How Social Insights Impact ROI

Picture it: You’re sitting at your desk staring at reports wondering how you’re going to increase your pipeline. You don’t have time to wait on marketing to deliver ready-to-buy prospects, nor is it realistic. You need to increase the number of opportunities in your pipeline, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. 

This is where social sales intelligence comes in. But before any feathers get ruffled, I’m not saying marketing doesn’t provide value (heck! I’m in marketing). It’s just that most marketing campaigns could take a while to generate high-quality leads. 

Social Sales Intelligence is a faster way to get real-time insight into what your top priority accounts are interested in, making it easier to know what your customers want and when they want it.

Seriously, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist (or should I say sales strategist…Meh!) to know that when you have more information about your prospects and customers, you can serve them better.

You can use the data you collect across social media to make smarter decisions about how much to charge for your own product or service, or how much time and effort you should spend ensuring your product or service is optimized for every customer who needs it.

I am certain you have already reached out to prospects via social media, but do you know if you are even at all effective? Well, if they ignore you its probably a good sign that you’re not. The key to better prospecting is having direct access to the most current sales intelligence to generate an understanding of the individual or the team involved in purchasing decisions.

Here are a few ways to gather insights across social media:

1. Monitor social media channels for mentions of your company, products, or competitors. This information is valuable in terms of sales intent. 
2. If a social post mentioning your company pops up and someone comments about needing a solution you can quickly jump into the conversation. Prospects are dropping purchasing insight breadcrumbs, which are monitored across social media platforms. If what they are talking about isn’t a fit with your value prop you can move on to the prospects who are. Gathering valuable tidbits of purchasing intent is a time-saver for sales, helping them to prioritize accounts that can ultimately turn into sales opportunities.
3. Social sales intelligence (SSI) allows businesses to use data gathered from social media to improve sales performance. Sales can quickly identify potential prospects, engage with them in real-time conversations and build relationships with them so that they are more likely to make purchases when they need your products or services.

Seriously, think about how much time and work you saved yourself versus taking a more traditional approach, where it can take weeks to discover that the prospect you have been going after is not the right fit for your product.  

Get in front of those you want to engage. 

1. Join relevant social media groups and forums related to your industry. Joining groups could help you stay current on industry trends and learn how the competition is positioning themselves.
2. Remember to engage your followers. Comment, like, and ask questions. If you interact in a consistent manner, you become familiar and trusted. Plus you can uncover more details about what they are interested in.

The key to gathering intel across social media is to be proactive and use a variety of tactics to stay informed. Social intelligence helps you prospect better simply by gathering insights into your target audience, such as interests, challenges, company updates, or market shifts. You get to better understand your customers and then tailor your messaging to meet their needs and interests.

Ways social sales intelligence helps you prospect on social media:

Identify potential leads: Target, locate and monitor potential prospects across social media for mentions of interests, business needs, organizational changes, and competitor information. You can identify potential leads who may be interested in what you have to offer.

Connect with prospects: Social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter can be a great way to connect with potential customers and build relationships. Sharing suggestions or showing interest on their social posts is a great way to begin nurturing a relationship and moving them closer to making a purchase.

Understand your market: Follow thought leaders and influencers in your industry and engage with them. You will have a better understanding of your market, and you will be visible to professionals who may need your solution.

Tailor your sales pitch: By using social media analytics tools to track the performance of your social media profiles and campaigns, you can see what works well and what doesn’t. Use this information to tailor your sales pitch to better resonate with your target audience.

Build relationships: By engaging with your followers and asking for their feedback, you can build relationships with your prospects and get to know them better, which can help you tailor your sales pitch and close more deals.

How to use social media to drive B2B sales:

Build your brand: Establish a solid social presence. You can build your brand and position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. This will help to attract potential customers and establish credibility with your target audience.

Generate leads: Social media can be a powerful tool for generating leads. By running targeted social media ads and promoting gated content, you can attract interested prospects and capture their contact information.

Showcase your solutions: Social media is a great way to showcase your products or services and demonstrate their value to potential customers. Use social media to share case studies, testimonials, and other content that highlights the benefits of your offering.

Potential downsides to prospecting using sales intelligence gathered from social media:

Limited scope: While social media can be a valuable source of sales intelligence, it’s important to remember that it’s just one piece of the puzzle. You may need to supplement your social media research with other sources of information to get a complete picture of your market and prospects.

Outdated information: Social media moves quickly, information that is current today may not be tomorrow. Be sure to regularly update your sales intelligence to ensure that your data is up-to-date.

Data overload: With so much information available on social media, it can be overwhelming to sort through it all. Use tools and techniques to help you focus on the most relevant and valuable information.

Privacy concerns: Some social media users may be hesitant to share personal information or engage with businesses on social media, making it difficult to gather accurate sales intelligence.

While social media can be a valuable source of sales intelligence, you need to be aware of its limitations and supplement your research with other sources of information.

Tips for social selling on LinkedIn without being annoying:

• Use LinkedIn wisely: LinkedIn offers a variety of features that can help you connect with potential customers, such as InMail and LinkedIn Ads. Craft messaging that is highly targeted and relevant to your audience.
• Follow the 80/20 rule: Aim to provide value to your connections 80% of the time, and only pitch your products or services 20% of the time. This will help you build trust and credibility.
• Be responsive: If someone reaches out to you on LinkedIn don’t wait to respond. Real-time communication builds rapport and shows that you are genuinely interested in them.

The key to social selling on LinkedIn (or any social media platform) is to be authentic, respectful, and responsive in your interactions with potential customers. By following these principles, you can build strong relationships, increase engagements and drive conversions, and become the sales rep everyone looks forward to connecting with.