Selling with
SOCIAL MEDIA

What We’ll Cover Today
1. What is Social Media?
2. What are the Main Social Networks in Use?
3. What’s your Social Media Sales Strategy?
4. How can I Sell with Social Media?
5. How do I Measure the Results?

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

 How would you define social media in
your own words?

 According to Brian Solis, Social Media is:
“The DEMOCRATIZATION OF INFORMATION,
transforming people from content readers into
PUBLISHERS. It is the shift from a broadcast
mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many
model, rooted in CONVERSATIONS between
authors, people, and peers"

 In the past, you pushed your message to a
specific audience (i.e. – Advertising, Direct Mail)
Super Bowl Ad Introducing Super Bowl Ad Featuring E-Trade - 2010
Macintosh - 1984
Sources: Mac Ad. Entertainment Weekly.
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20254513_20009920,00.html
E-Trade Ad.

 Not much room for two-way communication
◦ Word-of-Mouth was sought out most (Water-cooler talk
after a funny ad last night during Super Bowl)
◦ Contact through phone (Customer service) or in-person
(In line at the store)
Brenda, did you
see that
hilarious ad last
night? WOW!
I’ve been telling
everyone!

 Transparency was tougher to identify
◦ Example: Car dealerships always say they’re largest or
have most sales…
Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/12/07/lost-locations-roundup-flying-a-
service-station-king-midget-factory-custom-car-dealership/

 The one-way model has morphed into a
two-way model
 The CompanyCustomer relationship has
become a cyclical, web-like model
Business
Message
Reaches Customer, trickles down
to friends and friends of friends
Source: http://www.vedainformatics.com/blogs/5-things-about-social-media-

Courtesy of Socialnomics

 The digitized version of in-person, word-of-mouth
communication
 In real-time and immediate
 A digital medium allowing your audience full
access to support, critique and bash you to others
 ALL about content! The phrase “Content is King”
was never more important
 Most importantly - TRANSPARENT

WHAT ARE THE MAIN
SOCIAL NETWORKS
IN USE?

 There are 901 million + “active” users
 155 million U.S. users as of 2011
 7 billion monthly visitors to Facebook.com
 526 million daily active users on average - March 2012
Source:: Facebook Company Info: http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22

 Fan pages are perfect for building online
communities, engagement and lead generation.

 More than 140 million active accounts
 Is based on 140-character posts
 More than 340 million tweets each day
 Twitter usage has doubled since 2010
 People connecting based on common
interests in real-time (e.g. #Indians or #DWTS)
 Percentage of adults using Twitter daily has
doubled since 2011 and quadrupled since 2010
Source: Twitter company info: business.twitter.com;
Pew Report on Twitter demographics www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/44999.aspx

 Great tool for customer service dept., for lead
generation, product/service support, etc.

Pinterest
 More than one-fifth of Facebook-connected
users are on Pinterest daily (which represents
more than 2,000,000 members). source: Mashable
 U.S. users spend an average of 1 hour and 17
minutes on the site, ahead of Twitter (36
minutes), LinkedIn (17 minutes), and Google+ (six
minutes). source: AllTwitter
 Pinterest has 10.4 million registered users.
source: AppData

Pinterest
 A visually driven network that can greatly increase
customer engagement and sharing.
Boards with
Pinned Items
Like, Share and
Comment on Pins

 Has more than 161 million users worldwide with
two new professionals signing up every
second
 On pace for 5.3 billion professionally oriented
searches in 2012
 Executives from every Fortune 500 company
could be found in 2011
 The first social network to go public with an Initial
Public Offering (IPO) - LNKD currently $91/share
Source: LinkedIn Press Center: press.linkedin.com/about & CNN Money

 Group/Business pages allow for sharing of
information and help connect professionals
Key data on types of
positions, industry,
revenue, etc.

WHAT’S YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA
SALES STRATEGY?

