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Monday 30 September 2013

6 Tips for Finding Prospects on LinkedIn

Are you using LinkedIn to connect with new leads and clients?
Do you want to learn about social selling tactics on LinkedIn?
Social selling is the use of social media todiscover and connect with new leads and new clients.
In this article, you’ll discover a 6-step process to find new leads and attract new clients on LinkedIn.
no 6
Start social selling on LinkedIn with these 6 simple steps. Image source: iStockphoto

#1: Make Your Profile Easy to Find

Most of social selling requires an active outreach process. But you can draw prospective clients to you when you optimize your profile with keywords a potential new client might use when seeking out someone with the products or services that you provide. Add strong keywords to the Title and Summary sections of your profile to ensure you show up in search results.
Remember that you’ll only show up in search results for people in your network. This includes first-, second- and third-level connections, and people who are members of groups you belong to. For this reason it’s beneficial to have a larger LinkedIn network rather than keeping it limited to close personal connections.
The more connections you have, the more searches you will show up in. That said, try not to treat LinkedIn as a popularity contest, since you’re limited to 3000 connection invites.

#2: Create Strategic Alliances

Next you’ll want to remember to network and build business relationships with peers in your industry.
Find professionals who share a target market similar to yours, but don’t offer the service you provide. Once you connect with them, consider fostering a reciprocal relationship to generate referrals for each of you.
what do i have to offer
Before connecting with a prospect, ask yourself "What do I have to offer her?"
The third-party credibility you receive will dramatically shorten the sales cycle with prospective clients.

#3: ‘Search’ for Opportunities

Now you can focus on finding the prospects you want for your business.
First, join a few LinkedIn groups to network with a wider audience.
Second, use the excellent functionality of Advanced Search to find prospects. You can filter by relationship, groups, location and industry, and the Save Search function even allows you to store effective criteria.
people search
Search by relationship, groups, location and industry.
Use the Tags feature in LinkedIn Contacts to sort your results and save profiles of prospects to the Profile Organizer without being connected to them.

#4: Carefully Craft Your Message

After you identify someone you want to connect with, you’ll want to carefully tailor your communication.
A great first impression with your prospects on LinkedIn should leave them with an interest in your service and a willingness to continue communication.
Approach your prospects with a connection request naturally. Always start by greeting them by name. Be clear and concise in your body paragraph. Give them a reason to click “Accept“.
personalize your request
Personalize your connection request and tell them why you want to connect.
Personalize your connection request to avoid being flagged as spam. If you’re flagged too often, you’ll be required to add an email address to each connection request you send.
You can also contact your prospects through InMail, which can be purchased by unpaid members. These messages have a very high open and response rate and if the prospect doesn’t respond in seven days, the InMail will be credited back to your account.

#5: Build the Relationship

Once your connection request is accepted, develop the relationship through sustained communication.
Do you want to build buyer confidence and credibilityOffer your prospect something of value in the form of a helpful article, eBook or other free download. Whatever it is, ensure that it is of clear value so it isn’t dismissed as spam or self-serving.
offer value
Offer your prospects value with a free download.
Depending on your social selling strategy, you can send a follow-up message over the next several weeksSet up reminders using the LinkedIn Contacts feature. Remember the content of these messages can vary, but you shouldn’t include sales materials.
offer something of value
Build your relationships with prospects by offering them something of value.
Do you need to organize this process? The Tags, Notes and Reminder features inside LinkedIn can help you.
Create a series of tags denoting stages (Lead-1, Lead-2 and Lead-3) to advance prospects as you continue through the process.
Store useful information about your contacts in the Notes feature and use the Reminder feature to let you know when your contact should be emailed next so they aren’t overlooked.
use features
Keep track of where you are in the social selling process using the Tags, Notes and Reminder features on the profile page.
You’ll also want to stay up to date on what your contacts are doing on LinkedIn. The Your Day feature highlights the birthdays, business anniversaries and job changes of all of your contacts.
acknowledge special occasions
Develop your new and existing relationships on LinkedIn by acknowledging special occasions for prospects using the Your Day feature.
Use this information to further your relationships with a comment directly from the Your Day feature or with a personal message.

