You work for a company, and some of the benefits in doing so is that you have a reputable brand behind you, helping you deliver high-quality results, accelerate the sales process, and increase your chances at closing the big deals.
But they're absent on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn, and can't seem to reconcile the value against the cost of deploying something thoughtful and strategic.
Well, we have news for you and them... Every day that goes by where they are absent or stumbling through it, they are making the sales process unnecessarily difficult, and that's not good for business. Period.
Let me preface this list by saying that having the wrong social media campaign in place is almost as bad as having nothing at all.
What does it tell your prospective customers about you or the company you work for when they look at your LinkedIn profile and don't find a company page? It creates doubt... about whether you are who you say you are or that your company even exists.
Best case scenario, the company just comes off as looking lazy.
Either way, you may have a stellar profile with tons of recommendations and endorsements, but if the company you work for starts off with a first-impression similar to a con game, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle the minute your prospects hover their mouse over your company's name.
By being active in social media, your company shares in the relationship-building responsibility, because unlike common traditional b2b marketing methodologies, social media is interactive and constantly moving.
One of the best ways your company can get behind your strategy is by developing a quality blog that attracts the attention of your would-be customers. If your company is blogging with purpose, they're not only providing free valuable insight, they're directing interested traffic to their website and into the arms of eager sales people. And YOU, being the digitally progressive sales SHARK that you are, get to curate their great content, putting yourself right in front of of the lime light.
Say what? Think about it, the more active your company is online, the more opportunities it and you have for being found through organic web searches. In addition, your SEO strategy is going to love the fact that your company is publishing SO many pages with their blogs, and using targeted keywords that your customers use to seek out solutions for the problems you solve.
Als, don't forget about that one social platform, Google+. Google is the most widely used search engine on the planet with more than 60% of the market. They LOVE your usage of their social platform, so of course it's in your best interest to have a voice there. You'll be amazed how quickly you climb the search engine rankings.
Literally, they will LIKE you more... on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+... by developing company profiles and implementing a truly social corporate presence, you'll have relevant content to share that people will LIKE when you post it. And because you're likely to be the first to deliver your company's message, their favor for you will align with their favor for the company you represent.
The more social your company is, the more you'll be liked, and the better chance you'll have at scoring that first important conversation and all of those follow-ups that eventually lead to customer acquisition.
We all know that the best sales leads come through referrals. They already know about you, and to an extent, they already trust and believe in you and your company. So, why not make it easier for clients to refer new business to you by continuing to enhance their lives with great posts and valuable content, even after the ink has dried on your contract?
It's not that your happy clients don't want to help you when they don't send you leads, but it's work and time out of their day, and unless it's easy, it's just not going to happen.
If your company is active on social media, and they're churning out quality sharable content, it's going to make promoting your business super easy for your fans.
IT'S TIME FOR YOUR COMPANY TO GO SOCIAL
Most businesses are letting their sales teams tackle social media on their own and calling that "support," but the reality is that unless they too are involved in these programs, your success is going to be limited.
I know it can be a difficult pill to swallow. Many CEOs view social media as something for kids.
One of the most prominent ideas I try to get across to business owners everywhere about effective corporate social media strategy is that when they leave it completely in the hands of the sales teams, they don't actually own any of the success derived from your efforts. In fact, when you or your staff leave, that social relationship disappears.
When businesses engage in organic marketing practices within the context of social media, they own their marketing, so it works for them in perpetuity... 24/7/365... even on holidays and weekends.
This really isn't an option anymore.
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