SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SALES PROFESSIONALS How sales professionals can use social media to generate leads and develop trusted advisor status.

John Beveridge is the founder and President of Rapidan Inbound, an i n b o u n d m a r k e t i n g agency and HubSpot-certified partner based in McLean, VA.

Vice Chair Biz Dev, Marketing and

Sales Committee

Twitter @JohnMBeveridge Email john.beveridge@rapidanstrategies.com Phone 703.878.1234 www.b2binboundmarketer.com

B2B buyers use content to buy “When comparing the eventual winning vendor to the rest of the considered vendors, 61% of respondents agreed that the winning vendor delivered a better mix of content appropriate for each stage of the purchasing process.” DemandGen Report – 2014 B2B Buyer Behavior Survey Report

START WITH A STRATEGY

What are your social media objectives? • Who are you trying to reach? • What problems or opportunities impact them? • What is your situation? • What resources do you have? • What is your objective?

Who are you trying to reach? Ideal Customer Profile for businesses

•  Industry? • Company size? •  Location? • Demographics?

Who are you trying to reach? Buyer Personas for individuals

•  Job title? • Demographics? • Aspirations? What is a win? • Watering holes?

Identify problems and opportunities 3 primary categories

• Save money • Save time •  Increase revenues

How can you help targets solve for these wins?

What is your situation? • Employee of large company

•  Access to content

• Employee of SMB company •  May have to create content

• Small business owner •  Will have to create content

What resources are available to you?

What is your objective? •  Lead generation? • Personal branding? • Develop partnerships?

Set goals for your social media efforts

EXECUTE YOUR STRATEGY

Your prime directive

BE HELPFUL

Top tips for execution • Earn the right to sell with content • Be consistent • Automate • Measure and iterate

Earn the right to sell with content •  Forget the long-winded hard sell • Your content • Your company’s content •  Third-party content Regardless of the content you use, add your personal take when sharing it

Be consistent • Make social selling part of your daily routine • Be patient, it takes time to develop your brand •  Take the time to create and curate content Take the time to develop a social selling channel

Automate for efficiency

Automate for efficiency

•  Scheduling and monitoring tool for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Foursquare

•  Custom content feeds •  Analytics module •  Free version available, Pro version for $9.99/month

Automate for efficiency

•  Daily custom content feed •  Free version available, Pro version for $45/year

Measure and iterate • Use analytics to improve social selling • Which posts get the most views? • Which posts get the most engagement? • Which posts get the most shares? • Which networks and times are most productive? Use free and paid analytics sources

DON’T FORGET THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

Your prime directive

BE HELPFUL

Blog Post

Social Media Marketing for Sales Professionals

bit.ly/SPSocial