Photo Credit: birgerking
Social media has become the preferred way for customers to connect with big and small business. One of the key benefits of social media is its ability to get people to not only take notice in your business, but to also drive sales to your business. The concept is called “social selling.” Social media’s newest and fastest-growing subcategory, the term references salespeople using social applications like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for selling purposes.
According to Inside View, in the last five years the notion of social selling has changed dramatically with the adoption of Web 2.0 and social media. Social Media increased the scale and reach of relationships within networks and peer networks. Web 2.0 technologies have also changed the way in which people collaborate online with most B2B buying decisions starting, progressing and often even closing online without any face-to-face meetings. Social selling has a tendency to be thought of as the adoption of social media and online collaboration tools by sales organizations when in reality social selling is a response to fundamental changes in customer behavior and their buying process. Customers now have access to unlimited information about your company, products and those of your competitors. The new social customer is demanding relevance from sales people, expecting them to know about them, their companies and their needs before engaging. This has heightened the need for comprehensive sales intelligence that brings together traditional data and social media. So how do you start driving social selling? Here are 5 tips to get you started.
Choose The Right Channels
Choosing the right social media platform for your business can be tricky sometimes, but sticking to one or a few of the big 5 will give you a good start. These platforms are the most popular because they have the most users, which gives businesses more opportunity to connect with existing and potential customers. The big 5 are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest. Check out our blog on “What Social Media Network Should Your Business Be Using?” to determine what they are and how they can help your business.
Start By Listening
Just like you wouldn’t go to a party and start shoving your business card in everyone’s face, don’t jump on to a social media site and start jabbering on about your business. Instead, listen to what your target market is saying. Get a sense for who your customers are and their communication and interaction styles. Social media is about building relationships with people you may not have reached through traditional marketing. You want to strive for quality content, the glue that connects a social media audience to your company. By sharing quality content that is relevant, useful, entertaining and inspiring to your respective audience, you make it easy for your connections to share information about your company within their circles.
Focus Your Targets
One of the most effective ways to build a well-connected community is to attract new prospects to your business by advertising on social media channels. Facebook and Twitter allow marketers to promote their posts to targeted followers. On LinkedIn you can promote your company’s page using their ads. Use attractive images and compelling headlines to attract the right people, and don’t forget to send people to your company’s website so they can read your blog, sign up for your newsletter or take advantage of any free offers. The important thing is not to limit your social media lead generation to only what is free. You need to invest in marketing your business for more long-term results
Convert Prospects to Leads
Building up your social media audience and driving traffic to your website are just two parts of the lead-generation puzzle. According to Learn That, the third part is converting your social media connections into qualified leads. By driving traffic back to your company website, you have already established a relationship with them through social media. By giving you their email in exchange for relevant offer such as a free gift or newsletter, your prospects demonstrate a desire to receive more information from you, which opens the sales door.
Commit to The Process
Building relationships online is not something you can do all at once. Just like relationships in real life, you don’t build a friendship overnight – it takes time and effort to build that relationship. Social media works the same way. You need to realize that you may not see the payoff right away and commit to at least 6 months before you evaluate your efforts. With that commitment you must also prepare to invest time and effort in updating your social-selling strategy, learn about new tools and keep your skills sharp to stay on top of quickly changing and growing trends on the web.
Special Offer: Three Girls Media & Marketing Inc. loves working with small and emerging companies to raise their brand awareness and name recognition. We offer a complimentary 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO and can answer your questions and discuss your specific brand marketing needs. Email info@ThreeGirlsMedia.com to make your appointment today.
Photo Credit: birgerking