Today, it’s a cliché to even mention how big a part of our lives social media plays. The PEW Research Center found that by September of 2013, 74% of online American adults used social media sites, and 71% used Facebook specifically.
It doesn’t take a genius business mind to understand how big of a potential market that demographic represents, and it’s become commonplace for a company—even small ones—to employ a full-time social media team. But while it’s common knowledge that social media can be a valuable business tool, actually using it to generate real sales lead can be a bit trickier. At Acquirent, we have over a decade of experience in outsourced sales, so we think we know a thing or two about sales. Here are our tips for tapping into social media to generate sales leads.
#1 Find Relevant Prospects
We already discussed how massive the population on social media is. And while that’s great in terms of how many people you can reach, it also means you’re going to have to do some searching to find those actually interested in your product or service. Doing a quick Twitter search, or using a website like socialmention.com, can help you narrow down potential prospects. Find people talking about your industry and connect with them!
#2 Engage!
Once you’ve found prospects, don’t simply send them your sales pitch or a link to your website. Not only is it unlikely to generate real leads, it’s also spammy and unprofessional. Instead, engage with them: follow or retweet them on Twitter, connect with them on LinkedIn, comment on their posts on Facebook. Social media is meant for building relationships, and these can lead to sales down the road.
#3 Stay Relevant
Simply connecting with someone initially isn’t going to get you anywhere. You need to remain on people’s minds by posting interesting content and engaging in relevant conversation. Remember, sales is often a marathon rather than a sprint!
Thanks to thought leaders like Jill Rowley and Koka Sexton, prospecting and selling using social media has started a whole new way to connect and sell and it’s called social selling. Granted we’ve only listed three quick ways to use social media to prospect, we recommend researching and following thought leaders and get more tips.
At Acquirent, we consider ourselves to be sales experts, and these tips have gotten us far. If you’re looking for the very best in outsourced sales, look no further.
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