using social media to generate sales
DESCRIPTION
Tips on using social media tools, specifically LinkedIn and Twitter, to generate leads and support the sales cycle.TRANSCRIPT
Using Social Media to Drive Sales
Presented by:
Infographic courtesy Inside Views
Infographic courtesy of Ecreative Internet Marketing
The biggest barriers
of C-level executives cite the Internet as the most influential and important source for business information.
67%
Traditional Marketing (Push)
Social Media(Pull)
Social Media Lead Generation is About Inbound
Marketing
You want people to choose you because you are interesting.
You have lots of opportunities to be interesting.
What can social media help you do?
• Research and development
• Enhance relationships
• Scale connections
• Customer engagement
• Lessen complexity
• Expert positioning
• Tell your own story
• Enhance SEO
Social media is about relationships.
Social networking is more than socializing.
177 million. Tweets sent on March 11, 2011
31,017,254. Unique visitors in the past 6 months
1 week. The time it takes for users to send 1 billion Tweets
Quick Twitter Facts
The Golden Rules of Twitter• Add value
– Link to interesting content: articles, trends, videos, white papers
• Listen – Follow clients, industry associations, people, news relevant to
you– Monitor and act on relevant conversations
• Engage– @reply and RT
• Promote your content– Share white papers, news articles, videos, etc.
Choosing a @Username
• Use your real name– Transparent – Increases your ranking in Google
• Keep usernames consistent• Keep it short• Avoid using hyphens, uncommon
spellings, nicknames and symbols
Setting Up Your Profile
The BasicsTweet
– Noun: A message posted via Twitter containing 140 characters or fewer
– Verb: The act of posting a message
Twitterer/Tweeter – An account holder on Twitter who posts and reads
tweets
Twitter handle– Used to identify you on Twitter for replies and
mentions
The Basics
Follow– Subscribe to the tweets of another Twitter user
Unfollow– To cease following another Twitter user
The BasicsMention
– Including the @ sign followed by a username– Tweets in which your username was included
The Basics
Follow count
The numbers that reflect how many people you follow and how many people follow you
The BasicsSearchA box on your Twitter homepage that allows you to search all public tweets for keywords, usernames, hashtags or subject
The BasicsPromoted tweetsTweets that selected businesses have paid to promote at the top of search results on Twitter
The BasicsTrending topicA subject algorithmically determined to be one of the most popular on Twitter at the moment
The Basics
Protected/Private Accounts– Twitter accounts are public by default– Choosing to protect your account means that your Tweets will only be seen or approved by followers and will not appear in search
What Can I Tweet?• An observation: what you are doing or thinking
about a situation• What you are reading or watching: link to a
relevant industry article or video• What events you are attending• Promote someone else’s content: make a
comment and link to it• Promote Fathom’s content
EngagingRetweet
– Noun: A tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow
– Verb: The act of forwarding another user’s tweet to all your followers
Engaging@Reply
– Tweet posted in reply to another user’s message, usually posted by clicking the “reply” button next to the Tweet in your timeline– Always begins with @username
Engaging
Direct message (DM)– Private tweets between the sender and recipient– Tweets become DMs when they begin with “d username” to specify who the message is for
What is a Hashtag?
Hashtag (#)– Used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet – Created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages
Using Hashtags• People use # before relevant keywords in their
posts to categorize tweets to display easily in Twitter search
• Clicking on a hashtag in any message shows you all other tweets in that category
• Hashtags can occur anywhere in a tweet• Popular hashtags are often trending topics
Hashtag Best Practices
• Use short hashtags• Recommend using no more than 2 hashtags
per tweet• Use hashtags only on tweets relevant to the
topic• Before using a hashtag, always do a search to
see how other users are using it• Hashtags.org offers an overview of popular
hashtags on Twitter
Recommended Hashtags
Social media• #socialmedia• #socialmediamarketing• #blogs• #blogger
Technology• #tech• #business• #technology
Recommended HashtagsMarketing• #marketing• #contentmarketing• #storytelling• #CMO• #infographic• #b2b• #b2c• #communications• #brand
Events• #virtualevents• #hybridevents• #event (often
used with #marketing)
• #eventprofs
How Often Should I Post?