#6: Move Online Connections to Offline Conversations

Eventually, you want to move the contacts you’ve identified as prospects further into a business relationship by moving off the LinkedIn platform into an offline conversation via phone or in person.
move relationship offline
Social selling starts online but moves offline to further the relationship.
Think about moving the relationship offline after a contact has responded to one of your relationship-building messages. If there’s no response after one or two attempts, consider sending one final message that briefly explains how you can solve their “problem.”
Everyone online has a problem that they are looking to solve and if you can tap into that and provide a solution, you’ll convert sales from LinkedIn.
Group unresponsive prospects under a tag for dormant contacts. You can continue to reach out to these prospects through the Your Day feature and by actively contributing to common groups they are members of.
Over to You
Follow these 6 steps to discover and connect with new leads and new clients. Integrated into your business strategy, you’re sure to transform your connections into business relationships.
Social selling produces better results than cold calling and allows you to easily reach the decision-makers. To be successful, strive to offer value and build credibility. After all, that’s what we look for when we do business with people, isn’t it?
What do you think? Are you using LinkedIn for social selling? What successes have you had? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Friday 27 September 2013

Is there potential for a ‘superpower’ social media site?

With so many people having more than one social media network on which they post and keep updated with their friends, it can be hard to keep track of all the latest developments. Does this provide the space for a potential merger between social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook to create one ‘superpower’ social media? Or are the main social media networks too far developed to be able to join with each other?

Image – www.insidefacebook.com



When Twitter was still a start-up and emerging as a new social network some rumoured about the potential for Facebook to buy Twitter, however, with the way that both social media sites have now established themselves individually, the potential joining forces has disappeared. There are a number of reasons why it does not seem feasible for Twitter and Facebook to join forces, primarily because they are fundamentally different social media networks – used for different purposes, attracting different audiences and different formats.

Facebook is a site used to keep in contact with friends and family, in which you have a network of people who you know and would be happy to call a ‘friend’ and therefore would share pictures and more personal news with. On the other hand, Twitter provides a level of anonymity – you can use a username and create an alias if you wish – this detaches from the personal nature of social networking where you are connecting with friends. On Twitter you may have followers who you personally do not know – it can be a way to follow and receive updates from your favourite celebrity, your favourite sports side or companies relevant to your professional work life. Subsequently the nature of what you choose to share on these sites will vary. These fundamental differences between Twitter and Facebook therefore mean that it would be difficult to combine the two without confusion of what content you would choose to post. The reason people choose to have accounts for multiple social network sites is because they use them for different purposes – therefore there is little point in trying to merge their use.

Not only is the purpose of these social media platforms essentially different, their communication styles and formatting are at odds. The short and snappy sentences that are used on Twitter, with a maximum of 140 characters per post, are far from the 420 character potential with which you can create a Facebook status. Although both have the similar options of a ‘Like’ or ‘Favourite’, Twitter also features the ability to retweet (RT@) and to reply (@). Even though Facebook has taken some inspiration from the Twitter by introducing the hashtag (#) on Facebook, this has been done as a way for users to follow specific topic of conversation within a social network’s stream of user comments. Due to the privacy of most Facebook accounts, this still provides a slightly different service to the one which is offered on Twitter. The addition of hashtags to Facebook will make it easier for friends to see what other friends are talking about via topic, acting as a sorting mechanism so one can filter the information that they really want to see on Facebook. Facebook called it a “first step” in their announcement of hashtags – indicating that there may well be further developments to sort how you view information on Facebook. However, some may argue that this change has come in response to people using hashtags in their Facebook posts, implying that they post similar content to what they would on Twitter, but this still does not suggest that the two sites could function together efficiently if they were merged.


Image – www.insidefacebook.com

For those who do wish to combine their Twitter and Facebook feed and make it easier to access their tweets and status updates in one place it is possible to add Twitter to your Facebook page, this enables you to share your tweets to your Facebook friends. However, this does rely on you using Facebook and Twitter in the same way, for instance the majority of your Facebook friends will not be interested in your tweets relating to what you are working on in your professional life. Therefore, there are still barriers to whether Facebook and Twitter could be used in the same way.

What do you think?

