Charming and retaining consumers today is all about offering them more options for when and how to interact with your brand. With more digital engagement channels now than ever, omnichannel marketing messages must be fully integrated into every marketing strategy for consumer access.

This is true for all aspects of the marketing and sales funnel, as well as lead generation. With millions of people across the world now on social media, social media selling has become an imperative part of the digital marketing mix for generating consumer interest and turning that attention into a sale.

Social selling is basically using social media networks to identify and build relationships with potential prospects and consumers. When used correct, social media marketing can be a place to learn about shopper issues, collaborate on business promotions, and offer cases of how you have worked with related businesses to solve similar problems. This can all be done from the comforts of your home before some of your colleagues, who take a more traditional method, or have walked out their front doors.

Sharing quality content about yourself, your brand and industry is one way to attack social media selling that establishes you as an expert in your industry. While it’s essential to establish an online branding voice, it’s just as significant to serve up highly relevant social media content, the more personalized the better. Using one-size-fits all marketing content—the same digital content across same media channels to same users—is a mutual error. Consider which digital content does better on different social media channels, and adjust accordingly.

Your social media content should serve as a dialogue starter. Another common error in social media selling lead generation is to execute in “broadcast only” mode, or engage in one-sided chats vs. two-way. Active social listening and response can be just as vital on social media, if not more, than sharing a product or something new. Look for social opportunities to provide worthy input on industry mediums, message boards and Facebook groups. Sometimes social engagement can be as easy as asking questions to show your customers that your business values their feedback by asking them what they consider.

Social media can be an unlimited place not only to accumulate thousands of fans and supports, but also to form professional and B2B relationships that can turn into quality leads. But it’s imperative to master the fundamentals:

• Think superiority over numbers. Keep a few of the industry rules of thumb in mind: The 80/20 law (only 20% self-promoting product and service content and 80% educational, entertaining and helpful content), and the 4-1-1 law (4 pieces of important, current content/day, 1 self-promoting content, 1 retweet, 2 – anything that is not above. These are to some extent different ratios, but they verify the same point – that folks are more likely to follow you if you have something important, educating or funny to say beyond the normal sales pitch or direct marketing content.
• Use but don’t misuse hashtags—no more than two and they should be put before your link.
• Make sure post are short and simple so that they can be retweeted without having to be edited.
• Dominant the @mention. Know how to use it for full audience discussions, and how to use it for responses.

Remember that worth really comes when a user clicks on your website, landing page, calls you or sends you an email. Make sure your corporation name, web address, contact info, and links to other social media accounts are simple to find from all your social media profiles.

Today it’s more significant than ever to engage with consumers on their terms. The potential for social media marketing as a lead generation tool is almost endless, but it’s vital to keep best marketing practices in mind. Remember that the buzz word is “social.” Beyond just representing your knowledge and building your company brand, the goal is to form strong business and personal relationships just as on any other media channel.