Many people have doubts about whether or not social media can help drive sales. They think that “their prospects” aren’t using it, that people don’t pay attention to things being posted there, or that it’s all about “what someone had for lunch.” The truth is that the Internet is full - almost too full - of awesome information. My daughter says that if it’s not on the Internet, it must not exist! She truly believes that.
People are searching online for information - they want to know stuff. If you use social media as a means to showcase your industry expertise, people WILL find you and follow you. One of my clients got over 3000 leads from social media. It works.
You don’t need to talk about mundane things like what you had for lunch - you can talk about how your products or services help people. Use your experience and expertise to teach people. Discuss industry trends and how they impact your target audience. Think about all the questions you get asked during the sales cycle - if one person has a question, there are many more out there wondering the same thing.
The only way to know if it’s going to work for you or not is to try it. Start writing articles and other lead generation content and put it out in the social world.
Then monitor your website traffic to see if anyone is visiting you from different social media sites. Use strategic reporting and analysis to measure the number of leads and sales you get from your efforts. Then you’ll know for sure.
The resources invested in creating content for your company is never a waste so you won’t be out anything. Having good content is critical to sales success. It helps salespeople get more appointments and shortens the sales cycle. It gives prospects a way to learn more about you and how you can help them.
Don’t discount what you know - there are people out there looking for that very information. It’s up to you to make it available to them. If you don’t do it, your competitors will.
Comments