Would there ever be potential for Twitter and Facebook to merge? What do you use these social networks for, do you post similar content on both? 

Monday 23 September 2013

Consumer Behaviour - Time spent on social media….

According to a recent survey by Experian 27% of the time spent online by those in the US is spent on a social network, equating to 16 minutes of every hour. With sites such as Facebook having 1.15 billion active accounts and Twitter with over 550 million accounts, the potential time spent on social media websites is vast. This poses the question of what these people are doing whilst social networking and who are they are choosing to interact with?



Who do people connect with on social media?
Studies have found that young adults tend to use social networks as a way of connecting and maintaining relationships with people who are already in their lives, often family or friends who they haven’t seen in a while but who they do have an existing offline relationship with.  This time is mostly spent exchanging news, posting information, pictures, links and events with the majority of people who use Facebook spending their time posting on walls. In a world where we are constantly sharing information such as this, it provides a valuable and receptive audience for companies to spread new information quickly and effectively.  With the number of people who use social media websites increasing year on year, it is a constantly growing audience. Although social networking sites are mostly used as a method of connecting with friends and family studies have also shown that social networking sites are used as a way to use up free time and as a method of avoiding boredom.

Morrison & Foerster
Social media has also been found to be an influence on consumer behaviour – the actions which are taken by individuals, groups and organisations when purchasing and using products and services. Social media websites can therefore be used as a method for brands to connect with their consumers and to increase the awareness of their brand among a new audience influencing how a consumer makes purchases.  It has been found that social media has a positive effect on whether people are likely to recommend a brand to others, to trial new products and to stay loyal to the brand, with social media acting to turn one-off buyers into repeat purchasers of their product. Four out of five consumers said that they would purchase something from a brand more often in the future after being exposed to a brand’s social media presence and 83% of consumers exposed to social media would trial a brand’s product, showing the power of social media for companies hoping to market their brands.

The consumers also benefit from this as it provides a method for people to connect with certain brands in order to hear their news and get discounts and promotions whilst providing the consumers with a voice which otherwise might not be heard. Statistics show that 58% of users who ‘like’ a brand on Facebook will do so because they are a customer, and by connecting with the brand through social media they will be more aware of what the company has to offer.

Not only can social media help consumer brands, but it can also be advantageous to companies hoping to build a professional network. Sites like LinkedIn can build awareness of different companies and individual professionals who can connect with previous or current colleagues and help them to improve their job search. For instance, professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new members per second. Of these professionals that have joined the LinkedIn network, over 30 million are students and recent college graduates – making up LinkedIn’s fastest-growing demographic.

What do you think? 
In what ways do you choose to use social media? And for what reasons?

Friday 20 September 2013

Mobile Marketing - Using Social Media On Mobile Phones

Nowadays people use their mobile phones for many reasons, they spend a lot of time connecting with friends and accessing social media networks to share information, pictures and news. The majority of smartphone users will have a number of apps, but research has shown that the most frequently used of these apps are the social media apps, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The question this poses is in what ways and how often are people using their mobile phones to access social media networks?


Image www.gsmnation.com




Social networks were created on the premise of sharing your interests, photos, events, and recent news with groups of friends and have recently become increasingly used by mobile phone users due to the ability to update your status, to tweet and share photos instantaneously. This has changed the nature of social media sites, making them ways to share things in real time, which we would otherwise not have been able to do. This ability to update your social media profile immediately has led to increasing access of social media on smaller, portable devices over traditional desktop usage and findings have shown that smartphones and mobile devices are now the primary portal used to access services such as Twitter and Facebook. Improvements in access to 3G and 4G networks has further increased the access of social media by mobile users meaning we are even more likely to turn to using social media on a portable device.



Studies have even shown that social networking is now the most frequent activity on mobile devices and is even more common than gaming, with the average time spent on social networking apps by phone users being 24 minutes a day. In a Mobile Consumer Survey by Adobe in 2013, 71% of people were reported to use their mobile device to access social media. Research has also found that people are twice as likely to use social media on smartphones than on tablets, due to the fact that tablet users act more like they would on a desktop computer. This suggests that it is the small and portable nature of a mobile phone which is one of the main factors which leads people to use social media more as it allows them to update their profiles and statuses as events happen. For instance, mobile use of social media networks also allows people to check-in their location immediately when they are on the move so that they can inform their friends of their current plans. Access to social networks through smartphones has made this kind of communication possible, when previously real time updates on social media could not be carried out.


