23 Ways to Sell More Using Social Media Marketing 1. Be visible Don't just tweet/post once or twice and think your job is done. Get online and speak to people. Network and let your target market get to know you. You'll not only gain credibility, you'll also gain visibility which will ultimately allow you to sell more. 2. Be clear Let people know exactly who you are, what you do and what you have to offer. Use your keywords to attract your ideal client and always be on the lookout for ways you can become the solution to their biggest problem. 3. Be responsive Respond to people who ask you questions or who comment on your Facebook page and Twitter profile. This may seem like common sense but you'll be surprised to learn that many people set up their accounts and start posting and then don't bother responding to people who speak to them online. Don't assume you know which of your connections are potential clients. I was recently hired by someone who reached out to make a comment on a personal post I had made. We started talking and now I have a new client who might otherwise have decided to do business elsewhere! 4. Know the specific product or service you want to launch Lots of people have a general idea of what they want to sell. They want to coach, they want to train, they want to consult... Very few can tell l you specifically what they want to sell. Exactly what service are you providing? How will it benefit your target audience? How much does it cost? What will your client get as a result of the sale? When and how can your client make a purchase? Once you're able to answer these questions you'll be ready to sell to others.
5. Know who you want to sell to Who exactly is your target market? How old are they? Are they B2B or B2C? What industry do they work in? Do they need to be a certain income level in order to afford your services? You won't be able to get your products and services in front of these people unless you know who they are! Figure out who they are and you'll be able to find out where they network online. 6. Know the needs of your target market and plan your launch around providing them with what they need. It doesn't do any good to offer your target audience what YOU want them to have! It doesn't do any good to try and sell them something because YOU need to make a sale! What do they need? What are their pains? What keeps them awake at night? Don't even try to sell in this market until you have the solution to their biggest problems and fully understand and can communicate the value you bring to the table. 7. Plan a webinar or teleseminar to kick off your launch A webinar/teleseminar is an excellent way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, establish credibility, gain visibility and let your audience establish a solid connection with you. Let them get to know you. Provide them with value. Solve their biggest problems and be likeable. If you can accomplish these simple things you're more than half way to closing the sale! 8. Give yourself time to launch properly In this market very few people buy the first time they meet you or visit your website. Plan your launch 6-8 weeks in advance (at least!). Leave yourself plenty of time to prepare quality and compelling lead generating content. Give yourself time to launch your lead generating content out away from your website and onto the networking sites your target market frequents. This also allows time for your market to learn more about you, get to know you and review your testimonials. By the time your webinar goes live your audience will be prepared to go ahead and make an educated decision about making a purchase from you. 9. Partner up! Team up with another leader in your industry. Choose someone who offers a complementary product or service. Work together. Promote each other. Coordinate your efforts and you'll have double the launch results you could have obtained by yourself. Let's face it. There are only so many hours in each day and if you're trying to do it all alone you won't get far. Team up with someone who can work with you to promote your offerings. As long as you are both consistently working towards a mutually beneficial goal, the results can be tremendous! 10. Write articles and blog posts to be used as lead generating content that discuss the value of the services you provide and how they benefit your audience.
