Twiiter an sales

[soldlab]

What's the best way for sales people to use Twitter to develop leads?

[Evan]

Lots of different ways soldlab. I would start with:

1) Identify your ideal accounts and see if they're on Twitter. Get to know them and what they're interested in. Reply to their tweets and get on their radar screens. Before long they'll be checking out your profile and will be curious as to what you're selling.

2) Follow key words that relate to your industry. Find people who have a problem that you can solve and offer to help. Get involved in the discussion around your industry and be seen as an expert.

Good luck!

[JackieGold]

Yeah, a lot of people start using social media and keep at it only to wonder later... is this actually going to affect my sales? I would say the best strategy is try to keep in close contact and cultivate a strong relationship with your Twitter followers so they trust your company when it comes time to actually do business. Hope that helps!

[soldlab]

Thanks Evan, Jackie! Vey helpful tips!
Evan, I agree, Twitter is great when it's used as a tool for analysis for specific industry - it's easy to learn about relevant news, trends, challenges. Then you get the idea about what solution can be used to help solve the problems the prospects are facing. I guess though LinkedIn is better for actual leag generation and personal contacts. What do you think?

Jackie, how to dvelop strong relationships with your followers? Just by retweting? is it going to have an effect?

[tobuso]

I have a few thousand facebook friends and I cant seem to get any sales. I post notes and updates and no-one seems to care. They are all businesses that should need my service. So I just never signed up for a twitter.

[Evan]

I guess though LinkedIn is better for actual leag generation and personal contacts. What do you think?

I've had a lot more success (thus far) with Twitter than LinkedIn or Facebook.

[soldlab]

I have a few thousand facebook friends and I cant seem to get any sales. I post notes and updates and no-one seems to care. They are all businesses that should need my service. So I just never signed up for a twitter.

Perhapsit's a perception mistake. You feel that no one cares because o one likes or posts comments. But you cannot see how many time the post was viewed by friends. This exposure matters, even if you think there's no effect at all - it is.

[GT Bulmer]

. . . you cannot see how many time the post was viewed by friends. This exposure matters, even if you think there's no effect at all - it is.

Good point. It's all about exposure and building one's brand. Marketing and branding is a long-term process and a marketer should make a long-term commitment to doing positive things to continually gain exposure.

We always hear stories of a customer who buys something from a company and says something like, "I've known about you for years, but finally decided to check you out and buy something." If that company hadn't maintained their focus on continual exposure, they would not have finally convinced that customer.

GT

[Mal Tindle]

Hi soldlab,

That’s a good question and some great replies already. For some time I was sceptical about Twitter and seemed to be doing what everyone else was doing and just building my numbers without giving it a lot of thought.

Social networking is just that at the beginning with the hope that in due time, business will follow and Evan has given some great advice there about searching for the right people and building relationships as I see no point at all in using Twitter unless I am prepared to be proactive with it.

regards,

Mal.

[GT Bulmer]

When I first began with Twitter, my focus was on the 'Social Networking' aspect of it. I would tweet comments, re-tweet other tweets and interact with other members as the opportunities arose.

However, the problem that I had with it was how fast the timeline zips past! It's not like a forum where the discussions are kept nice and tidy, easy to follow and easy to find.

Since that time, I've become busier with other marketing responsibilities and I have to admit that I now use Twitter primarily to post links to my blog posts, sales pages and other recommended resources. Someone else has mentioned how "spammy" Twitter has become, and I suppose that in a way I sometimes contribute to that perception. (Not intending to be spammy, rather just wanting to share my recommended resources.)

GT

[RobBright]

Best way to use Twitter in my opinion is to use it to distribute content that helps your target market, not your sales pitch.

The whole concept of social media is very simple, be social thats it !! Its not rocket science, interact with people and join the discussion, if you use social media with an outlook of how can I help people I guarentee you will get results, why ? Because the social networks are full of people ramming their services and opportunities down others throats all climbing over themselves to say their the best. Prove that your the best by caring about your prospects and you will win them over in time.

A little strategy for you, please feel free to comment on this as i love to find out what others do as well, if you have a blog update it with info that your target market will find useful, this can be as simple as taking a video from Youtube but if you have got your own videos great, and putting it on your wall, then distribute that blog post to your Facebook wall, fan page or through twitter, maybe a little message like "hey Fb friends found this great video on how social media can help you boost sales" just a quick example here, then take that blog post and post it on relevant groups walls for all to see.

Share cool stuff and your prospects will come to know like and trust you, we all know what happens after that!!

Good luck

[Evan]

Best way to use Twitter in my opinion is to use it to distribute content that helps your target market, not your sales pitch.

Agreed!

[Emma Ames]

...the best strategy is try to keep in close contact and cultivate a strong relationship with your Twitter followers so they trust your company when it comes time to actually do business.

Definitely. Once you have established enough followers (depending on the numbers you set) start to develop a relationship with them. Know what they are about, their business/interest, and find what it is that you can offer them to help them improve on this or that aspect. It is only fair to consider them first, before you start throwing things at them without actually hitting something other than their nerves. That could be discouraging and may result them to "unfollow" you -- and we have all seen our own shares of this, I am sure.

If on the other hand you have kept up with their interests, cared enough to get to know them and eventually gave them support/advice that they can actually appreciate, even if they don't buy with what you offer, they could refer other people to you.

Best,
Emma

[alenmajer]

Rule number one: Share quality content
Rule number two: connect with other people from your industry and form an alliance with them to RT each other.
Rule number three: don't self promote - think WIIFM for your readers
Rule number four: you must follow me (mayeralen - 12.5K followers so far)

[localnumberone]

Twitter is very useful for sales and marketing specially for the promotion of products and services. Do the following while active on Twitter:-
1. Follow the people having same interest
2. Post Unique and eye catching content
3. Post Images
4. Take your user name as your favorite product name or brand name.
5. Re tweet, replies and make favorite the posts
6. Create list of people interacting with you
7. Try to active at least 5 day a week.