As the recent article on consumer behaviour and time spenton social media stated, people are increasingly using social media to alleviate boredom and as a way to entertain themselves. As young people these days constantly have their phones on them, and in the US 91% of adults have their mobile phone within an arm’s reach 24/7, it isn’t surprising that they will often access social media websites from their phones as a method of entertainment. This makes social media a good platform to connect with a wide audience of people, who will be reachable instantly through their smartphones.


Image www.flowtown.com


The increasing use of social networking apps specifically created for mobile phones, such as Instagram has also added to the increase in use of social networks on smartphones. This has increased the ability to instantly share what you are doing online with a group of friends, but can also be a valuable tool for businesses hoping to market their own products. With people constantly sharing information over social networks, using social media could be an imaginative way to target a new audience. Take a look at our past article on ‘26 Tips for Using Instagram for Business’ to see how Instagram on mobile devices can be a great way to market your brand.

Image www.theguardian.com



How often do you use social media on your phone? What do you do when using social media on your phone?

Monday 16 September 2013

6 Ways to Use Embedded Tweets to Help Your Business

Are you looking for creative ways to embed tweets on your website?

Do you want to show off your customer’s kind words about your business?

Since Twitter allows the ability to embed tweets on websites, people have discovered lots of creative ways to use them.

In this post, I’ll show you six ways to use embedded tweets to enhance your content, drive engagement and establish social proof.
How to Embed a Tweet

From sharing spontaneous customer testimonials to increasing traffic and promoting events, embedded tweets can capitalize on or support engagement with your brand in a number of ways.

Before we get started, let’s quickly review how to embed a tweet on your website.

When you find a tweet you want to embed on your website, hover over that tweet and click on the More link. Then you should see an Embed Tweet option.


Finding the Embed Tweet option on Twitter.



When you click on Embed Tweet, you are prompted to copy the sharing code for the tweet.


Copying the embed code for a tweet.

Then you paste the embed code in your website. If your site is on WordPress, use the HTML/Text editor. When you save or publish, you have a live, interactive tweet on your website.



Yes, it’s that simple! Now, let’s look at some ways to use embedded tweets.

Here are some creative applications of embedded tweets:
#1: Build Your Reputation With Customer Testimonials

This is one of my favorite ways to use embedded tweets. For some businesses, it’s tough to get fans to write personal or product recommendations on LinkedIn, sendtestimonials via email or otherwise profess their respect for a brand in long form. On Twitter, however, you generally find people who will take a quick moment to share their good experiences.


Twitter testimonial search for "I received great service."

Find potential testimonials by looking through mentions of your @usernameand a Twitter search of your business name or product. As you browse through your mentions, save the best tweets about your business by marking them as favorites.


Testimonial tweet saved as a favorite.

Once you find enough good mentions, add them to an existing or new testimonials page on your website, or scatter them in random places where you need social proof, like a sales page!
#2: Back Up Your Statements

Don’t let readers of your content wonder whether you made something up. Use embeddable tweets to cite sources and quotes. For example, if I were to write that having errors on your website that affect smartphone users may hurt your rankings in mobile search, you may wonder where I got that information. But if I included this…



Then, you would know how I came to that conclusion. As a writer, tweets from a reputable source help you quickly solidify content. And as a reader, they help you move from “Wait, that can’t be true.” to “What should I do about this?”
#3: Encourage Retweets of Your Media

Instead of just embedding a video or SlideShare presentation directly on your webpage, why not share that content on Twitter and then embed the tweet with the media in it?



This way, people not only see the content on your site, but it’s also easy for them to retweet it to their audience or reply to you with a comment.
#4: Increase Website Traffic With a Tweet Chat

Want to host a small Twitter chat or party on your own website to increase overall site traffic or page visits? Take embedded tweets a little further and add an embedded widget.

