Vengreso digital selling

Social Media Activity that Leads to Business

We all do it. Good digital selling intentions can lead to quickly checking in on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, or wherever else you go online—but an hour later, you find yourself down a rabbit hole of links, wasting precious time you can’t get back.

Purposeful is the word I like to use. Productive is another. Without these, it would only be luck that would make social selling activities successful.

There are 7 steps in the journey of engaging buyers that you can do right now that will take you from random acts of social to digital selling:

  1. Define who your buyers are. Some call it client persona, others call it buyer mapping – but no matter how you label it, it is really about knowing who you are selling to. Because much of B2B social selling is spent leveraging LinkedIn, I often recommend researching your favorite clients and using their profile
  2. Discover what your buyers care about. By paying attention to the content your buyers share, like, comment or even author, you can pinpoint the topics that attract them. In addition, scan some of your sent emails answering the plethora of client questions you get every week. What they care about is all over that correspondence. This information can help us engage in much more relevant ways than we would if we just guessed at what matters to them.
  3. Find where your buyers are hanging out. Fish where the fish are. Daily I get questions like, “Should I be on Twitter”? And I answer 100% of the time, “Are your buyers on Twitter?” Use your time wisely – and don’t invest any energy in areas where this is little to no chance of a return.
  4. Build out a client-centric presence. No matter what social platforms you choose, you must relate to your buyers. Take a look at all your social profiles from your buyers’ perspective and ask yourself, “Would I be inspired to take a call from me?”
  5. Provide real value and engage. Take what you have learned and share insights, blog posts, eBooks, videos or other educational based content that has an impact on your buyer. Not just noise, but commercial insights that prove you understand their current situation, get them a bit uncomfortable, create curiosity and prep them to look forward to your call.
  6. Identify commonalities and leverage your network. Building rapport is still as important as ever before, but making your comments authentic is vital. Do you research, talk to shared connections, and take the time for due diligence.
  7. Take it offline. If you are in B2B sales, you have to speak with your buyer in order to make a sale, so do this as soon as the time is right. And, make sure there is something in it for your buyer to get on the call. Don’t offer to “Demo” them or “Pitch” them, but offer to provide insights that can have an immediate impact on their business, even if you never work together.

BONUS: Your first impression starts with your profile, so make sure you design it with your buyer in mind. Offer value by offering insights that get the thinking differently about their current position, situation, company or industry. When you can offer ah-ha moments in your profile, you are building credibility before you ever even speak with them. And, when you do ask for a call, they know it will be well worth their time.

This is a great place to start your social sales engagement, but keep in mind; digital selling offers so many other ways to engage. Consider developing a tactical playbook of daily activities and messaging to ensure that your time is spent in the most productive ways.