Social media is not unique to our private lives. It is turn out to be a reality {of professional} life as effectively — notably within the gross sales world. The truth is, 56% of gross sales professionals use social media to seek out new prospects.

Because of this, social promoting abilities are transitioning from a nice-to-have to a need-to-have for gross sales professionals, however growing that sort of experience is way simpler stated than accomplished.

So that will help you up your social promoting recreation, we reached out to some HubSpot specialists for some key ideas and tips you’ll be able to apply to raised leverage your social media presence to attach with prospects and make exhausting gross sales.

Let’s dive in.

1. Leverage info on social media to attach with prospects.

Once we reached out to Sarina Kowaguchi, former Senior Development Specialist at HubSpot, she pressured the significance of leveraging social media to seek out widespread floor and construct rapport with prospects.

She says, “I’ve discovered that social promoting may be really impactful when you’ll be able to leverage info on social media — such as LinkedIn — to attach with a prospect on mutual experiences, pursuits, or connections.”

For instance, you could possibly congratulate a prospect on knowledgeable milestone or “win,” or ship a personalised message once in a while.

2. Diversify your platforms.

Dan Tyre, govt at HubSpot, emphasizes the worth of sustaining an lively social media presence throughout varied platforms.

He says, “Twitter, Instagram, Fb, and Linkedin are my jam. A part of being an inbound govt is to be sure to are optimizing a number of platforms to make it simple for individuals to seek out you and reinforce your model.”

Kowaguchi echos an identical sentiment, telling me: “Whereas e-mail and telephone calls will stay a big a part of my day-to-day prospecting, I diversify my efforts throughout different channels of promoting as effectively, and I’ve discovered that social media messages can minimize by way of the noise that emails usually current.”

3. Display curiosity by interacting along with your prospects’ content material.

Engagement is the secret in terms of social promoting. Tyre underlines this level, telling me: “I discover that prospects and prospects respect it while you share pertinent info and assist develop their attain.”

By participating on-line, it additionally sends the message that you simply’re conversant in the prospect and their work. As Tyre observes, “If I’m going to focus on an account, I all the time comply with them on Twitter and have some interplay earlier than I name or e-mail in order that they know I did my analysis and I wish to assist them get extra enterprise.”

4. Be your self, and be honest.

Kathleen Rush, Gross sales Supervisor at HubSpot, means that gross sales reps keep true to themselves by way of their social promoting efforts. In keeping with her, “I dwell by this mantra in individual and on social media — be your self, and be honest. And your viewers will naturally develop consequently.”

She provides, “Whenever you affirm the way you genuinely really feel a couple of shopper or a product, you construct authenticity as a useful useful resource. As soon as that belief is established, the conversations can actually start! Watch these views and shares develop!”

5. Construct credibility with LinkedIn suggestions.

Once we touched base with Marlon De Assis-Fernandez, Principal Account Govt at HubSpot, he had this to say: “After I take into consideration social promoting, I take into consideration how I can use my social media to construct social proof.”

For De Assis-Fernandez, a good way to do that is by constructing (after which leveraging) your LinkedIn suggestions.

He informed me, “Having a slew of suggestions might help showcase your integrity. For those who I have never labored with, I wish to level them within the route of my suggestions on LinkedIn to listen to straight from different prospects I’ve labored with. The hot button is being real.”

He provides, “Should you do an incredible job fixing for the shopper, they will all the time be eager to supply suggestions — and the extra you resolve for them, the extra optimistic that suggestions will likely be. It is an incredible behavior to get suggestions after a gross sales course of and even higher to have that suggestions displayed within the type of a LinkedIn suggestion.”

6. Use information to tell your social promoting technique.

For enterprise chief and creator Melonie Dodaro, a great social promoting technique is backed by information.

In her personal phrases, “To enhance your social promoting technique on LinkedIn, it’s vital to usually analyze your information and alter your strategy primarily based in your findings.”

There are a number of key efficiency indicators (KPIs) value monitoring, like profile views, connection requests, and leads generated.

In fact, you have to outline your targets so you’ve got one thing to measure for. As an illustration, possibly you wish to improve your community by 20% — or generate X-number of leads through LinkedIn every month. Then, you’ll be able to decide which ways are serving to you progress nearer to your purpose.

7. Keep constant.

Constructing relationships with prospects takes time. That is why consistency is such a key ingredient for any gross sales technique — on-line or not.

As an illustration, Tyre recommends gross sales reps put up a minimum of weekly on LinkedIn, together with particular person follow-ups with prospects who interact along with your content material.

He informed me, “Usually, the bottom line is to have three or 4 interactions inside 10-12 days, which reveals skilled persistence with out overwhelming your prospect.”

Again to You

Growing sturdy social promoting abilities is less complicated stated than accomplished — nonetheless, gross sales reps stand to realize rather a lot from making that growth a precedence.

Social media is not going anyplace, and when correctly navigated, it may be a robust useful resource for understanding, connecting with, and finally making offers with prospects.