For example, let’s say you want to have a Twitter chat with the hashtag #socialmedia. Go to Twitter and search for #socialmedia. Then, change the filtering to All tweets, click on the settings wheel icon, and select Embed this search.


Embedding search results for a hashtag.

When you configure your widget, be sure to turn safe search mode on to keep the conversation PG.


Configuring your embedded tweets widget.

Now, just copy the code and add it to your webpage. You’re all set to invite people to come have a Twitter chat on your website.


Embedded tweet widget on a website.

Note that the refresh rate on these widgets is not very speedy, so you would only want to do this with a slow chat and not something insanely popular or fast-moving.
#5: Create Twitter Engagement for Blog Posts

Want to get more Twitter engagement and perhaps some extra tweets for your blog content? Search Twitter for the URL of one of your blog posts.


Search results for a blog post URL.

Change the filtering to All, and then click the settings wheel icon to embed the search. Then, embed it somewhere in your blog post.




Right below the widget, tell users how they can click on the area to compose a new tweet, add a comment about the post and then include the link so their tweet also shows up in the widget. The result? A new way for people to engage with your content and more tweets for your post!

Go ahead and try it here. Compose a new tweet in the widget above, copy the URL to this post (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/embedded-twitter-posts/) and paste it into the tweet with a comment!
#6: Promote Your Event

Whether you’re marketing an upcoming event or showing off tweets from an event in progress, an embeddable tweet widget on your website does wonders for getting visitors excited.




See this in action in the margin of the Social Media Success Summit page!

One Thing to Consider…

When using tweet widgets on your website, remember that any tweet containing those items is displayed.

While Twitter removes any profanity or sensitive information, it won’t necessarily remove spam or negative responses. So you definitely want to scroll through tweets to see what people are saying before you add them to your website, and continue to evaluate embedded tweets on an ongoing basis.

What do you think? Do you use embedded tweets and tweet widgets? How do you apply them to your website? Please share in the comments section below!

Friday 13 September 2013

Selling With Social Media: A New Direction for Businesses

Do you use social media to grow your business?

Are you wondering how social media can help yousell more products and services?

To learn about why you need to rethink the sales process in this social age, I interview Tom Martin for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.

The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Tom Martin, author of The Invisible Sale: How to Build a Digitally Powered Marketing and Sales System to Better Prospect, Qualify and Close Leads. His agency is Converse Digital.

Tom shares the concept of painless prospecting and propinquity.

You’ll learn how to succeed in the changing social media sales landscape, and how your business can embrace these new strategies.

Share your feedback, read the show notes and get the links mentioned in this episode below!
Listen Now

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

You can also subscribe via iTunes, RSS, Stitcher or Blackberry.

Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show:
Selling With Social Media

How the online world has changed the way businesses sell

Tom believes it’s more about how buyers buy than the way businesses sell. With the Internet, people can hide behind the anonymity of Google search.


You can do all your pre-purchase research without having to talk to a salesperson. You only have to talk to a person once you’ve made a short list of companies you are interested in and want to close the deal.


Buyers use Google search for pre-purchase research.

Today’s buyer prefers this process, as it’s easier and more efficient. With this in mind, companies have to adjust.

In the early days, the power was with the salesperson, but with the knowledge available online today, the power is in the hands of the consumer.

Tom says as a business, you have to stop thinking about how you sell because you don’t really sell anymore. Instead you help buyers make a buying decision. When they make their decision, hopefully it will be in your favor. Although it won’t always be the case.

You’ll discover how your system needs to be set up properly and the approach you need to consider.

If you have a really good product or service, more often than not, you will win the conversion. Most people are turned off by people selling to them. The best way is to show them that you’re willing to help and that you always have their best interests at heart.

Listen to the show to find out more about how the approach to sales has changed.

An example of a business that has embraced new ways to sell

Tom talks about a camera store called Adorama based in New York that he used as a case study in his book, The Invisible Sale. Adorama only has one store, but does business in all 50 US states and 5 countries.


The camera store Adorama is used as a case study in The Invisible Sale.

Adorama has two sides to their business, B2C and B2B. Regardless of which side you look at, they approach it the same way. Their philosophy is to sell by sharing original educational content.

