Most of us know that social networking is the place to be for online marketing. As entrepreneurial moms, we have to balance how much time we spend on this with our family obligations. So, the question becomes, “Are you using it effectively as a lead generation tool?”

At my recent Metromom Online Success Telesummit, I spoke with Nancy Marmolejo, a mom entrepreneur and a Social Networking Strategist. She has some magic secrets for turning social networking followers into fans and those fans into leads and I want to share them with you.

Nancy calls it the social media impact cycle. Here’s how it works for your target audience:

First, she starts off as an observer. She sees all kinds of people online. Maybe she belongs to a group, or is just looking randomly at Twitter or Facebook and seeing the whole stream. Nothing in particular is popping out at her – she’s just an observer.

Then, something happens that piques her interest and she goes from an observer to a follower. Something makes her say, “That person is a really interesting individual. I’m always getting these incredibly helpful hints from her. I think I’ll get a little bit closer and become a friend or follower.”

Next, a follower becomes a fan because she loves the way your personality shines as you communicate with people in an authentic way. She begins to tell other people about you. She retweets your stuff, shares your posts on Facebook, and makes a recommendation for you on LinkedIn. You’ve earned her trust by showing yourself to be credible.

Finally, that fan can easily transition to becoming a lead. She might sign-up for a call that you’re doing or for your free ezine or subscribe to your blog.

And ultimately, once a fan becomes a lead, she easily turns into a client. She has developed a trust in you. She already feels as if she knows you because you have been putting yourself out there in such an authentic way. She knows she wants to work with you.

How does the whole process really work? It’s based on value, credibility and trust. These are the three primary triggers that will move somebody to become a lead and ultimately your client. Just remember that it will take time because it takes a lot for people to develop trust – this is not an overnight strategy.

There are so many more tips on what to do and what not to do. If you would like to listen to my entire interview with Nancy Marmolejo, “How to Turn Followers Into Fans (and Fans into Leads!) With Social Networking”, click here. It will help you to avoid some of the common mistakes that could cost you fans, followers, and ultimately sales.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Business Planning, Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.