7 Steps for Fueling New Business Through Social Media

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Since I launched my consultancy using social media in 2007, social media has become main-lined into traditional marketing. But, a lot of agencies  were caught “flat-footed” when it caught fire, being fueled by the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression. Most agencies didn’t jump into the social media arena until 2010. When they did relent, their engagement has been anemic,  as if they were merely checking a box to show their participation.

It’s time that agencies figure out how to execute an integrated social media strategy for new business. Those that do will have a strategic advantage over their competitors as the others remain confused about social media.

I’ve had the privilege of working with agencies in almost all fifty states in the U.S. and work with advertising, digital, media and PR agencies in Canada, Europe, Mexico and South America.  Globally, the paradigm for new business has shifted from outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Agencies need to change from chasing new business to a strategy of being found. Instead of being the hunter, you become the prey.

Here is a brief outline and some tips that I’ve used with hundreds of agencies to help create an implement and integrated social media strategy for new business. My 7 Steps for Fueling New Business Through Social Media:

Bottom Line. Once your program is in place, you can keep it going by devoting a reasonable amount of time, usually one to one and half hours per day, to reading, writing and engaging.

Example. John McDougall, President of McDougall Interactive, has created a niche blog for new business. John and his team created The Lead Review, Internet Marketing Counsel for Trial Attorneys. The blog lives offsite from his agency’s website and allows John to have a more defined target audience and niche than he would feel comfortable creating through his agency’s website.

In the following brief video, John talks about his experience Creating a Niche Blog for New Business.

Creating a Niche Blog for New Business. from Michael Gass on Vimeo.

To review how John has integrated his social media strategy for new business, check out his blog, The Lead Review,Internet Marketing Counsel for Trial Attorneys.

John’s profile: CEO of McDougall interactive, publisher of The Lead Review and an authority on internet marketing for law firms.

Here are John’s other social media marketing outposts that have expanded his online footprint in a short period of time:

John has strategically positioned himself, as the face of his agency, to be found by his best prospective client audience.