Even though it’s a photography store, they sell more than just cameras. They’ve built a Learning Center that includes Adorama TV, which is one of their huge content pieces. The Learning Center is a treasure trove of educational content.


There is everything from learning how to shoot a photo to discovering the best equipment.

Although their approach is to educate, when you watch one of their videos, you’ll notice easy-to-follow links to products below the video. You’ll find out how they used YouTube to allow people to reach that product.


All products mentioned throughout Adorama's videos are linked below the video for easy access.

In 2010, they saw a general growth curve, mainly due to the educational content they provide.

The moral of the lesson is that if you can make your buyer smarter and betterbecause they are doing business with you, then Tom believes you will succeed in selling more to that buyer.

Listen to the show to hear why Tom relates it to fly-fishing and how it’s the same with modern content marketing.

What is a social agent and why is it important?

Tom describes a social agent as someone who doesn’t necessarily buy from you, but recommends you to a friend or colleague who might buy from you. A lot of the time, social agents can be your most valuable customers that you never do business with. They’re the best customers you’ll have.

You need to draw in your social agents through educational pieces. A relationship is formed with your brand or company when they see value in what you are doing.

You’ll learn how Tom became a huge social agent for Adorama.

Listen to the show to find out the importance of empowering everyone to be a social agent for your company.

In The Invisible Sale, you reveal a process that helps people sell without cold-calling and advertising. Can you explain the process?

Tom calls the process “painless prospecting.” The concept is a spin on inbound marketing. The core difference is that most content and inbound strategies leverage search and keyword optimization.

As more and more businesses discover and deploy keyword optimization and SEO strategies, Tom believes that only so many will win the battle. It’s going to get more competitive and much more difficult.

Whereas painless prospecting is built on the concept of propinquity.

Propinquity is a scientific theory that powers the formation of relationships. It says that if you bump into someone a lot, the higher the likelihood of you touching them more often, reading their content or meeting them in person, the more likely you are to like that person, providing you like them each time you meet.


You need to build your business on the concept of propinquity.

Tom’s painless prospecting philosophy is that you don’t walk away from SEO, but do get off your own blog. You need to think and care more about putting great content on other people’s blogs. Tom advises you to treat every blog as your own. When you put content in these places, they are called Propinquity Points.

You’ll learn how to develop a strategy for this to make sure you stay top of mind.

Tom shares a quick overview of where you can find places to provide content, but there is a whole chapter (Building a Painless Prospecting Platform) in his book where the process is laid out.


Check out the chapter on Building a Painless Prospecting Platform.

If you pay attention to your industry or your prospects’ industry, you can usually sit down and list all the places that your prospective customers congregate online and offline. You’ll learn where these places might be. If you know your industry well enough, you will already know of 7-10 places without thinking. This is your first list.

You’ll discover how social listening software such as Radian6 or Sysomos can be beneficial to finding propinquity points for you.


Sysomos can help you find propinquity points for your business.

Once you find these points, you can create more opportunities for people to stumble across you and your brand. It’s a great way to get a good positive impression.

When you get off your own blog, your buyer doesn’t have to be in active research mode to stumble upon you. They might then click through to your blog and possibly sign up to read it. You’ll learn what can happen if you only stay on your own blog.


You could have people sign up to your blog who weren't in active research mode.

You’ll discover why you do your best content work when you write for someone else.

Tom advises you to write 4 or 5 posts for other blogs, staged over a 2-week period and keep an eye on your Google Analytics to see what happens. You’ll notice that youdrive more traffic back to your site.

The more you write for these larger audiences, the bigger your chance of people coming over to your site to check out your content. For every 100 people who read your content somewhere else, around 5% will convert to signups. This is how to build propinquity at a blog base.

Tom is convinced that the way to win today is to get out there and treat yourself like a media empire.

Listen to the show to learn about the invisible component in Tom’s book title.

What marketers should avoid when using content to try to get a sale

Tom says there are two things marketers should avoid. Most people produce content at the wrong level. It’s normally the same single unit of content across their blog and podcast. So most feel that one blog post a week is enough without writing for others.

First you have to think about content creation as an ecosystem. You should never create one piece of content once. You should look for ways to repurpose it or even rechannel it.


