Social Media Prospecting: The Leverage Strategy That Turns Followers Into Clients

In this insightful episode of The Nathan Newberry Show, social media prospecting expert Michelle Berman-Mikel shares her proven strategies for converting social media connections into revenue. Moving beyond simply growing a following, Michelle reveals how strategic relationship-building and leveraging existing connections can transform your social platforms from pretty content showcases into powerful client acquisition tools.

Introduction: Beyond Vanity Metrics to Real Revenue

For most businesses and professionals, social media has become an essential marketing channel. Yet despite the time, energy, and money invested in creating content and growing followers, many struggle to convert that audience into paying clients.

As Michelle Berman-Mikel explains, "Most professionals do not need more likes—they need more clients." This fundamental insight forms the core of her approach to social media prospecting, which prioritizes conversion over content creation.

Michelle distinguishes between two distinct approaches to social media: social media coaching (focused on growing an audience) and social media prospecting (focused on turning your existing audience into revenue). While most businesses are trapped in an endless cycle of content creation, Michelle's leverage-based strategy creates systematic pathways to move social connections into meaningful business relationships.

In this comprehensive breakdown, we'll explore Michelle's three-phase approach to social media prospecting, how to build effective leverage in your outreach, and the tactical systems that can generate consistent results with just one strategic message per day.

The Difference Between Social Media Coaching and Social Media Prospecting

At the heart of Michelle's approach is a crucial distinction that most businesses miss:

"Social media coaching helps you look good, helps you grow an audience. Social media prospecting helps you turn the audience you already have into a revenue platform or a revenue stream for you," Michelle explains. "One is about influence, one is about income."

The Content-Heavy Trap

According to Michelle, the problem with most social media strategies is that they're focused primarily on content visibility rather than conversion. Businesses fall into a trap where they believe more followers will automatically translate into more revenue—but the reality is quite different.

"Audience size does not equal revenue," Michelle emphasizes. "The obsession that we all have with vanity metrics has led salespeople, real estate agents, mortgage professionals, business owners alike down this path of content creation, but the problem is that they're creating content so much that they're on this hamster wheel of just creating, creating, creating, and they don't have a conversion strategy."

This explains the common complaint Michelle hears: "I've been putting all this time and effort and literally money into Instagram or into social, and my content's pretty, but I haven't done a single loan or I haven't gotten a single deal out of it."

Reframing the Goal: Selling Through vs. Posting To

A key mindset shift Michelle teaches is the concept of "selling through" versus "posting to." Rather than creating content with the hope that it will somehow translate into business, effective social media prospecting means using content strategically as part of a larger conversion pathway.

"If you've ever heard the saying 'sell through' versus 'post to create' or 'post to create a transaction,' you have to sell through something," Michelle explains. "Audiences themselves don't pay bills—the clients that come through the content do."

This realization leads to a fundamental question businesses should ask about every piece of content: "What does this piece of content do for helping you create ROI? What's the endgame through this piece of content?"

Building Leverage: The Key to Effective Social Media Prospecting

Central to Michelle's prospecting strategy is the concept of leverage—using existing relationships to build new ones. This approach transforms cold outreach into warm introductions, dramatically increasing response rates and conversion potential.

What Is a Lever?

Michelle defines a lever in simple terms: "When you think of a lever, think of it as this person is someone I have a really good relationship with. They know me well, they know what I do, they know who I am. They know how I execute, what I execute, so they can speak to it, and then I have to sell through them."

In practical terms, leverage means identifying who you know that has a strong relationship with someone you want to connect with, then using that mutual connection as the foundation for your outreach.

"Who can I create a relationship with based off of a relationship that I already have? That's called leverage," Michelle explains. "Leverage is my favorite word in the English dictionary for a reason, but leverage by definition is this big fancy thing. But in my world, it's simple: it is who you know that you have a really good relationship with that you can build another relationship with someone that you don't know through them."

The 365-Day Challenge

One of the most powerful tactics Michelle shares is her 365-day challenge, which provides a clear framework for consistent outreach:

"If you send one message every single day to someone that you do not know through a lever for 365 days, your business will not look the way that it looks right now. That is a guarantee, that is a fact, that is not a maybe. That's 1,000% if you send a message to someone that you do not know every single day for 365 days through a lever with a very strategic alliance designed in it."

This simple discipline—one strategic outreach per day—can transform a business by steadily building valuable connections that convert to revenue.

The Three-Phase Approach to Social Media Prospecting

Michelle implements her prospecting strategy through a structured three-phase process:

Phase 1: Fixing Your Content Problem

Before prospecting can be effective, your content must establish credibility and showcase your authentic personality. Michelle's approach differs fundamentally from generic content calendars by creating customized content pillars unique to each person.

