[01.16.10]

With social media getting so much attention these days, the question on many a business owner's mind is how to convert such online engagement into qualified leads.

Lilia Shirman of the Shirman Group moderated a discussion recently about the use of social media for generating B2B leads. Conclusion, it boils down to quality content and lots of it.

Chances are, your audience is extremely busy. Just like you, they have too many things to do and too little time to get them done. They must constantly and quickly decide what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

What we're trying to do by using social media is have a meaningful conversation that will produce the right result: a new customer. Equating the use of social media to the delivery of an elevator pitch, during those few seconds of having the audience's attention, you need to convince them to respond in a way that benefits both of you. In short, your pitch should make them understand what you're talking about and why they should care.

Per Chris O'Leary, author of Elevator Pitch Essentials: "An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea, product, service, project, person, or other solution and is designed to just get a conversation started."

When using social media, keep this idea of the Elevator Pitch in mind. Never bore your audience, test for what creates the greatest response, and give people a next step. When you're done with the Pitch, don't stop there: use analytics to see if your strategy leads to engagement, integrate social media with other tactics, and always follow up with your respondents.