Capturing website visitors is a vital part of the marketing process. While capturing the information to start with is key, after that, many people get stuck at a standstill. They come in through an online form and then they just sit in your database.

This is what’s clogging your marketing funnel– all of those leads and no place to go. The answer: email nurturing. Here are some tips to help your funnel flow freely:

Include forms on your site to find out what people are interested in

Because the contact is able to identify what exactly they want to receive using a form like this one, you should be able to send them exactly the information that they want to receive. From here I would simply include them in any multi-step campaigns or email sends related to their interests.

Not every lead that comes in is the same.

If they filled out a form like “request a demo now” or “get a proposal”, something that signals they are serious buyers, you should have a task triggered to call them. Anyone else should be started on a drip email marketing campaign.

First, you want to think about which form that they filled out. Let’s say a contact fills out a form for a white paper about social media marketing on Hatchbuck’s site. I should identify that they came in from that specific form and are interested in social media marketing.

From there, I am able to send them information that they are interested in. It’s appropriate to include a sales email with a call to action occasionally– no more often than every 4th email.

Keep track of your campaigns

Just having your contacts on a campaign will do you no better than just having them sitting in your database. You should be able to track and set actions based on behavior.

For example, using the social media campaign example from above– let’s say I start a contact on a 12 step year long social media related campaign. Within that campaign, I would expect that the contact is most likely to click on only social media related links, not my call to action emails.

However, if the contacts clicks a call to action email or visits a page like “buy now” or “pricing” on my website– I should be notified because this signals to me that the contact has a higher interest level.

Email nurturing campaigns can be a huge help to your sales and marketing process. By starting your contacts on an automated campaign, you don’t have to worry about all of the leads that you are missing out on and can just focus on those who are ready to buy now.

There has been a lot of talk about Social Spamming recently. I stumbled across an article on Mashable, “Social Media Spam Increased 355% in First Half of 2013” that I think Small Businesses will find relevant. After all, many of you are using social media marketing (in addition to email marketing, of course) to grow your businesses.

I don’t think you should let the growing Social Spam rates scare you away from social media marketing. There are still many opportunities to create and blossom relationships using Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google+, Etc. However, I think it’s important to 1) Not be a spammer yourself 2) Not attract spammers into your community.

Some Social Spamming Tips:

Avoid Being a “Spammer”

•  Produce Good Social Content – Release valuable, relevant content to your social networks will want to like, comment on, and share with their friends.
• Add Supporting Visuals – Rather than always sharing links, try mixing it up by adding in videos, pictures, and stories to supplement your marketing.
• Post Within Reason – If you notice your new blog is not getting any views/likes/comments/or shares, it is probably not a good idea to continually blast it to your community. Re-evaluate your content and scrap content that yields little to no response rate for the risk of annoying your community.
• Finish A Conversation – If others are engaging in conversations in your community, contribute to it! Don’t let your network think you only care about distributing content, and have no intention to interact with them otherwise.

Avoid Attracting Spammers

•  Have a Mutual Engagement – Too often I see businesses adding anyone and everyone to their social networks (paying for likes – you get the idea). A mutual engagement ensures that your connections want to hear what you have to say, and you want to hear what they have to say. The idea here is quality over quantity!
• Look For Real People – The idea behind social networking is to start conversations. Despite the growing social spam problem, real people do exist in your communities. Seek them out, and start the relationship building!
•  Edit Permissions – If you have a large Facebook following, you can enable posting permissions. This can help you block out spammers who make post bad links, use profanity, or tag you in inappropriate pictures. I encourage you to check out: https://www.facebook.com/help/255700674532721

Don’t let the rise in social spamming statistics affect the way you interact on social networks. Go forth – start more conversations, build more relationships, and contribute great content to your community!