 Facebook
◦ The 35+ demographic accounts for more than 30% of the FB user-base
◦ On average, fans spend an additional $71.84 on products compared to non-fans
 Twitter
◦ 30% of users have annual household income of $100K+
◦ 31% of 18-24 year olds are Twitter users
 Pinterest
◦ Average annual household income is between $25K - $60K
 LinkedIn
◦ 68% of the users are over the age of 35
◦ 69% of all users make more than $60K/year

 Youraudience uses these
social networks everyday. So
how are you reaching them?
 You’re probably not…
Let’s look at what you’re missing

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics video (4:15)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmfs3z8esI

 DON’T just create a social presence because
everyone else is!
 Just because you have a page doesn’t mean
you’ll succeed
 QUESTION: How many of you have stumbled
across a Facebook Fan page that hasn’t been
updated for months, if not longer?
 Social Media is Strategic… and it shows

 Keep it simple when developing strategy
 Be realistic. Start small. Go after the lowest
hanging fruit and build from there…
 Three key questions that will drive strategy:
◦ 1) What are you trying to achieve?
◦ 2) Who are you trying to reach?
◦ 3) How will social media tools help facilitate this?

 Types of goals and objectives:
◦ Build awareness
◦ Change perceptions
◦ Reach new audiences, new geographic areas
◦ Gain feedback on a product or service
◦ Use it to see what your competitors are doing
◦ Provide better customer service
◦ And on and on…
◦ Make sure goals and objectives are tied to business
objectives and sales goals

Set your goals
and make them
your guiding
light!
If not, you’ll end
up like this guy!

 Social media allows precision audience targeting
(demo info, user data, etc.)
 Once you know your target audience, social
media allows you to build a community
◦ This community allows the online conversation to
become offline (real world)
 Gain some basic insight into your audiences’
habits, likes and dislikes
◦ Can help target better

 Create a basic messaging platform
 What is the essence of our business or
organization?
 Capture that essence with key words and phrases
 Develop a tone, a context to your posts and
responses… what’s your business’s
PERSONALITY?
 DO NOT post sales pitches. Create a conversation
that engages them to talk about your business.

 Make your entire team part of the messaging
discussion
◦ That brings them in on the ground floor
 Give them ownership, claim to this “voice” you’re
creating for your business
 Ensure the person/s who are the “content
creators” keep continuity in that voice
 Give access to your SM accounts sparingly, to
those you trust most – they will be the digital voice
of your business!

 Create a social media policy guide, including:
 How to respond to positive and negative posts or comments
 Who should be responsible for posting and responding
 Rules for use for employees with their own personal
accounts

HOW CAN I SELL
WITH SOCIAL MEDIA?

If you’re brave,
take a stab at
trying them all!
By the way, this is
only just a few of
the thousands out
there!
Graphic courtesy of

 Begin by researching where your audience
resides online
 If you have a direct competitor, review their social
networks and take notes
 You don’t have to use every available social
media network!
 Start slow… if your customers use Facebook the
most, start there… then build.

 Top line information
◦ Logo and tagline if you have one
◦ Business background (Facts and stats)
◦ Location and hours of operation
◦ Contact information (Website, email, phone, etc.)
◦ Add your other social networks links (if applicable)

Sales & Message Alignment
 Your tools need to match your objectives!
 This means:
◦ Identify realistic business objectives
◦ Market and respond in a timely manner – SM is real time!
◦ Create content that creates interest, encourages sharing
 Industry information
 Featured products and what they do for the customer
 Customer stories and testimonials
 Connect your products and services to awareness days (i.e.
World Environment Day if you sell recyclable products)
 Interact on a regular basis with your fans

Sales & Messaging Example
Integrate your Facebook, social messaging to
generate quality sales leads. Remember: Talk
to your audience! Don’t market.
Facebook Links to Microsite Product Page

Develop a Timeline App (Tab)
 Direct current and prospective customers to this
area
◦ Utilize this page to intrigue the customer with compelling
content and call-to-action (i.e. visit a targeted microsite,
call, email, Tweet, etc.)

Trying Twitter
 Your voice/message needs to be shorter, more
concise.
 Listen more at the beginning, retweet other
industry leaders, then get in on the conversation!
 Use hashtags (#FollowFriday) to view topical
streams and get heard
 Use a “branded” profile (your company name), not
a personal page.
 Be personable, real and honest, don’t hard sell!