• At least 3 – 5x per week• Share an industry news article or piece of
content 2x per week• RT a relevant tweet from a prospect, customer
or colleague 2x per week• @reply 1x per week to a prospect, customer or
colleague
Twitter 2.0Lists
– Curated groups of other Twitter users – Tie specific individuals into a group on your
Twitter account– Displayed on right side of menu of your
homepage
More About Lists…• Twitter users can organize others into “lists”• Clicking on a list will show you a stream of
tweets from all the users included in that group• You don’t need to follow a user to add them to
a list• Adding someone to a list will show you their
tweets in the list, but you will not see their messages in your main timeline everyday
How to Create a List
• Visit the profile of the user you would like to add to your list
• Click the list drop-down• At the bottom of the drop-down menu, click “Create list”• Enter the credentials of your list and set the privacy
settings
Using Twitter to Generate Leads• Position yourself as a thought leader with the
content of your tweets– Links to industry articles– RT relevant tweets– Links to content
Using Twitter to Generate Leads
• Seek out your prospects and customers and follow them– Create a list to keep them organized
• Monitor the Twitter feeds of your prospects and customers to gather insight into issues of importance
• Engage with your prospects or customers– RT interesting content (only do this 1-2x per week)
• Add a comment or additional insight to the RT
– @ reply to prospects and customers with a link to an article or piece of content that relates to an issue he/she tweeted about
• Shout out to others – Mention them in a #FollowFriday or #FF– #FollowFriday is a hashtag that was created to
introduce people to the Twittersphere– Make sure to leave room for a retweet
• Link to other social conversations– Link to questions on LinkedIn and add
@username of author– Tweet interesting blog posts with the author’s
@username
Using Twitter to Generate Leads
Valuable Content
Who is Using LinkedIn?
100 million+ global users
20 million+ groups
LinkedIn usage peaks between 9 a.m. & noon PT
Average age: 44
49% of users are business decision makers
Grow Your Network
• Add your personalized LinkedIn URL to your email signature
• Connect with people shortly after meeting them• Send personalized connection requests• Reply with a personal note when accepting a
connection request to start a conversation
Grow Your Connections
The “People You May Know” widget in the upper right corner helps you find contacts you might not otherwise have thought of
Join a Group
Search LinkedIn’s Groups Directory to find industry associations and networks to take part in
Engage in a Group• Join the groups and post an introduction to
yourself and your business• Respond to questions with valuable insight• Avoid the direct sell• Share valuable content
Be a Thought Leader• Update your status regularly
– Share links to interesting content relevant to your followers
– Link to content– Let people know what you are working on
• Consider syncing your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts
Be a Thought Leader• Use the many forums on LinkedIn to share the
knowledge you’ve gained in your area of expertise
• Avoid the direct sell• Offer valuable insight• Link to content
Recommendations
• Increase referrals by asking your happy customers to write you a recommendation to publish on your profile
• Personalize your message in the Recommendation form
• Be clear on what you want a recommendation for
Research• Research the people you are meeting with to
learn more about their backgrounds, interests, and skills
• Identify potential connections that you may share with them
• Monitor people changing titles and companies in your News Feed
Applications
• TripIt allows you to let your network know when you will be in their city– Set up meetings with prospects and customers– Find relevant events
Applications
• SlideShare application allows you to share content
• Link to your SlideShare page
Applications
• Reading List by Amazon allows your connections to view what you are reading and provide a recommendation on the book once completed
Applications
• Events by LinkedIn helps you find professional events to discover what events your connections are attending
Should I Upgrade My LinkedIn Account?
• Access to InMail• Additional introductions• Access to OpenLink network• Additional search opportunities
• Identify 5 industry blogs relevant to you and your customers
• Check at least 3x per week• Use Google Reader to make it easy to
manage
Blog Monitoring Made Easy
Getting Started
The Rules
No client names unless approved
Keep it professional
Show a little personality
Keep confidential information confidential
Avoid speculation
Be transparent
Never be deceptive or misleading
Use common sense
Don’t comment on anything to a reporter or analyst
Making it Easy• Use a social media dashboard to manage
all your accounts in one place• Hootsuite.com
– Free!– Easy to manage multiple accounts– Analytics to measure success– Cell phone apps to make it easy to update on
the go
Social Media in 10 Minutes a Day• Scan one or two industry blogs/enewsletters for a
relevant article to share• Write one tweet and/or LinkedIn update
OR• Reply to comments posted by members concerning
your previous status updates/posts
OR• Scan your news feed and respond to a post• Check in on one of your LinkedIn groups and respond
to a question
OR• Respond to a LinkedIn InMail or connection request
Social Media in 5 Minutes a Day
• RT a post
OR• Share a piece of Fathom Business content• Scan your Twitter/LinkedIn news feed and
make a comment on an update
How Can I Measure the Success of My Efforts?
• Engagement – comments, @ replies, RTs
• Social connections • Behavioral change (e.g.
increased inquiries)• Increased awareness of
you/Fathom when you make a sales call
• Volume of conversations• Conversations in new places• Increase in dialogue vs.
monologue
The Golden Rules B2B Social Media
Be interesting
Add value with helpful content
Focus your efforts
Engage in the conversation
Think long term
Keep your information current
Thank You
Larry Holdren
e: [email protected]: @lholdrenf: www.facebook.com/lholdren l: www.linkedin.com/in/lholdren b: www.purethinks.com/purethinking
Shannon Danitz
e: [email protected]: @stdanitzf: www.facebook.com/shannon.danitzl: www.linkedin.com/in/shannondanitzb: www.purethinks.com/purethinking