with existing and new customers. This is not only done through calls to action on your website but also on business pages such as Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also create broader brand awareness through online communities, forums, or services like Instagram and TikTok.
“However,” Kramer cautioned, “your social media strategy has to be formalized in order to be effective.”
Lead Management in 2021
Leads from social media can be created for purposes such as e-newsletter list acquisition, further development of your social media audience, or for actual sales leads. How you acquire and manage leads that suggest customer interests and inquiries will define your campaign’s success.
Lead management captures new customers and moves your company forward. Rather than generating leads through networking, an online lead generation tool can transform a website, social media account, or newsletter into qualified leads that become revenue. These systems are not always easy, but they can be very profitable — if you identify the right tools.
JC Hite, Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor at Entrepreneur.com agrees, “Consider a software tool that can help your sales team identify demographics, search behavior, and see financial information.”
“In the end, it is about growing your email list, not just generating leads,” Kramer added. “How you manage those leads can pay huge dividends when you pay attention to lead nurturing because it is a lot less expensive to sell to leads you have than to go get more leads.”
Manage your leads by segmenting your CRM based on the demographic and engagement profiles. How well you do this will reflect positively on how you manage customer relationships and provide a satisfying experience overall.
Manage Customer Relationships on SharpSpring
The new year is a great time to introduce new efforts to your marketing and sales. Look for solutions that give you powerful, easy-to-use tools, so that you can concentrate on what matters most – building the growth you deserve.
SharpSpring, according to Kramer, is a widely used SaaS CRM that provides end-to-end lead identification, and pipeline management, as well as consolidated sales and attribution reporting. Other SharpSpring features include an editorial calendar, drip email campaigns, video calling, social media post scheduling, and a landing page designer for gated content.
SharpSpring also integrates with several other platforms, which makes it a valuable component in the lead generation and management tactics of your marketing strategy.
Get Cultivized in 2021
Kramer coined the phrase “Get Cultivized,” a combination of two very practical and powerful business lead nurturing ideas: Cultivate customer relationships, optimize sales performance. The Cultivize playbook shows you how to disrupt your market by intelligently nurturing your leads.
“Cultivize helps clients deploy SharpSpring because the right tool aligns your business’s people and processes,” Kramer said. “This is the key to reaching your sales goals.”
“My teammates are SharpSpring implementation specialists,” Kramer explained. “We make sure you can take full advantage of SharpSpring’s powerful features for social media and lead management.”
Want to Get Cultivized? Set up an initial coaching session to discuss your unique goals and pain points. We’ll provide you with an assessment of the areas you can improve performance, and show you how we can help you achieve your goals in 202
