Using Social Media To Make Sales Thrive
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
For Sales, social media looks ripe for the picking
1000s and 1000s of easily reachable ‘contacts’ to message, comment, follow, friend and research towards achieving your sales targets. What could go wrong? Erm, a lot actually.
Here are a handful of tips to ensure that you operate effectively:
Selling in social spaces is a no-no
You might want to read that again.
You’re in the business of solving people’s problems, offering assistance, providing advice, giving guidance and sharing your knowledge which will help make a person remember you. Whatever your internal motivations (money), they should never pour out into the social web unless a prospect is requesting it.
…selling might be bad, but promotion is fine…
The power of right now
With print and static websites, making changes can be difficult. With the social web, new products and services can be announced immediately. Depending on your offerings this can be a huge advantage:
- a barber could tweet when waiting seats are empty
- a baker could publicise when the croissants have just come out of the oven
- a dentist can make people aware in your area when you are taking on NHS clients and how many positions are available
Any business that needs to communicate quickly or has a waiting list, can harness the immediacy of the social web to prevent stock from sitting on the shelves or services left unfilled.
Tell people when your waiting room is empty
Stay away from number hunting
Numbers are a false economy to your success in social spaces as it’s the quality of your connections which matter more. Explore your existing offline network and find them online, you may be surprised how many of them are on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out what SocialMouths has to say on the topic.
Use social tools to connect offline
Make online connections the starting point, just like a flyer, call or email. Social geo-location tools like FaceBook places, Foursquare and GoWalla can make your movements public. As your network expands, share where you are and where you are going to be. Invite people to meet you en-route for a coffee, even just 10mins can make a difference.
Use FourSquare to make people aware of special deals near them
Create a social signature
You have an email signature right? Well it’s time to create a social media signature, eg:
- follow MediaSnackers on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mediasnackers
- check out our photos from Training sessions on Flickr: http://flickr.com/mediasnackers
- hear our client feedback on YouTube: http://youtube.com/mediasnackers
- explore our thoughts on our blog: http://mediasnackers.com
Don’t forget, people can find you in many locations, so whatever spaces you sign up to, make them all point back to your central hub (website or blog).
You are in control of your own marketing
Sure there might be an over all product / service strategy, involving months of planning and a big budget, but on the social web, you’re able to quickly adapt to the news sites and public commentary. Acting quickly and well will create eyeballs in your direction as a source of knowledge.
Record your movements.
Whilst exploring many blogs, profiles, spaces and groups, it’s a good idea to document where you’re been and what you’ve said, just as you would through Salesforce, HighRise or your emails. Understand that the conversation continues days, weeks, months and years after you have left. Some blogs and websites allow you to subscribe to comments or get notified if others reply. Make sure you tick that option and follow up on conversations where you can add value.
Put your face out there
No hiding behind a company logo. Sure it can be on the page background or linked to the company website, but don’t forget the ‘social’ in social media. Who you are needs to be shown. If you are a skiier, martial artist, like to strum a guitar, or have just returned from a backpacking holiday… make it clear and talk on those topics of interest.
Don’t let the conversation hang
Found a great post or message online without a comment which inspires you? Perhaps it creates a genius thought, or was missed by the crowd? Point it out, reply, ask new questions and make it clear to everyone in the conversation that you have knowledge and can contribute to the discussion in ways others may not have thought.
Drop the lingo
Search for strings of words, not just single words. What are some of the most common phrases you hear? Searching for ‘carburetters’ or ‘shelving’ or ‘holidays’ isn’t conversation. How about changing your searches to ‘increase my speed’, ‘not enough space’ or ‘my worst holiday was’ will yield more specific results that you can start getting involved in or learn from.
Hopefully those are enough to get your brain ticking, if you have any more thoughts for sales tips using social media, lets hear it in the comments.