Recent HubSpot statistics show that companies who blog have 55% more website visitors. What would that kind of additional traffic do for your sales? Blog about topics relevant to your target audience. Offer tips and advice. Share your expertise and let them get to know you. People buy from people they like! So be helpful, friendly, honest and likeable! 11. Write tweets/posts using key points from the above articles and blog posts Tweeting key points and ideas from your lead generating content and linking back to the main content on your website is an excellent way to drive traffic back to your hub and generate more sales. It's an excellent way to introduce your services to people who might otherwise never have found you! 12. Spread your lead generating content around as many social and media outlets as you are able. Once you have that high quality content, don t just put it up on your website and leave it. Unless you re already getting tons of web traffic people won t be able to find your convincing argument and seek out your product or service. In fact if they do find your website and are reading your content then they ve already found you! The purpose of a launch is to introduce yourself to people who might never have found you otherwise! 13. Ask others to promote you Don't be afraid to reach out to your connections online, referral partners and other peers in your industry and share what you're doing with them. Let them know you are preparing for a launch and ask if they'd mind re-tweeting or re-posting to their networking sites. Unless you are in direct competition with each other you'll find that many people will happily do this for you. They know you'll be likely to return the favor when it's their turn! 14. Be consistent There's a lot of competition online these days and people are scrambling to get their message heard above the noise and excessive information that is being posted around us on a daily basis. It's important to get your message out every single day! I'm not talking about spamming your news feeds or mailing lists. I mean get out there and talk about what you are working on. Share information about your launch. Share your excitement. Share your partnerships. Let people know what you are doing to bring value to them. Be friendly. Be human. Listen. Share comments. Let people get to know you. All of these things bring credibility to your name and offer visibility for you and your business. If someone likes what you're saying online (even if it's just a simple quote or something that has nothing to do with your services) then they are likely to check out your profile or your website or at the very least they'll look at your newsfeed to see what else you've posted. If you've done your job at being consistent then they are sure to see your launch/product/services information posted close by! 15. Be likeable People buy from people they like. It's just a fact of life. If you're one of "those people" who keep posting about "I" and "me" all the time then you won't find yourself with many fans. One
of my mentors has a saying, "Be yourself. But be your best self". When you get online each day remember to be you. Be funny, be smart, be aware of current events, be well read. Put your best foot forward and give people a reason to give you a second look. You can't offer then value until you have their attention! 16. Ask for the sale You'd be surprised at the websites I go to where I'm not entirely certain what the person is trying to accomplish. It's not necessary to shout, "buy from me!" all the time but it is necessary to tell people exactly what you do and give them the opportunity to learn more and take action. Make sure your contact information is prominent. Offer a quote button on your website. Create landing pages to your launches that sell and then offer your market the type of value during your webinar that will make them want more. In fact even without a webinar you should be providing so much value that people will automatically want more from you! That's how you get paying clients! 17. Say Thank you Never underestimate the value of a simple Thank you. A card, an email, a phone call or a post on someone's Facebook wall. Thanking someone goes a long way towards building loyalty. It also gives you the opportunity to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Besides, it's the nice thing to do! 18. Value repeat business Don't stop selling because you have a client! If someone buys from you once they may want to buy again. Keep offering value. Keep saying thank you. Keep connecting long after the sale is complete! There's a lot of competition out there these days. Keep your current clients happy and not only will you have their business, you'll also keep a constant stream of fresh business from the referrals those satisfied customers will happily provide you with! 19. Don't forget your email marketing Social media is wonderful but it doesn't replace email marketing. Social media is a great extension of email marketing but it doesn't replace this particular marketing tool entirely. Recent statistics from MarketingProfs show that 58% of online consumers start their day by checking email. And 84% of the people who check Facebook first still check their email throughout the day. Social media is an absolute MUST if you're doing online marketing these days but don't neglect other avenues as well. Great results can be achieved using a wide variety of methods! 20. Continue building your list! Your email list is one of the most valuable tools you can possibly have. Don't neglect it. This is where you build a reliable list of targeted people who may have a need of your services. Craft it carefully, promote it and then nurture your list. Results are just around the corner!
21. Continue marketing to your list! Chances are your target audience has multiple needs. Don't make them an offer once and then forget them. Follow up. Ask for their input. Get their ideas. Listen. Then offer them additional value. Make it good. Make it shareable. And always make sure to say Thank you! 22. Measure your results The best way to figure out what works is to first know what doesn't work. Use tools like bit.ly to find out how many people are clicking on the links to your articles and blog posts. Use Google Analytics to view your web traffic and find out what happens to it when you are out networking with your target market. Monitor your mailing lists to find out who is signing up for your webinars, newsletters, etc. How do each of these things affect the other? Do you notice any patterns? If no one is clicking on your posts then maybe it's time to write something else. If your website isn't seeing an increase in traffic then maybe it's time to evaluate the content you are using to push people back to your website. Are you offering enough value to get people to sign up for your newsletter? Measuring your results objectively and making adjustments based on your findings helps you accurately measure the results of your social media activities and keeps you responding to the needs of your target market. Watch Your Business Grow! Janice Clark Owner, BizMSolutions.com http://www.twitter.com/janice_clark http://www.facebook.com/bizmsolutions http://www.linkedin.com/in/janicemclark info@bizmsolutions.com Hiring Out Social Media Tasks: How to Get Help Without Losing Control http://www.bit.ly/hosmt1