Trying Twitter
 Traditional practices translate to Twitter
◦ Spark up conversations based on common interests
◦ Focus on customer needs and solving problems
 Design your social experience to sell
◦ Don’t just pitch your product; engage the audience
◦ Tell your story once the person is engaged
 LEARN – use Twitter to gather info

Connecting on LinkedIn
 Network, network, network
 LinkedIn is a digital rolodex
 Research your customer contacts
 Advertise directly to a certain profession
 Stay connected; keep contacts fresh easier

Pinning on Pinterest
 Allows you to show off your personality
 Integrate with Facebook and Twitter accounts
 Use images that set the stage for selling
◦ Selling lemonade? Show a hot sunny day or lemons
 Link back to your website, FB page, etc. (builds SEO)

Pinning on Pinterest
 Images of product/service with people!
 Inspire creativity among loyal customers
 Tie in to holidays and current trends
What a pin on a
board looks like

Don’t Just Start with the tools…
 Fail to Plan… Plan to Fail

 Done your research
 Set goals and business objectives
 Chose the social network/s you will participate in
 Aligned your sales and message
 Set up your pages with key content
 Strategized how you will utilize these networks to
interact and market your customers
 What do I do next?

 Share content between social networks
 Cross- and back-linking creates great search
engine optimization (SEO) – It makes your
business get found easier!
 Always try and tie your links back to your website
to increase your ranking in search results
 Use hashtags, targeted keywords, links from other
social networks to enhance your social search
results
Good SEO makes me like you!

 Types of ads in a nutshell – Cost per Thousand
(CPM) and Cost per Click (CPC)
 On Facebook, you can target your customers by
their interests (sports, politics, cars, etc.),
geography, demographics and psychographics
(buying behavior)!
 On LinkedIn, you can target prospects/leads by job
title, function, industry, age and geography… or by
company size and revenue if you’re B2B
 On Twitter, you can use the “Promoted Tweets”
and “Promoted Trends” on Cost per Engagement
basis.

 Send a message to your friends to check out your
new business page and “Like” it
◦ A great way to get a small base of fans
◦ Friends are more prone to share with their friends
 Run a contest or giveaway to compel people to
“Like” page
◦ Create an incentive when advertising (Coupons)

 Promoted and paid advertisements on Facebook
are powerful tools!
 Messaging is key here! A conversation will better
connect you to you audience.

LinkedIn Advertising
 Advertise directly to certain
professions
 Look at keywords and
highlight your specific
audience
 Promote your LinkedIn
presence

Twitter Advertising
 Promote tweets to people outside your network

HOW DO I MEASURE
THE RESULTS?

Common Measurement Questions
But you want more than this…
Slide via @ChuckHemann, Digital Analytics at WCG

Monitor & Measure
 There are limited ways to measure social
media… but how do I measure ROI?
 Benchmark your sales data up front
 Set goals based on that data (i.e. I want to increase
sales leads from 10 per month to 15 within six
months)
 The extra 5 leads could = $X dollars. These are
quantifiable numbers!
 Monitor your social networks, seeing what posts your
customers like, if they share or comment, etc.
◦ Tied your customers interactions on your
social networks to the “actions” you want
them to take.

Measuring your Facebook Page
Review important data points, make educated
assumptions and decisions and move forward.

Facebook Ad Measurement
 Facebook advertising can be measured in a
vast number of ways.

Wrapping Up…

 Now that you have a page or pages, you are in
charge of the content
 Keep a calendar of when and what to post
 Your personal account is now connected to the
fan page as an administrator
◦ DON’T accidentally post something thinking your fan
page was your personal page

 Just because you created it, doesn’t mean your
customers will flock to your page
 It takes a little leg work… some manual labor
 Do research. Find where your audience hangs
out. What they like.
◦ Again, look at your competitors pages, or similarly
aligned fan pages
Courtesy of: http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2011/02/the-use-of-social-media-in-the-
last-12-18-months-has-become-a-widespread-tool-in-the-business-toolbox-although-frustrating.html

 Tom Duke will moderate questions…