Social Media: It Can Generate you Sales!

A vital chunk of the sales process is familiarising yourself with the prospects and building relationships; and social media can help you take a big step in that direction.

Social media gives those in sales an opportunity to see what others are saying about their company and their competitors. You can spot their potential customerwiths needs, by listening to what theywithre saying. Itwiths basically market research, which can lead to a conversation or even better, a sale. If you donwitht gain a sale out of it, youwithll build a relationship with customers, and this boosts customer loyalty, so theywithll return.

Social media platforms such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook can present opportunities if you use them correctly. Search an opportunity on Twitter, and find the decision maker on LinkedIn. On Facebook and company blogs, companies may post content which presents opportunities for sale people. So you could post a blog, share it on Facebook, and talk about it on Twitter. Loyalty customers can keep in touch and up to date with your brand; keep them happy, and theywithll share for you.
So, how can you generate sales from your social media…

1. Identify the best method of reaching your potential customers.
First off, you need to know your clientele. You need to know who and where they are. Once youwithve identified them, youwithll know where you can find them; so which platform is best to connect with them. Facebook is great for B2C business, however, Facebook has introduced new algorithms, so your advertising may come at a price. You may want to consider Instagram and Pintrest to post products and images; but it shouldnwitht be too content heavy with it needs to be what the people want to see! LinkedIn, is best for B2B business, as itwiths more professional. Itwiths sort of online ˜networking,with so if youwithre looking to connect with business faces in those big companies, start connecting. Twitter is an overall platform for everything. Remember on Twitter, you should listen, not shout. Look out for those opportunities from what people are saying.Think outside the text box; more and more brands are started to blog, and starting live chats on their site to engage customers as they visit!

2. Join the networks and introduce your personality
Start on by getting familiar with the platform youwithre using. Set yourself up with a profile, start interacting with people to get used to the behaviour and expectations with those in your ˜community.with Remember, you need to create a personality that people trust, and people like. Remember, itwiths nice to be nice. Donwitht push people to go to your website; if they like you enough, theywithll go themselves.

3. Engage and connectSpend your time observing each social networking and identify those people and brands talking about your market and industry; use hashtags and keywords: Interact with them by sharing, commenting, retweeting and sharing what theywithve said or posted. And naturally, youwithll ˜followwith them and theywithll do the same with itwiths building the ˜foundationwith of an online ˜relationship. The key is to not spam them with your pitch and content; just rub them up the right way. If they donwitht need anything you have, someone they know may need you.

4. Build RelationshipsThe key thing that sales people need to know that it is more important to build relationships than build sales leads; Good relationships will eventually convert into leads. More and more people are sharing content and information, and if you sit back and listen, your engagement will be valuable. Once youwithve established this relationship, you can confidently and casually ˜pitchwith to them how they may want or need your product.

5. Engage and join the conversations Social media is just like networking, but online. You wouldnwitht just walk up to someone and start pitching them when you first meet them; so why would you do it on Twitter? Another approach is pointing out the problems theywithve highlighted, and offering your product as a solution. On Facebook and LinkedIn you can set up groups focused on your product or service and invite people.