"Phase one of our process is we have to fix your content problem, but we have to do it in a way that's very different than that sort of social media calendar thing that's out there all over the world," Michelle explains. "You shouldn't download a free social media content calendar. That's not going to solve your problem. What you need is a customized content pillar situation."

Michelle emphasizes authenticity and connection in content creation:

"If your content doesn't speak to the message you just sent me or isn't aligned with what you just said to me, I'm out. And also if I can tell that you didn't put any ounce of personal touch into that, I'm also out."

A key element of this phase is what Michelle calls a "Value Series"—a five-part video series that combines personal passions with professional insights. This approach moves beyond generic, behind-the-desk content to create authentic material that genuinely connects with viewers.

For example, Michelle describes a project with client Brian Cuvy: "He's out on the soccer field and we're creating an analogy between soccer and a pain point that he has for people he's trying to recruit... He's not recording behind his desk, doesn't have a phone stuck in his face sitting at his desk like all professional. He's doing it out on the soccer field in his element, in a way that makes him feel really excited about the content and also makes the people watching it feel connected to him."

Phase 2: Prospecting Strategy

Once the content foundation is established, Michelle's second phase focuses on the tactical approach to outreach:

1. Who to talk to: Michelle helps clients build a five-day tracker, with each day focused on a specific category of potential connections based on your goals. "We have to strategically build that out based off of what is your goal and who do you want to be breaking bread with literally to create business."
2. What to say: Rather than sending generic, obviously copied-and-pasted messages, Michelle teaches clients to craft personalized outreach that demonstrates genuine interest and connection. "We got to spend a lot of time in the art of conversation... In the message structure portion, I'm teaching them how to actually send that message, how to name drop properly, how to have a really strong call to action that's not salesy in any way."
3. How to track results: Consistent analysis of outreach effectiveness is crucial. "How many messages have you sent? How many replies have you gotten? Being able to diagnose your own analytics to be able to say, 'Hey, I need to make an adjustment' or 'I need to pivot' or 'Something's wrong obviously if the numbers aren't aligning.'"

Phase 3: Optimization and Scaling

While not explicitly detailed in the transcript, Michelle's approach clearly includes ongoing optimization based on tracking and results. The systematic nature of her strategy allows for continuous improvement and scaling of successful approaches.

Real-World Application: Relationship-Based Marketing in Action

To illustrate her approach, Michelle shares a powerful example of how she personally uses these principles:

"I saw a lender very recently that is a target strategic alliance that I really want, because he's connected to several other people that I know. So it was very much a strategic play for me."

Rather than sending a generic sales pitch, Michelle noticed the lender had posted about running, sharing his totals for miles run in 2024. She took a screenshot of her own running app, sent it to him with a friendly message noting, "You got me beat by about 5,000 miles over the course of the year," and then name-dropped a mutual connection.

Her message continued: "He's actually one of my clients. He has been for about two and a half years. I would love to get on a call with you and just see if there's some synergy between me and you. I don't know what could come of it, but at the very worst, it would be a great conversation to get to know you."

The result? "He immediately said yes. We were on Zoom later the following week." This lender runs a company with 50+ loan officers who could benefit from Michelle's services—a significant business opportunity created through strategic, relationship-based prospecting.

Conclusion: Transforming Social Media from a Time Sink to a Revenue Generator

Michelle Berman-Mikel's approach to social media prospecting offers a refreshing alternative to the endless content creation trap many businesses fall into. By focusing on strategic leverage and relationship-building rather than simply growing followers, her method creates clear pathways from social media connections to actual revenue.

The key takeaways from Michelle's strategy include:

1. Focus on conversion, not just content creation. Pretty content that doesn't convert is simply a drain on resources.
2. Build your prospecting on a foundation of authentic, connection-based content that showcases your personality beyond your professional expertise.
3. Leverage existing relationships to create warm introductions rather than cold outreach.
4. Send one strategic, personalized message every day to build valuable new connections consistently.
5. Track and analyze your results to continuously refine your approach.

As Michelle emphasizes, this strategy isn't about mass messaging or generic templates—it's about crafting personalized outreach that creates genuine connection. When done correctly, "the person on the receiving side will almost feel guilty not responding to me. And that's really where the power lies."

For professionals tired of pouring time and money into social media without seeing tangible returns, Michelle's leverage-based prospecting strategy offers a systematic path to transform social platforms from time-consuming content showcases into powerful client acquisition tools.