1 / 40

The Rise of the Social Seller: A New Approach to Generating B2B Leads through Social Networks

The Rise of the Social Seller: A New Approach to Generating B2B Leads through Social Networks. Overview Social sellers: Why they make sense in the B2B market What do Social Sellers look like? Key Risks Posed by Social Sellers to Organisations

teddy
Download Presentation

The Rise of the Social Seller: A New Approach to Generating B2B Leads through Social Networks

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. LinkedIn for Lead Generation The Rise of the Social Seller: A New Approach to Generating B2B Leads through Social Networks

  2. LinkedIn for Lead Generation Overview Social sellers: Why they make sense in the B2B market What do Social Sellers look like? Key Risks Posed by Social Sellers to Organisations Key Advantages of Social Sellers to Organisations Governance: how to launch social sellers within social networks?

  3. LinkedIn for Lead Generation Social sellers: Why they make sense in the B2B market?

  4. B2B is Person-to-Person • B2B is fundamentally different to B2C; • B2B features much smaller, more defined target audiences; • B2B purchases are almost always larger in size and/or time commitment than B2C purchases; • Large B2B purchases have a significant impact on the organization and the person on the buying side

  5. B2B is Person-to-Person • In almost every B2B industry, the personal brand is as important as the company brand during the sales process (think about the effect of poor salespersons); • B2B deals are usually confirmed on the strength of the relationship between the buyer and the seller himself; • If you apply this truth to Social Media, then B2B marketing and lead generation need to be Person to Person; • Companies that will thrive in Social Media must invest in the personal brands of their key people – turning them into Social Sellers.

  6. Candidates for Social Selling • Sales (BDM, Sales Director) • Marketing (Marketing Manager, Marketing Director, CMO) • Information Technology (IT Manager, IT Director, Chief Information Officer) • Operations (COO, Operations Manager) • CEO • Receptionist

  7. Everyone is a Social Seller.

  8. Those in Public-facing roles are the most impactful social sellers.

  9. Why would you choose someone as a Social Seller? • Loyalty to company • Thought Leadership (original thinker, but not Einstein) • Good Writing Skills • Commonsense person • Good articulation of solutions, almost bordering on technical • You are comfortable having them represent the company

  10. LinkedIn for Lead Generation What do Social Sellers look like?

  11. Just like you and me.

  12. …But with a few differences.

  13. Social Sellers Usually Have a Relevant Opinion.

  14. Social Sellers Usually Have a Relevant Opinion.

  15. Social Sellers Usually Promote their Company’s Content.

  16. Social Sellers Usually Promote their Company’s Content.

  17. Key Sections of a LinkedIn Profile • Headline • Websites • Professional Summary • Work Experience (latest) • Display Assets (Powerpoints, Video, Blog) • Honors & Awards • Publications • Skills • Testimonials

  18. LinkedIn for Lead Generation Key Risks Posed by Social Sellers to Organisations

  19. Key Risk: Content Requirement • Social Sellers are usually from Sales divisions • Thus, they are often too busy pursuing new business to find fresh, relevant, and compelling content • Even when time exists to source content, they often lack the experience of preparing content that is 100% cleared from every angle; i.e. brand, legal, and distribution • Marketing must invest time and budget into producing regular content for Social Sellers

  20. Key Risk: Internal Resentment • “Why wasn’t I chosen as a Social Seller?” • Create Pilot • Hold a meeting with all potential social sellers and explain the Pilot, its risks, and why the social seller(s) was chosen • Explain the circumstances under which other potential sellers will become actual social sellers • Ensure that non-social sellers do not begin social media activity

  21. Key Risk: Poaching • Yes – Headhunters and Competitors will get in touch with your Social Seller.  • Discuss the unique investment in the social seller, and how competitors would never allow this • Explain the potential long-term earnings of this investment for the Social Seller, far outweighing any short-term salary gains

  22. LinkedIn for Lead Generation Key Advantages of Social Sellers to Organisations

  23. Positive Effects of Social Seller on the Organisation • Personal & Company Brand Building • Lead Generation • Higher conversion rate from meeting request to meeting secured • More clients for B2B Company

  24. Personal & Company Brand Building Content Distribution Status Updates Social Prospects Seller Group Participation

  25. Personal Brand Building Mere Exposure Effect Content Distribution Brand Social Social Status Updates Prospects Seller Seller Group Participation Positioning (Sponsorship) Effect

  26. Building Brand Awareness

  27. Positioning through Sponsorship Associating your personal brand with the content of your posts, makes you stand out and become synonymous with that content. This gives you greater credibility and trust in the market

  28. Paradigm Shift: The Company Builds its Corporate Brand via the Personal Brands of its Social Sellers.

  29. Lead Generation – Pure Inbound Prospect

  30. Paradigm Shift: Leads Start Coming through the Personal Profiles of Social Sellers.

  31. Lead Generation – Driven Inbound

  32. Lead Generation – Driven Inbound

  33. Lead Generation – Inbound Convert into business lead This “Content Landing Page” can be a Microsite or Blog

  34. Lead Generation – Outbound Social Seller After being connected with prospects for a while, the Social Seller approaches prospects directly Meeting

  35. Use Google Analytics to Track Everything

  36. LinkedIn for Lead Generation Governance: How Do You Launch Social Sellers within Social Networks?

  37. Who Decides? • Vest authority in persons who may decide on who may become a Social Seller • The content of Social Seller’s profiles that relates to, and impacts, B2B Company should be approved by B2B Company • Marketing has responsibility for content sourcing, content processing and approval, and dissemination to Social Sellers • Social Sellers must distribute information in a timely manner

  38. Marketing Must Support the Social Seller • Source Regular Content • Prepare Approved Content • Feed Content to Social Seller (pre-cut status updates) • Within 3 – 6 months of support from Marketing, the Social Seller should come into content sourcing, preparation, and distribution skills that alleviate the burden on Marketing

  39. Roll Out • Create one or two Social Sellers as part of a Pilot • Pilots prevent situations where multiple social sellers are posting the same content or connecting with the same prospects blindly • Once learnings are in (min. 3 months), then roll out to more staff • Keep tight controls for the first 6 months of each Social Seller

  40. Thank You! Tom Skotidas Director, Skotidas (www.skotidas.com.au) LinkedIn: Tom Skotidas Twitter: @tomskotidas Google+: tomskotidas

More Related