Using Twitter Cards for Lead Generation

In the last several years, social media has evolved from a way that we keep in touch to a way that we do business. The companies responsible for our favorite social networks, for their part, have been pretty good about constantly innovating so that those platforms contain a certain duality: for those who just wish to communicate, they are afforded quick and easy ways to do so. For those who wish to dig deeper and connect with brands and customers, to build business relationships and brand awareness, these sites are constantly improving. One of Twitter’s newer features, Twitter Cards, is a great example of how the process of lead generation is being streamlined through social media.

Following Facebook’s lead, perhaps, Twitter has become much more visual — displaying photos in your feed and creating more aesthetically pleasing profile pages. There’s even been talk that Twitter is testing a new Facebook-inspired profile design. It makes sense, then, that ways of doing business on the platform would also become much more visual. What Twitter has done with its Twitter Cards feature is to take lead generation — something businesses have been doing on Twitter for quite some time — and streamline it, thereby freeing up time and resources to put to use elsewhere (like building those relationships out).

From Twitter’s blog post about Twitter Cards:

You can see here what the Twitter Card looks like. It’s a brief bit of text and a link that will expand the tweet. When it’s expanded, there is an image (helping you to stand apart from other tweets) and a section for blank fields. In this case, that field is simply collecting an email address that will allow the user to quickly join this business’s loyalty rewards program (in fact, Twitter will automatically fill the field with whichever email address is associated with the user’s account — although there may be options in the future to change it). Once that user clicks the submit button (“Join the club!”), he’ll be enrolled in the program without ever having left Twitter.

Easy for the user. What about your business?

If you’re using a CRM solution that allows you to track from Twitter, you can set it up as an endpoint. (More about that in this post from Social Media Examiner.)

If your CRM isn’t currently set up for this (and not to worry, because if it’s not now, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be soon as lead generation techniques such as this one become more prevalent), you can log in and download the info that you’ve received.

So why use Twitter Cards for lead generation?

Ultimately, this is about simplicity — for you and for your customers and prospects. No matter how easy your form on your website may be, many people simply aren’t going to take their attention away from what they’re currently doing to go check it out. If we think (and we usually do — with good reason) that there’s going to be a complicated process involved, we’re just not going to spend the time to find out unless we are already 100% committed. Our attention spans are shrinking. In fact, according to StatisticBrain, the average attention span in 2013 was eight seconds — which is one second less than a goldfish’s attention span. That means you don’t have long at all to capture your target’s attention and keep it.

A Twitter Card will take about 8 seconds (possibly less) to read, expand, and click submit, so it’s perfect for the current state of our attention spans. Then they can continue about their business. Easy for them, and more lead gen for you. Everybody wins.

Looking to get started? Check out NextPrinciples’ Social Lead Management Solution Buyers Guide.

Do you plan to use the Twitter Card feature for lead generation? If you’re already using it, what’s been your experience so far? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.