Social Media Selling
LinkedIn is the king of social selling for most companies that offer their business solutions to other companies. However, you may be missing some opportunities if you devote all social selling time on it.
First, I think it’s important to distinguish between social selling and social marketing. You should understand your goals before you embark in your selling campaign. Otherwise, your efforts may be wasted. If you want to elicit some interest in your products and services, build brand awareness, engage with customers, work on customer loyalty, etc., then there are some great marketing tools out there. If you’re responsible for direct sales that involve prospecting, relationship building, creating value, and closing, then there is a different way to go about social selling. LinkedIn is one way, but let’s look at when you should use this tool and the advantages of some others.
LinkedIn is great if you are a corporate sales person to generate leads. You can find individuals within a target company or industry and learn things about their background. You can join groups that will allow you to network with your targeted clients. You can regularly communicate with your contacts through their posts and messaging. I personally love LinkedIn Sales Navigator because it allows me to efficiently reach buyers and influencers without having to go through their secretary or wait for them to accept my invitation to connect. However, what is LinkedIn missing as a tool? Ask any sales person and they will tell you that it lacks personal and social information they need to capture some of that business.
So, what about Facebook? It’s certainly personal. You can search any prospect and, depending on their privacy settings, find out anything you ever wanted to know about a potential client! Some people are very open to connecting to people they don’t know well and others are uncomfortable about connecting with any business connection. My advice is to better wait until you have a stronger relationship with a person to decide whether it is acceptable to connect or not.
Most companies have pages on Facebook. You can learn what is going on and what they are promoting. With Facebook’s advanced search tool, you can find out if you have friends of friends that work for certain companies in certain cities. This can help if you are having a hard time breaking in to a target company and need some inside info.
The next social site worth your time is Twitter. I know many people do not use this because they don’t tweet! Well, you don’t have to tweet to use this as a research tool. Search for companies and people that have accounts. Search for hashtags to find out what they are saying about your business and your competitors. Play around with the search terms until you find ones that work for you and your market. There are also some great ways to interact or engage with potential clients that are unique to Twitter.
Instagram can be used to find interesting information on organizations as well. You can use search terms to locate ones of interest. Then follow them to see what they are promoting and who are engaging on their photos.
Don’t stop at the social media giants. If you have a niche market, then there is probably a social site that fits that group. Get on the forums and discussions related to your industry. When we do this for our social media prospecting classes, we always find leads where someone is asking for a reference concerning a specific problem they need help with: lodging, a mechanic to repair their truck, a great venue for an office party, where to rent tables and chairs, sometimes we even find valid Requests For Proposals to bid on! There are sites like this for reunions, government, colleges, and many others. These are great ways to research, look for leads, and connect within your market.
As important as it is to establish goals before you get started, it’s equally important to follow up on them to make sure you’re achieving what you need to. Social media selling can be a great source of revenue for sales people, but it can also be a time waster if you don’t have a plan and stay on track.
Isn’t about time you get an edge on social media selling?
Julie Charbonneau, Signature Canada
Business Development and Training Director
j.charbonneau@signaturecanada.ca
Phone: 438-870-3087
www.signaturecanada.ca
Article inspired by a post from Amber Fox at Signature Worldwide.
First, I think it’s important to distinguish between social selling and social marketing. You should understand your goals before you embark in your selling campaign. Otherwise, your efforts may be wasted. If you want to elicit some interest in your products and services, build brand awareness, engage with customers, work on customer loyalty, etc., then there are some great marketing tools out there. If you’re responsible for direct sales that involve prospecting, relationship building, creating value, and closing, then there is a different way to go about social selling. LinkedIn is one way, but let’s look at when you should use this tool and the advantages of some others.
LinkedIn is great if you are a corporate sales person to generate leads. You can find individuals within a target company or industry and learn things about their background. You can join groups that will allow you to network with your targeted clients. You can regularly communicate with your contacts through their posts and messaging. I personally love LinkedIn Sales Navigator because it allows me to efficiently reach buyers and influencers without having to go through their secretary or wait for them to accept my invitation to connect. However, what is LinkedIn missing as a tool? Ask any sales person and they will tell you that it lacks personal and social information they need to capture some of that business.
So, what about Facebook? It’s certainly personal. You can search any prospect and, depending on their privacy settings, find out anything you ever wanted to know about a potential client! Some people are very open to connecting to people they don’t know well and others are uncomfortable about connecting with any business connection. My advice is to better wait until you have a stronger relationship with a person to decide whether it is acceptable to connect or not.
Most companies have pages on Facebook. You can learn what is going on and what they are promoting. With Facebook’s advanced search tool, you can find out if you have friends of friends that work for certain companies in certain cities. This can help if you are having a hard time breaking in to a target company and need some inside info.
The next social site worth your time is Twitter. I know many people do not use this because they don’t tweet! Well, you don’t have to tweet to use this as a research tool. Search for companies and people that have accounts. Search for hashtags to find out what they are saying about your business and your competitors. Play around with the search terms until you find ones that work for you and your market. There are also some great ways to interact or engage with potential clients that are unique to Twitter.
Instagram can be used to find interesting information on organizations as well. You can use search terms to locate ones of interest. Then follow them to see what they are promoting and who are engaging on their photos.
Don’t stop at the social media giants. If you have a niche market, then there is probably a social site that fits that group. Get on the forums and discussions related to your industry. When we do this for our social media prospecting classes, we always find leads where someone is asking for a reference concerning a specific problem they need help with: lodging, a mechanic to repair their truck, a great venue for an office party, where to rent tables and chairs, sometimes we even find valid Requests For Proposals to bid on! There are sites like this for reunions, government, colleges, and many others. These are great ways to research, look for leads, and connect within your market.
As important as it is to establish goals before you get started, it’s equally important to follow up on them to make sure you’re achieving what you need to. Social media selling can be a great source of revenue for sales people, but it can also be a time waster if you don’t have a plan and stay on track.
Isn’t about time you get an edge on social media selling?
Julie Charbonneau, Signature Canada
Business Development and Training Director
j.charbonneau@signaturecanada.ca
Phone: 438-870-3087
www.signaturecanada.ca
Article inspired by a post from Amber Fox at Signature Worldwide.
Julie Charbonneau
Signature Canada is a leader in training employees to deliver legendary customer service while increasing sales. Since 1986, Signature’s unique training methodology has provided a measurable ROI for our customers, compelling them to return year after year.