When you Bing or Google “Social Selling,” you’ll find a lot of information about how to utilize LinkedIn to reap the advantages of Social Selling. And you should be taking note. But let’s also look at another one of the heavyweight tools that you should be adding to your bag of tricks when it comes to Social Selling: Twitter.
There is a feature that comes with Twitter called Twitter Lists. For anyone looking to use Twitter for Social Selling these lists are a must assets for leveraging Twitter. You can both create lists and subscribe to lists that others have created. Adding lists to tools like HootSuite allows you to see the Tweets coming from the accounts on these lists.
As a Social Seller, these lists can be used to categorize and group the leads, prospects, and networking connections of people and companies you are targeting.
Setting up Twitter Lists is a fairly easy process. Click here to find out more. But one important consideration is keeping your lists private. We’ll talk more about that in a minute.
Building Your Lists As you begin to build these lists you will want to create categories similar to those that follow, with 50-100 people on each:
Leads These typically will be people who work at the companies to which you are looking to sell your products and/or services. Follow people who are active on Twitter. It doesn’t make sense to follow anyone who is not active, meaning that they are not even looking at their Twitter account.
When someone on your list Tweets something that matches your criteria, you should either retweet it with a comment or even reply to them. Another way to engage with your leads is to “@mention” them in one of your own Tweets, like this:
“5 Ways to Become More Productive… don’t you agree, @twitterhandle #Business #Productive”
Prospects Once you have nurtured a company into your “prospect-to-close” phase, Twitter Lists become even more powerful. Make sure that all of the people at that company who could possibly influence the buying decision have been added to your prospect list. Remember also to move anyone from that company who is still on your lead list to your prospect list. And then, of course, delete them from the lead list.
Make sure you are listening to what your prospect list is saying, then comment on and add value to their conversations. At the same time, you do not want to become a “stalker.” By using your Twitter Lists judiciously, you are showcasing your expertise and keeping your name (and of course your company) top of mind as your proposal works its way through to closing.
Connections Your network connections are probably one of the easiest types of lists to setup. Add to your connections list people you already know, those you see as “influencers” in the industry, and existing customers. By adding contacts at existing customers as well to the connections list (or creating a separate list for them if you prefer) you are keeping up to date on what your customers are doing and saying. From time to time, some of those employees are likely to move on to other companies, providing new sales opportunities and potentially speeding up your sales cycle.
Of course, make sure you continue to engage with them, as they will become your influencers, helping to spread the word about your products and services. All of this adds to your brand and credibility.
Private vs. Public Lists Make sure that you set all your lists to “Private.” The last thing you want is for your competition to know about your lead and prospect lists. Nor do you necessarily want your leads and prospects to know that they’re on your lists.
Twitter Lists have even greater potential. You may want to utilize lists to monitor competitors, or to follow certain industry leaders, as two other usage examples. All in all, lists are a great way to stay organized on Twitter.
Lastly, I should note that can be a benefit in having some lists that are public so that others can subscribe to your lists. Plus, people love people who share.
Conclusion Now that you’ve seen the additional Social Selling benefits of Twitter via Twitter Lists, imagine the power of using both LinkedIn and Twitter effectively within your Social Selling routine.
Drop me an email and let me know how you use Twitter for Social Selling jon.rivers@marketingmonarchs.com
Comments