by Becky DeStigter

Global social media in its many forms represent powerful marketing tools for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies. This topic is much larger than could be covered in one article, so for now, we'll stick with the basics.

 

Lead Generation

 

Which social media platform is the best lead generation tool ever invented? It's Twitter, definitely. This often-misunderstood tool plays host to millions of new users each year from all over the world. In business, the best use of Twitter is to meet potential clients, partners and suppliers and engage them in conversation. Conversations may start in Twitter, but if this is someone with whom you need to develop a relationship, then the conversation should move to email, phone, video call or in-person meetings. All Twitter conversations should help you start qualifying potential sales, partners and supply contracts.

 

Internationally, you may also want to consider additional sites. RenRen is the number one social media site in China. (China currently bans Twitter and Facebook). Orkut is an important social media site if you are marketing to Brazil. Consider sending out tweets and other messages in the native languages of countries important to your company. Also, be ready with a call to action from tweets/messaging—what do you want potential contacts to do? Normally companies try to drive traffic to their website, which leads us to the next subject…

 

Fresh New Content

 

On average, a potential client will visit a company website four to seven times before making actual contact to do business. If your company website is unchanged from week to week (if not day to day), then there is no reason for a prospective client to return more than two times. By now, all companies should have some type of blog on their website that delivers new content relevant to target markets on a regular basis. Depending on the nature of the industry and international markets your company serves, you may want to try a segmented or global approach to blogging.

 

For the segmented approach, a company would likely have separate landing pages that are localized for a specific country, region or language. Each segment would have its own blog written in the local language and featuring local clients, market news, etc.

 

In the global approach, the assumption is that potential customers would feel comfortable reading a widely-used business language such as English. Blogs would be written to appeal to a much wider audience. If you are using the global approach, be sure to edit content for any references to the native country that would not be understood overseas. An example I commonly see is to reference national government agencies such as the American IRS or the European CE mark. Also avoid culture-specific idioms. Twitter, Facebook, Xing, Orkut and other platforms can then be used to announce the new content on your site and drive online traffic to your company.

 

Market Research

 

Like most International Marketing and Expansion Specialists, I prefer to combine primary and secondary research when I investigate a new overseas market. Since social media is about starting and developing conversations, I find it especially useful in my primary market research. Again, Twitter is my favorite tool. I can use the most specifically-defined criteria to find and meet contacts in a new market.

 

For instance, I once needed to interview an experienced social media contractor in Milan to get their perspective on aspects related to their local market. I sent a tweet out in Twitter: "Does anyone know of an experienced social media contractor in Milano?" Within a half hour I had the names of several referred social media contractors in Milan. Many of these names came with introductions from their sources. Using Twitter always reminds me of just how few degrees of separation actually exist between me and the right contact.

 

Next month, I will follow up with Part 2 in this series where I will write about developing conversations especially with prospective customers and also managing your social media brand. I confess that most of what I know about social media I learned from social media expert and trainer, Linda Hughes (@iempoweru on Twitter) who is CEO of Entrepreneur Community Online. If you need help getting started, Linda is a great resource.