4-Step process to creating your own social media strategy for selling, including a look at specific ways to use popular social media sites to increase leads and sales.

1. For Sales

2. Introduction Social media has become convoluted with many opinions, tools, strategies In truth, social media can be a very useful tool, but only if the proper tools are aligned with the right goals. According to engagementdb.com, brands that are engaged at an above average rate across multiple social channels saw an increase of 18% in revenue. The trick to successful use of social media in selling is to remember that you are still selling. You have to get the right message to the right decision maker at the right time, regardless of distribution. As with any endeavor you should have a plan before jumping in, this is especially true for all 2.0 technologies.

3. Step 1: Set Goals Whatever your goals may be, make sure they are clearly defined. Without a clear goal of where you want to end up, there is no way to know how to get there. Examples of goals could include: To increase lead generation To decrease prospecting by increasing your number of inbound calls To become an industry expert To create warmer introduction calls To never cold call again To close more sales To shorten the sales cycle Etc, etc

4. Step 2: Decide on Your Tools Slideshare: Share power point presentations that your prospects will find useful, specifically about your product, or a useful topic related to your industry. For example, our company which does sales training and coaching, posted several presentations about customer service and the importance of training your employees, topics our target audience is interested in learning about. To bring traffic back to your site, include a slide at the end with a brief description of you, your company, or your background along with contact information and a link back to your website.

5. Tools Continued YouTube: YouTube is FREE place to host video that can make viewing a demonstration of your product or advertising easier. Get your most satisfied customers to do video referrals for you and your company. YouTube will host an unlimited amount of these videos for free allowing you to build a site of positive reviews and referrals

6. Tools Continued Scribd: This site makes it easy to upload and share your writing, articles, and even promotional pieces. Create a profile and use it as an online portfolio of all you have done and all that you know. Tag your work with appropriate keywords so that prospects searching for your services will find and contact you, Always include a link back to your website at the end of all uploaded pieces.

7. Tools Continued LinkedIn: Find up to date contact and company information. Build up your network with friends, colleagues, and co-workers, then USE IT. Ask for names of people that may be interested in your product or service, in return promise to do the same for them. Hosting an event? Send out a message to your connections including the link to your event and ask them to forward it on to their networks. Use library of applications. These applications allow you to add PowerPoint, video, links, blogs, and much more to your profile, take advantage of them and give people a reason to view and revisit your profile. Try participating in groups, don’t just join them. Post press releases or blog entries, read those of other members, and comment, share and forward their content.

8. Tools Continued Facebook: Build a network of followers, and use it’s capabilities to become a resource. Promote your page, Include it in your email signatures, post the link on your blog or in email newsletters Post interesting articles or information on the walls of your prospects Integrate your Slideshare and Twitter accounts to gain greater visibility

9. Step 3: Set Time Limits Most experts say to keep social surfing to 10-30 min in the morning and again before you go home. If your using a site like twitter and would like to have updates going more often check out sites like socialoomph.com or hootsuite.com

10. Step 4: Measure Your Results Check out these sites to help you start your measurement: Howsociable.com Grader.com Compete.com You can also use simple measures like number of twitter followers, Facebook fans, or an increase in web traffic or interaction. Free tools like Google analytics can measure your site traffic, and urlshorteners like bit.ly can keep track of the number of people clicking on your links. To track leads to sales conversions keep track of where you find your leads and where your leads find you. If you have an information form on your website, add a question asking how they heard about you.

11. For more information on using social media for sales download the free whitepaper: Using Social Media for Sales, which includes more tools and tips to help you develop a successful social media selling strategy. http://www.salesprogress.com/socialmedia