Make sure you repurpose your blog content.

You’ll learn about the ways you can turn one piece of content into more content.

Secondly, Tom states that there is a belief, especially among inbounders, that every piece of content needs to have a call to action. Although research proves calls to action get more conversions, Tom doesn’t really believe it. He feels there is still value in pure education.

You need to go out and educate your buyer. Don’t ask or expect anything in return. Tom states that most buyers know how to buy; you shouldn’t need to rely on a call to action for them to have enough confidence to contact you.

Listen to the show to find out why your content should always be of value.
This Week’s Social Media Question

Debra Keirce, a professional artist, asks, “As an artist, sometimes it will take years between contacting potential collectors and receiving a commission or a purchase. Are there specific social media tools that can be used to help develop, encourage and maintain these long-term relationships, so that the leads don’t go cold and people will recommend you to their friends, when at times they are not necessarily looking to buy themselves?”


DebKArt.

This is a great question on how to keep top of mind with prospects who aren’t ready to buy.

The first thing I would recommend is to make sure you listen to this particular podcast for some great ideas. Here are a few examples of what you could do with your business.
Create time-lapse videos that showcase your processes
Create educational pieces
Become the conduit to prospects

When you put yourself in the position of the resource person rather than the salesperson, every time you communicate with prospects, it’s a way to stay top of mind. If, and when, they are ready to buy, they are more likely to come back to you or pass your details on to another prospect. You need to have regular touch points.

You’ll hear an example of what I received from people in the voice talent industry when I was a prospect and how my realtor markets his business using social media.

I hope you find this helpful.

Call in and leave your social media–related questions for us and we may include them in a future show.

Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how this works for you.
Other Show Mentions

Social Media Success Summit 2013

Social Media Success Summit 2013 is a special online conference designed to help you master social media marketing (brought to you by Social Media Examiner).


Social Media Success Summit 2013.

Forty-five of the world’s leading social media pros will show you how. Instructors include Jay Baer (author, Youtility), Chris Brogan (co-author, Impact Equation),Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Mark Schaefer (author, Return on Influence), Jesse Stay (author,Google+ for Dummies), Amy Porterfield (co-author, Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies) and experts from General Electric, Sony, E! Online, Kelly Servicesand Discovery Channel–just to mention a few. Fully online. Click here to learn more.

We have finalized our brand panels and here are a few killer ones.
Instagram panel with Sony and E! Online
Online video panel with Discovery Communications and Salesforce
Pinterest marketing with Whole Foods and Target
Twitter marketing with GE and American Express
Facebook marketing with Walmart and NASA

We’ve got some incredible brands that will share what they do with social media. This is just a sample. There is an enormous amount of how-to content.

It’s an online conference, which means you don’t need to travel anywhere. It’s spread over an entire month and it’s live. If you want to learn more about it, be sure to check it out.
Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Tom Martin on his website.
Read The Invisible Sale.
Check out Adorama and Adorama TV to see how they link their products.
Read more about propinquity and Propinquity Points.
Use HubSpot or Marketo to help build a dossier on a person.
Try Radian6 or Sysomos to discover your propinquity points.
Check out Copyblogger‘s content.
Use Google Analytics to keep track of your traffic.
Head over to DebKArt.
Learn more about Social Media Success Summit 2013.


Help Us Spread the Word!


Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

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What do you think? What are your thoughts on selling with social media?Please leave your comments below.

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Landing Your First Instagram Followers

When you start on any new platform, including Instagram, it can feel a bit depressing to see “0 Followers” tied to your account. You may even wonder if it is worth starting an Instagram account.
The good news is, using some cross promotion and smart content techniques, you will quickly see your follower count rise.

How Can I Get Instagram Followers?

