Get the sales team selling with social media!!By Rupert Heather, Connectors Marketplace!!Social media selling is a vital tool for identifying and nurturing social prospects. Despite that, many sales people and organisations lack efficiency in using social media lead generation to generate social selling opportunities. !One of the key issues is that often we don’t understand the role of social media selling tools. When we do, we make it easier to learn the required social selling skills & tactics. We create more social media intelligence around the sales pipeline and can plan our social lead generation activities better. !Social media is a far more effective channel for lead generation & nurturing than email marketing and pay per click advertising. Lead conversion rates with social media marketing are 13% higher on average than with other forms of digital marketing. !

Social Media Influence !The objective of any sales team is to maximise sales lead generation and do it in the most efficient way. For a sales team to function well there must be a constant stream of qualified leads entering the sales pipeline. !One of the biggest challenges is the time it takes to generate leads. Social

selling techniques save time, money and resources and improve consumer targeting and conversion rates. !The influence of social media on buyer behaviour is so vast that it’s fast becoming the main channel for consumers to research products & services. In terms of both on-line and retail purchases the influence of social media is evident. !Effective Social Selling !Social selling works by: !• Creating awareness by reaching large volumes of consumers • Targeting consumers more effectively • Using focused engagement to establish credibility & trust • Tailoring content to influence the consumer • Tracking consumer progress through the buying cycle • Watching for the signals of consumers being ready to buy !Being active on social media isn’t enough. It’s about being smart and understanding the cues that consumers are providing. Social selling is about creating meaningful & sustainable engagement with consumers.

!We gather insights from consumer’s social media behaviour and use them to foster engagement and gain influence. !We position ourselves and build trust with consumers before we ever mention products and services. In fact, we never directly try to sell. In the world of social selling we should ‘always be helping.’ !When it works, consumer will tell us when they are ready to buy. Social media monitoring techniques show us where consumers are in the buying cycle. We can then tailor our messaging for maximum effect and allow the sales team to close the net. !Generate awareness !!Every effort should be made to systematically build up networks by developing personal brands across social profiles. !Our profile must support our lead generation activities. It should: • Be complete • Spell out exactly what we do • Be keyword optimised • Highlight the benefits we offer • Include visual content • Be ‘open' to allow social ties to connect. !Gaining social influencer is vital in creating awareness of companies, brands & products products. Relationships should be built steadily and consistently to generate greater awareness and increase the likelihood of moving buyers to consideration. !Tactics to build better relationships include: • Establishing a presence that gives connections all the information they need • Getting followers by offering to give them something in return • Understanding their behaviour to engage with followers • Sharing content, news, articles to connect with the network • Analysing the results to refine strategy !!Better consumer targeting !Do this by monitoring social mentions & conversation that focus on keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business. Use all the social media marketing resources available to

identify targets and establish target selection profiles. Social media conversations reflect users preferences and interests, the topics that define them. !Social media networks are formed around common threads and themes. Within networks people share emotional & behavioural connections. By understanding what networks of intrinsically linked individuals care about, their values and their influencers, we can improve consumer targeting. !

Identify Influencers !Influencer marketing helps us communicate effectively with social media networks to increase our social selling potential. In the world of non-interruptive social selling, influencer marketing tactics pay dividends by exponentially growing audiences and social lead generation possibilities. !Through their experiences, opinions, research and advice, influencers increase awareness and generate leads, they address barriers & objections. !!

Influencers carry our sales message by creating and promoting brand content. They place our solutions, in the form of products and services, at the heart of the consumer research process. !!Use Content Marketing !Content marketing plays an important strategic role in social selling. Consumers are well informed & highly knowledgeable. We should always aim to be insightful and genuine with our content. !Content is used throughout the buying cycle to; !• Create awareness • Establishing credibility and trust • Increase the level of consideration • Deals with problems & objections • Encouraging behaviour change • Signpost next steps !

Non-interruptive selling involves influencing behaviour by establishing us as experts in the mind of consumers. Regularly share relevant, high quality content from multiple sources. Publish stories and articles that have a social dimension, that entertain, educate & inform. !Content marketing isn’t just self-promotion. It can involve content curation and encourage connections to share updates from top influencers and other experts. !Lead nurturing Consumers no longer wait to be contacted by a sales representative, they actively research their purchases. Consumers are open to being influenced by social media in their purchasing decisions. !Our daily activities must focus on increasing our influence with consumers and responding to their behavioural triggers. Social selling is an entirely customer driven strategy. !!Social media lead generation tips: !Facebook • Competitions create interests • Use applications to extract sales information • Use third party apps to customise tabs to collect information • Set up a Facebook limited offer !Twitter • Embed Calls To Action in your tweets with lead gen cards • Use Twitter’s TV Advert targeting tool • Use the audience tailoring tool • Promote your account • Leverage broad match keywords & terms !LinkedIn • Join groups where your target audience are • Enter discussions your prospects are involved in • Connect with those who view your profile • Endorse your connections to gain favour !! !!

The Author: Rupert Heather. !Chief Content Contributor at Connectors Marketplace!