LinkedIn for Lead Generation 1

The Rise of the Social Seller:

A New Approach to Generating B2B Leads through Social Networks

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Overview

1. Social sellers: Why they make sense in the B2B market

2. What do Social Sellers look like?3. Key Risks Posed by Social Sellers to Organisations 4. Key Advantages of Social Sellers to Organisations 5. Governance: how to launch social sellers within

social networks?

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Social sellers: Why they make sense in the B2B market?

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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

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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.

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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

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Everyone is a Social Seller.

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

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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

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What do Social Sellers look like?

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Just like you and me.

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…But with a few differences.

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Social Sellers Usually Have aRelevant Opinion.

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Social Sellers Usually Have aRelevant Opinion.

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Social Sellers Usually Promote their Company’s Content.

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Social Sellers Usually Promote their Company’s Content.

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Key Sections of a LinkedIn Profile

• Headline• Websites• Professional Summary• Work Experience (latest)• Display Assets (Powerpoints, Video, Blog)• Honors & Awards• Publications• Skills• Testimonials

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Key Risks Posed by Social Sellers to Organisations

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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

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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

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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

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Key Advantages of Social Sellers to Organisations

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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

Content Distribution

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Personal & Company Brand Building

Social ProspectsSeller

Status Updates

Group Participation

Content Distribution

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SocialProspectsSeller

Status Updates

Group Participation

Mere Exposure Effect

Positioning (Sponsorship) Effect

SocialSeller

Brand

Personal Brand Building

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Building Brand Awareness

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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

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Paradigm Shift:

The Company Builds its Corporate Brand via the Personal Brands of its Social

Sellers.

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Lead Generation – Pure Inbound

Prospect

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Paradigm Shift:

Leads Start Coming through thePersonal Profiles of Social Sellers.

Lead Generation – Driven Inbound

Lead Generation – Driven Inbound

Convert into business lead

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Lead Generation – Inbound

This “Content Landing Page” can be a

Microsite or Blog

Meeting

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Lead Generation – Outbound

Social Seller

After being connected with prospects for a

while, the Social Seller approaches prospects directly

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Use Google Analytics to Track Everything

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Governance: How Do You Launch Social Sellers

within Social Networks?

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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

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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

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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

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Thank You!

Tom SkotidasDirector,

Skotidas (www.skotidas.com.au)

LinkedIn: Tom SkotidasTwitter: @tomskotidasGoogle+: tomskotidas