Leverage Your Existing Audience

One of the easiest ways to increase your Instagram following is to take advantage of the hard work you have already put into gaining traction on your website and existing social media platforms.
Here are a couple things you can do right now to let your audience know how to find you on Instagram.
1. Take Advantage of Your Website Traffic
Unless someone is a brand evangelist, they probably won’t go searching for you on Instagram. You have to let them know you have an account. One of the easiest, but possibly most overlooked, ways is to link to your Instagram account from your website, along with your other social media accounts.
If you want website visitors to immediately see your great Instagram content, consider adding a sidebar widget. You will be able show off your latest images and link directly to your account.
2. Cross Promote on Other Platforms
Sharing your Instagram content across other social networks is a great way to let followers know you’re active on other platforms.
Instagram makes it easy for you to share your content with other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. To share your image, click the ellipse on the bottom right corner of the picture.
instagram1
After that, select the ‘Share Photo’ button.
instagram2
Next, choose the service to which you want to send the Instagram image.
instagram3
Currently, Instagram allows you to send your photos to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flikr, Foursquare and Email. You create the links to these accounts in your profile settings.
At this point, you can change the message you want included with the photo, then just click ‘Share’ to send it on its way.

Be Active

Being active, and consistent, is key to attracting followers no matter what social media platform you are using. Instagram is no exception. Producing and sharing good content and using relevant hash tags can be effective ways to increase your Instagram following.

Produce Good Content

So, you’ve gotten someone to click over to your business Instagram profile. In order for them to follow your account you must have a variety of have solid images in your gallery.
Think about your brand and what image you want to project. Is your brand whimsical and fun? Spontaneous photo snaps may work for you. If your business projects a more elegant vibe, your photos might need to be more stylized.
No matter your style, avoid blurry or poorly lit photos.

Use Relevant Hashtags

As on Twitter, people on Instagram love hashtags. They make it easy to search for and find beautiful images and new people to follow.
Be sure to add a few relevant hashtags to each image to attract some people who aren’t already following you. (Note: a few. Not a slew.)
Great hashtags include locations, activities, objects, and colors. For example, if you sell T-shirts at a local store and online, you could show an image of someone on a park trail wearing your popular red shirt. Possible hashtags include: #Ohio #hiking #tshirt #red. People from Ohio may search the location hashtag.  Someone who likes hiking may find you via the hiking hashtag.

Get Started Now

Don’t let the fact that you don’t have any followers keep you from getting started on Instagram. If you leverage your audience from other online platforms and consistently produce quality content, you will soon see your Instagram following increase.

Monday 9 September 2013

Searchable History of All Tweets: This Week in Social Media


Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.
What’s New This Week?

Topsy Offers Entire History of Public Tweets: “If you’re curious about your own first tweet—or any other piece of Twitter history” be sure to check it out.


You can now search through the entire Twitter archive.



SlideShare Redesigns Browse Page: “The experience is much more visual, and like before, you can sort through SlideShares based on topic category, content type, language and date. Users can now also share, save and like SlideShares directly on the browse page.”


The new update makes "SlideShares more easy to find, share and enjoy."

LinkedIn Adds Volunteer Aspirations to Profile: “You will be able to share your philanthropic aspirations on your LinkedIn profile by calling out whether you want to volunteer and serve on a nonprofit board.”


"Your network is more likely to send volunteer and board opportunities your way if they know that you're looking and what you're looking for."

Here’s more noteworthy news to follow:

SlideShare Updates Privacy Policy: SlideShare is updating its privacy policy to help clarify existing language and help SlideShare “prepare for future features and functionality” that they “anticipate will continue to add value” to the user experience.

Here are a couple of interesting social media tools worth noting:

Strike Social: A tool to discover how well your content is performing on YouTube.



Spirit: A tool to set your tweets to disappear with a simple hashtag.


Check out Spirit if you'd like to put a lifespan on any of your tweets.

Don’t miss this:

Social Media Success Summit 2013

Social Media Success Summit 2013 is a special online conference designed to help you master social media marketing (brought to you by Social Media Examiner).


Social Media Success Summit 2013.

Forty-five of the world’s leading social media pros will show you how. Instructors include Jay Baer (author, Youtility), Chris Brogan (co-author, Impact Equation),Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner), Mark Schaefer (author, Return on Influence), Jesse Stay (author,Google+ for Dummies), Amy Porterfield (co-author, Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies) and experts from General Electric, Sony, E! Online, Kelly Servicesand Discovery Channel–just to mention a few. Fully online. Click here to learn more.

What do you think? Please share your comments below.