"Please note this is a not meant to be a comprehensive look into the world of social networking or a comparative analysis of social platforms. This is a basic how to for folks looking to leverage Web 2.0 technologies in their sales and marketing practices." Now back to my article...
The answer in a word is, YES! But the important point to make is "HOW" can they impact your sales and marketing strategy to positively influence suspects into becoming your prospect by entering your sales system or approaching you directly?
Here are some basic tactics I have used and perhaps you may see others employing in their day to day lead cultivation campaigns.
Social Networks: Although there are many platforms from which to choose, the overall goal of each system is to connect to and communicate with friends, family and new contacts. For the average widget salesmen these systems can cause a bit of confusion between what is personal and what is professional. In today's Enterprise 2.0 space personal and professional in certain cases must coexist. Which may force some folks into keeping their personal lives offline if coworkers or a boss are watching (there have been plenty of documented cases of people getting fired for what they type in blogs or post in social communities). Here are a few tactics that may work to cultivate a professional following and will introduce folks to your company or product quickly.
Plaxo Pulse - a personal rolodex of sorts that has grown into a full blown social network. This system is typically used by professionals to keep in touch with each other and make contact with other professionals regionally. I like Plaxo for it's ability to keep my contact info current even when some of my contacts change companies. Anything to save time. ;-)
Facebook, MySpace etc... Social communities seem to be limitless today. The goal for sales professionals is to locate a network that is likely to be rich with target suspects, meaning you hope to find lots of people you can potentially sell to overtime. Your challenge will be to locate them and approach them in a way that is not obtrusive, rude or salesly.
Important things to remember when you look to leverage a social community for something as selfish as God for bid personal gain or income. Remember to be honest, open, fair and approachable. Let people know in your bio you are a sales professional or business owner. Tell folks why you joined the group and what you hope to get out of it. Don't be vague, use false names, spam the system with your URL or ads.
I suggest finding ways to help people with your knowledge, share advice, give pointers, ask delving questions that seek to share your expertise while possibly uncovering folks who may need your help as a professional. For instance on LinkedIn you might consider starting a group that discusses something relevant to your business practice like, "Property Investment User Group". If you are a real estate attorney and mortgage broker this may net you a nice group of professionals who will seek your advice and professional skill set over time. You might also try posting questions in LinkedIn or Yahoo Answers like this one: "What scares you the most about property investment in today's economy?" or "What's the biggest headache you have in your current portfolio?" both of these questions will most likely connect you with people looking to invest or folks who already own many properties or would like to. Connect and nurture these relationships and you just might find a few new customers in your future.
Sharing quality content exudes value in the consumer's mind. Also remember the guiding tenant, "Money Follows Value!" If you seek quality customers, then offer your suspects and prospects lots and lots of value! This one principle will cultivate a powerful funnel of prospects overtime if you take the time to create meaningful, impactful and valuable messages, info gifts or videos that are interesting and compelling to your target market. In order for this tactic to work you will need to understand your target market, who they are, where they live online and what is meaningful to them.
Tell your friends and family what's happening in your business. Any time a system allows your to pulse, tweep, update or share let your friends and family know what matters to you. If your company just launched a new product let your network know about it and how you played a part. You can always post specials, coupons and close outs. try giving something away just for your network! Givers get as they say.
Look for other professionals you can network with. A referral network is one of the most powerful solutions to breaking into to meaningful accounts and companies in your area quickly. Work with everybody including your competitors and complimentary solution providers in your area.
Twitter - "If I had more time I would have written less." I love this quote. It rings in my ears every time I log into to my Twitter account to hit up my Tweeps. but how does a sales professional use Twitter to cultivate a never ending stream of leads and suspects? Let people know why you use twitter. For instance Twitter can enable fun solutions or even important useful solutions such as: "whatshakin" if you follow this Twitter account you will be automatically notified when any 2.5 earth quake strikes globally. Over time you may notice trends in seismic activity or simply have the latest news when your co-worker get shakin in the office.
Other things Twitter can let you see and understand... check out products like TweetDeck and look at the Tweet Scoop function to see a tag cloud of topics that are buzzing right now. Talk about knowing your market. You can test theories once you have a big enough following. Try twittering about a hot topic on Twitter and watch the result via Tweet Scoop. Can your topic become the biggest buzz on the system? Or by clicking on a hot topic of choice you can see who is saying what about your topic. You can locate and follow folks who might be big users of your product or perhaps influencers of your target market, now check and see if they manage a blog. Perhaps they may be willing to post or write an article covering your subject matter?
Blog, blog blog. If you consider yourself an expert in a field of endeavor talk about it. If you can find an interesting aspect of what you do. Focus on broad applications of your knowledge, be careful though if you write about very technical topics you may filter out the average online user and thus limit your market in this sense. You may end up preaching to the choir instead of cultivating new prospects.
The message here is marketing opportunities abound online and the vast majority of them are free if you only take the time to structure a proper strategy for taking your message and persona online.
Some basic caveats you should keep in mind...
Be specific - don't be vague and run around your topic. Let people know what you do and how you do it. Talk about your role and responsibilities.
Be honest - don't lie or mislead your public. To maintain integrity you have to be honest and open with your readers.
Telling isn't selling - don't simply talk about you and your product. Talk about subjects that may be compelling to your readers and target market. Try to think about issues, problems and challenges your target market may face when thinking about your product or service.
I hope you find some useful ideas above. Remember to have fun and be yourself. 80% of the sale is you and only 20% is about the company you present. People buy from people they like.
Happy selling!
Kenneth Knapp
Regional Sales Manager - LA and OC - California
www.airband.com - day job
hobbies - martial arts
http://bjjtalk.blogspot.com
http://www.kungfusansooriverside.com
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