Social Media Fundamentals
When I was a top-performing financial services agent, some of the most effective ways of reaching prospective customers included cold-calling, consumer shows, and print advertising. For small business owners and sales professionals today, communication with prospective customers is becoming increasingly difficult as customers become increasingly unreachable.
With more and more people spending more and more time online, social media is becoming a brand’s best advertising medium. Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive return on investment (ROI). Meanwhile, 25% of social network users have gone directly to an online retailer after learning about a new product or brand. Conversations about your brand
(good and bad) are happening online… whether you like it or not. You must be part of that conversation.
The question of social media ROI is like questioning the ROI of your computer. Could you measure the ROI of your computer? Probably not. Could you do business without it? Probably not. The social media tidal wave is here. Are you swimming with the current or against it? Learning and applying these social media fundamentals will help you launch campaigns to reach unreachable customers.
Facebook is a social networking site that opened in September 2006 to everyone of ages 13 and older with an email address. The website currently has more than 400 million active users worldwide. It allows users to add friends, send them messages, and update their personal (and business) profiles to notify friends (and fans) about themselves. I signed up for my Facebook account in June 2007 and used it to share sales-related information and upcoming events with fans.
Small business owners and sales professionals can grow their businesses by creating a Facebook page. Schedule a few minutes daily to post a short update with information on trends or tips that your audience will find valuable. This will help them get to know you and your business better. Avoid the temptation of aggressively selling your products and services.
When I’m facilitating sales workshops for small office and home office (SOHO) entrepreneurs, I encourage them to invite their target customers to become fans on their Facebook pages to join discussions of issues within their industry, get the inside scoop on upcoming related events, and check out photos of past events. This helps position SOHO entrepreneurs as valuable and trusted resources.
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables users to send and read messages (up to 140 characters) known as tweets. Since its creation in 2006, the number of users has grown to more than 100 million worldwide. One of the founders, Evan Williams, describes Twitter as not a social network but an information network. He says, “It tells people what they care about as it is happening in the world.” On 22 Jun 2009, my first tweet was a sales tip on detecting your niche and creating qualifying questions.
Twitter has been encouraging its use as a business tool through ‘Twitter 101’, a web-based tutorial for business users. Dell said that $9M of its 2009 sales came directly through Facebook and Twitter combined. SOHOs and SMEs can also benefit from using Twitter since they can compete equally with MNCs within the Twitter platform.
When I’m delivering in-house sales training for SMEs and MNCs, I suggest each of their sales professionals create a Twitter account and tweet about time-sensitive offers or events that would genuinely interest their followers. An analysis of 2,000 tweets over a 2-week period in August 2009 separated them into the following six categories: pointless babble (41%),
conversational (38%), pass-along value (9%), self-promotion (6%), spam (4%), and news (4%). I “unfollow” people whose tweets don’t add value or are exactly the same as their Facebook updates. Be sure to give people a special reason to follow you on Twitter.
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site launched in May 2003 and is mainly used for professional networking. It has over 65 million registered users in more than 200 countries worldwide. The site aims to allow users to maintain a list of people they know and trust in business. The people on the list are called Connections. A contact network is then built up consisting of direct connections, second-degree connections,
and third-degree connections. This can be useful in gaining an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact. LinkedIn Profile for Sales ProfessionalsThe LinkedIn Groups feature also allows users to establish new business relationships by joining alumni, industry, or professional and other relevant groups. I’ve been a user since 27 October 2006, and here’s how I create a Linkedin profile for Sales Professionals. I have noticed that several of my clients prefer LinkedIn over other social media platforms.
When I’m coaching SOHO entrepreneurs one-on-one, I encourage them to invite their customers and vendors to become connections on LinkedIn. It’s also useful for them to schedule some time during the week to reach out to their existing connections, learn about their challenges, and see how they could offer assistance.
Social media alone cannot help you increase sales, but it is essential to your marketing communications strategy. Developing quality relationships and building trust will make it easier for your audience to connect with you offline at an event or your store. Social media is a new tool that works best when applying the time-tested fundamentals of personal selling. People will always do business with people they know, like, and trust.
Want to generate leads with the help of social media?
Join our Social Selling Mastery training, and you’ll get access to our complete Social Selling Course and our BONUS LinkedIn Outbound mini course. Inside, you’ll learn how to use social media to position yourself as the ideal solution provider for your prospects and gain access to proven LinkedIn scripts that will help you book more meetings with prospects.
