Savvy marketing means understanding how social networking platforms can aid your efforts, but it also means using video, mobile applications and social customer relationship management (CRM) to drive your marketing as well.
Every potential area of customer interaction - from a website landing page to a Twitter feed or a Facebook account - is a place to influence the conversation about business.
"It's no longer enough to just have a website," says Luanne Tierney, vice president of worldwide channels marketing at Cisco. "It's about having a conversation with your customer."
"The worst thing you can do on social networks is sell," says David Nour, founder and managing partner of The Nour Group and a specialist in business and social networking relationships. "The best thing you can do is listen, engage and influence."
"You know what it takes to get into social media? A pulse," Nour says. "You know what it takes to succeed? A strategy." Nour offers five steps for building meaningful social networking relationships, with the caveat that "nothing will replace that three dimensional engagement" of interacting face-to-face, business person-to-customer.
First, he said, identify relevant stakeholders through LinkedIn and other tools. Then find where those stakeholders are getting their insights, followed by engaging those sources of insight with your unique pitch. Finally, deliver the best experience you can - removing things that don't "wow" - and attempt to influence best practices in the marketing community.
"Your knowledge of switches will get you to about here," Nour says, holding his hand up about half-way.
"But your ability to engage and influence others, on- and off-line, often without authority, is what is going to set you apart.
You are a in a value-based relationship business." As customers become more and more educated and sophisticated, doing more research on potential suppliers online, engaging both customers directly and key influencers of those customers becomes more crucial to Nour's social sales cycle.
- 1. Like me.
- 2. Know me.
- 3. Trust me.
- 4. Pay me.
"People who circumvent that process, online or offline, shoot themselves in the foot," he says.
Next page: John Dobbin, principal, Nexus vs Bruce Rasmussen, principal,Carpe Diem Consulting
John Dobbin, principal, Nexus IT and Communications Solutions
Social media, especially Twitter, is a positive addition to research, marketing and customer service functions when done properly. Like anything, success comes from good execution. For social media, this means integrating it into your everyday practice. It is a conversation. No, it is multiple conversations - like at a party. And to get anything out of it you must be willing to jump in and out of conversations and make a contribution several times a day. A lot of people are not very good at this. They come across like robots on Twitter, and when nobody talks back to them they give up.
For those who can let down their barriers, be real and have a chat, the rewards are great. You meet like-minded people from all over the world who will share an interesting link, make introductions or pass on a referral. It is of course fundamentally another networking forum, but a networking forum that is constantly going on and with lot more people than can fit into a function room.
Bruce Rasmussen, principal, Carpe Diem Consulting
The key is to recognise that buyers don't start buying when we want to start selling - and they want to search and talk to their peers before they talk with us.
So, marketers: Stop doing disjointed, one-off "push" campaigns. Use social media to (a) listen to buyers where they hang out; (b) interpret the issues they're having to build solutions and sales intelligence; (c) monitor and act on their experiences with you; and (d) follow the buyers' journey with expert content, giving them quality ideas in the buying process.
Salespeople: Use the platforms to discover and connect with buyers and add value by updating them regularly. (a) Find new prospects via social media searches and referrals, which your network will give if you are trustworthy and keep adding value. (b) Listen online to hear the "sales triggers" that might indicate opportunity such as change of company/role, merger, having a problem etc. (c) Research prior to prospect meetings to be well prepared. (d) Seek recommendations to build your reputation. The tools are easy.
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