Social media in the business space was essentially non-existent in the early days of social networking sites. Even as thousands, then hundreds of thousands flocked to the sites, many organizations failed to see the potential. That’s all changing now as the success stories about social selling have exploded across the Internet. What can your organization do to step up its social selling game?
1. Know Your Audience and Target Their Favorite Sites
Where are you going to create your hub? To answer this question you need to know where your target audience goes most often. LinkedIn has become an increasingly hot commodity in social selling. Facebook, Twitter, tumblr and YouTube are also go-to sites where you need to establish your hub by offering quality content that your clients and possible clients will value.
2. Take Part in the Conversation
It’s not enough to create quality content and share it – you have to be a willing participant in the conversation. Answer every question put before you about your industry and about your products and services, if they come up. As you seek out social selling opportunities, you’ll find many sites that offer commenting where you can jump in and take more proactive steps to pull in more leads.
3. Don’t Skimp on Content
Creating new content is not an easy task. If you want to generate more leads that progress to sales opportunities, you have to keep your eye on the conversation, not only on your pages, but on those established by others within your industry. To make the most of your efforts, think about the content that you can repurpose. For instance, you can take a blog you add content to every week and use past submissions for newsletters or for guest columns in industry publications. This is a marketing ploy that can help attract more eyes to your brand while minimizing your efforts.
Also, don’t be afraid to curate news items from other sources and direct that to your news hub. Your personal attempts at a news aggregation will be much appreciated by your audience.
IBM Shares its Success in Social Selling
IBM had great results after monitoring social media to listen for lead opportunities. In fact, the company said it uncovered millions of dollars worth of leads through a listening program. While IT concentrates on streamlining the online process, the sales staff is able to leverage that platform and use social selling opportunities to get a conversation started with the leads.
IBM continues to track and measure social initiatives. For instance, they look at four key metrics: win revenue and win rate, the number of leads and the value of each lead.
Not every company has the resources of IBM. In fact, few probably do. You can turn to a professional Social Media Marketing consultant though to get your social selling strategy up and running. Contact Jasmine Sandler, social media consultant to get a free social media phone consultation at website.