Twitter, a social selling tool

June 20,2013

In 2009 when my knowledge of social media as a marketing tool was taking shape, little did I know I would be in the forefront of the sudden paradigm shift. In my years as a social media enthusiast, educating sales and marketing professionals on emerging social media, I have discovered that social media, especially Twitter, is an essential tool for sales and marketing professionals.

Now that we live in a world where over one billion people are connected on Facebook alone, without adding other social media platforms – things have changed. Every sales and marketing professional must now see the need to be social media-savvy.

Twitter, which is one of the most highly used platforms, – enabling users to send personal updates of up to 140 characters – has taken its stance in the social sphere. Using Twitter gives you and your sales and marketing team some great insights into the companies and contacts you are targeting. Sales people may never have had the ability to have so much information about the activities of a prospect like Twitter does.

Using Twitter as a social selling tool entails branding yourself. What you place out there as your username, avi (avatar) and bio speak volumes before people will listen to you. If you haven’t done so already, claim your Twitter name. Your name is your brand, so choose wisely. For example: @paulcharles, @tinabeverly

Research has shown that people trust smiling faces more that they have seen multiple times, which is why a photo of your smiling face works best. It takes more muscle to frown, lesser muscle to smile. So show off that big, beautiful smile of yours. The Twitter bio is a total of 160 characters – little more than a tweet. Now is the time to be creative and let people know who you are and why they should be following you.

Whenever I train sales and marketing professionals, they ask me to suggest what they can include in their bio. Here are my regular suggestions:

•Your position and where you work– people who want to know more about you will eventually inquire about your company’s product/services. For example: COO @Gidi_Traffic

•Your interests and hobbies – you will be thrilled to know some people will connect with you because you have common interest.

•Be humorous – let someone have a good laugh after reading your bio. It shows how interesting you are.

As a professional, your brand is incomplete without a link, which can be your LinkedIn directory, personal blog, company’s homepage or Facebook profile link. Let prospects connect with that same moment they come across your profile.

Searching for prospects which you will eventually convert to customers is not as difficult as it may seem. Sitting around on Twitter, hoping prospects will land on your lap, is a path so many people have tried – you may be waiting too much. Use Twitter’s search and advanced search feature to find potential prospects and engage them. Thriving on Twitter as a sales and marketing professional takes the following few steps:

Identify trigger events

Maybe your prospect just released a new product. Whatever the news is, share it with the world. Your prospects will appreciate you for spreading the news. Are you in hunter mode and looking for new leads? You should know, with some form of regularity, those who use Twitter at companies you are looking forward to doing business with. The decision-maker with whom you are trying to connect may be a regular user of the social service. If you see some news about their company, send them a tweet. It opens the door for you. You connect with them on one-on-one basis because you have touched their hearts, definitely you will get their hand.

Searching keywords

Today’s buyers are web and social media-savvy. They are informed about your offering – and your competitors – and they are starting the sales process without you. Not only that, they are talking about their business! Keywords are important as it enables you to see specifics.

Here is where you should start putting the search tool to work. Start by identifying broad keywords and start narrowing down your audience. Find the prospects that are out there looking for your solution. Find keywords that apply to your area of business. Remember harsh tag comes before the keyword when searching – like #computer, #phones etc.

Whatever you are selling, whatever service you are rendering, embrace Twitter as a tool and let it work for you.