Do you know how to prequalify leads and potential customers through social media?

Everyone seems to be talking about how to make more money, collect leads, and generate more revenue through social media, but who is really DOING it? So many online entrepreneurs think that attracting business through social media should be done by selling, spamming, annoying and downright irritating people in social networks, by posting interesting headlines then leading the reader through a lengthy series of clicks only to land on a page that is nothing like what the headline promised, or sales letters that attempt to scare the reader into buying whatever product or service the site owner is trying to sell. A very few intelligent entrepreneurs know that if they publish quality content, develop personal relationship through social networking, and position themselves as an expert in their field, that they are able to attract the ideal customer or strategic partner. In this way, ideal customers are prequalified before even contacting you to inquire about your products/services. It is this ingenious strategy that allows the intelligent entrepreneur to be chased by business rather than chasing down business.

How do you generate quality content online in just a few minutes a day?

Start where you are. A lot can be accomplished in just a few minutes a day if you have a plan. By establishing a social media marketing plan, it is easier to focus your time and energy towards your ultimate goal. When you identify who your ideal customer is, where they hang out, what their needs are, and how you can uniquely meet those needs, you are able to in just a few minutes a day seek out those potential customers and deliver to them information that helps to meet their needs.

Many people are worried that giving away this information will somehow cost them in the long run, that by giving something for free, the client will walk away, implement what you have given them, never to be seen or heard from again. In very rare instances this may be true, but in far more instances, that client will return satisfied with the quality info that you gave them, asking for more. If they are truly your ideal customer they will not only have a need that your products/services can meet, they will value it and be prepared to pay for it.

What about the lingo? How can you sift through the symbol soup (#tweet @tweet) and anagrams (LOL, OMG)?

It’s true that thanks to online media, language is evolving. A sort of shorthand has been created to allow networkers to communicate more information faster. Twitter, due to its roots as a telephone based texting program, especially seems to be full of strange symbols and anagrams. If you don’t understand most of what people are saying, chances are that people won’t understand you either. If you spend a few minutes each day in your social networks, you will begin to learn the lingo and what the various symbols mean. Twitter also offers a pretty extensive help section and when in doubt, just type your problem into Google and you will find forums and blogs full of helpful advice.

Here are a few tips especially for Twitter:

@username- this is called an “@reply” or mention and allows you to reply directly to another person but is not private (for private replies use the direct message feature). People use @replies to mention their favorite followers or people that they follow. In this way they help your list of followers to grow.

#keyword- the hashtag or pound sign is used to track conversations. You can search for just about any keyword and see what people are tweeting about. The hashtag allows easier trending. Twitter publishes the most popular conversations in the right hand column of your home page. This is a great tool if you want your tweets to be seen by the maximum amount of people.

RT- or retweet is a way to share what someone else has said with your followers. This also helps the person that you RT so that they can get some additional exposure. Retweeting is a great way to get content that you think is valuable and redistribute it to your followers.

Maggie Ruch of Advanced Virtual Assistant Services helps her clients to expand their client base through social networking. She works closely with clients to develop custom social media campaigns built around their type of business and target market. She will be interviewed on Attracting Better Clients with Social Media on April 6, 2010 at 8pm EST. Registration is free. Sign up at http://forwardvirginia.com/socialmedia