Mind the top of the funnel, please

Social media can help to make communication frictionless. But what does that mean when we talk about its role helping a brand. All too often, we forget that a brand should be using social media to drive business objectives. Just because we like having conversations on Facebook or Twitter with our friends, it should not direct an organization to spend the bulk of its time trying to have conversations with it’s customers just because it is part of a social media strategy.

People get caught up talking about the warm and fuzzy feelings that customers will have towards a brand through social media. And this can be a barrier to think about how this medium can really be helpful. We need to refocus on the sales funnel, and think about how social can assist throughout. A sales funnel typically consists of basic variations of the following five stages: awareness, interest, engagement, conversion and advocacy. It is definitely easier to use social media to focus on engagement and advocacy, especially since that’s where people are talking, but often the interest and awareness part of the funnel gets neglected in the process.

Given the high percentage of people online researching and evaluating before making purchases, it would make sense for organizations to use social media to communicate and meet potential customers at the earlier stages as well. This typically means content creation, and there is nothing wrong with putting together content that is branded and marketed to answer the questions and concerns of a buying public.

People know that you are a brand. You are not going to fool them by being on Facebook. So, act like one. Listen to what people want to know, and provide them the information that can move them from awareness to interest to engagement. Marketing and sales have not changed. It’s just the medium and method, so don’t forget any of the steps along the way.

Originally Published Nov 2011