Thank you all for attending the webinar. Here are the questions along with our answers. Enjoy!
Q: Are all B2B marketers who use social media selling some form of communication or computer technology? Do companies who sell chemicals really using social media in lead generation?
Twitter:
In answer to your question, I did a simple query on Twitter for “adhesives” which yielded numerous results including:
AS Council – Trade association representing North American adhesives and sealants industry is on Twitter as @ASCouncil
H.B. Fuller is on Twitter as @GlueTalk
Dymax Corporation is on Twitter as @dymax
LinkedIn:
H.B. Fuller yielded 510 results (including current and past employees)
Dow Chemical yielded over 21K results
Then I did a company search on LinkedIn for “chemicals” which yielded 2,162 results for company pages.
Blog searches were a bit more difficult as I’m unsure of which phrase would work best, but there were hundreds of results for each search conducted. I think it’s fair to say that companies who sell chemicals are involved with social media to some extent. It may not yet be effective for broad lead generation, but it may yield some measurable results and impact to nurturing campaigns. Use of social media could also prove a great source for learning more about your target markets, developing personas, etc.
Q: LinkedIn is a business oriented social media network. One issue we have had in the office is the idea of using Facebook as a forum for approaching people as well. It is believed by the marketing dept. that it’s more of an informal and leisure forum instead of a business forum. What is your opinion of this?
Facebook can be a great way to start and grow an interactive community with people interested in interacting with your company. The thing you need to consider with Facebook is that people become fans for the experience. They want to interact with like-minded people on a topic of interest. If you have valuable content, events and stimulate discussions to help “fans” connect with each other, as well as with your company, then Facebook can work. But it takes a continuous flow of content and interactive effort to create a community. A Facebook fan page is definitely not a “build it and they will come” initiative.
This said, you need to find out first if your prospects and customers are using Facebook. In order to build your fan base you will likely need to employ other social media efforts as well as provide access from your website. Consider what the purpose of your fan page is and what objectives you’d like to achieve. This will determine how you build your page and what type of content you choose to use. Is there a niche you can target that will increase your opportunity for engagement?
Remember that when you post updates to your fan page, those notices go into your fans inboxes. Relevancy, value and the soft sell are critical to interactivity and not fatiguing your fans to the point where they want to abandon their involvement with your company.
Mari Smith is a noted expert on helping businesses use Facebook for business marketing. You can see her Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/marismith or visit her website http://www.marismith.com/.
Q: How do you feel about the use of text messaging from a sales perspective? Not everyone may use Facebook or Twitter, but almost everyone has a cell phone and most, if not all people give their cell phone numbers pretty willingly.
I’m not a fan of text messaging unless the prospect has specifically given their permission for that type of communication. Texting someone uninvited can backfire as it’s perceived to be a more personal form of communication. If people are willingly giving out their cell phone numbers, what are the expectations when they do so? A personal call or a series of text messages from a company? I’d also be interested to know what type of text message you’d send that would be of high relevance and value to a prospect?
On the flip side of that, there may be some interesting opportunities around a customer-focused text initiative. Perhaps short tips that are helpful for using your products or notices they would value. You’d probably have a higher opt-in rate in focusing this type of campaign on people who want to interact with you because they already know and trust you. Building customer loyalty can also boost share of wallet.
Q: What if you don’t have any Listeners (followers) yet? Should we use this same approach?
A: Yes. Everyone starts without followers. The trick is to have listened and determined just how to get involved in a way that will be interesting to the people you want to have follow you. Find out who the people you want to have follow you are following. Watch them and see how they engage their networks. ReTweet them when appropriate to get noticed in association with them. Make sure you’ve built up some Tweets first so that people who become curious about who you are will find something valuable when they check out your profile. Post #FollowFriday lists that include your followers to help them build their networks. Social media is about sharing. Share good content and help others find themselves in the spotlight and the favor will be returned many times over.
Q: On Twitter, should Sales follow potential customers, in an effort to build relationships. Or should we just watch the postings on their site and initiate conversation when relevant.
A: Following and building relationships are two different things. I’d say yes that they should follow prospects they’re actively working with and give them a reason to follow back. It helps if the company is producing high quality content that will be of interest that the salesperson can link to in their Tweets. Marketing should be providing a steady stream of end-stage content that salespeople can share.
If the prospect has a blog, the salesperson should subscribe to the RSS feed and post comments when appropriate. Nothing salesy, but a reaction to their post or the addition of an idea can help the prospect feel validated and also increase the salesperson’s credibility with them.
Q: Any tips, on how to be sociable (build relationships), while remaining professional and representing the company brand appropriately.
A: Part of this one is easy. Don’t say anything in social media that you wouldn’t say in a face-to-face exchange in a business situation. The part that requires a bit more planning is in how the company story translates into a consistent message that corresponds to your overall marketing strategy. This is why I advocate so strongly for editorial calendars based on personas and themes. Coordinating every part of the marketing mix when it keeps expanding and needs to shift for different uses is much easier when marketers can see the big picture.
Search out others who present themselves as you’d like to do and watch how they do so. There are a lot of models to choose from and the public nature of social media gives you the exposure to watch and listen. Social media can also be a huge learning forum. You’ll see things that make you cringe and things that make you say “Wow! Wish I’d thought of that.”
Q: In your opinion. Should a sales person be the person filtering through the social media noise to find a prospect? OR should sales focus on selling and have a sales support staff do the social media prospecting. And once the customer is interested in doing business try to do a seamless transition to sales.
A: In my opinion, salespeople need to focus on prospects interested in buying, not in searching to find them. Marketing or a Marketing and Sales Coordinator should engage in social media and then, during the handoff to sales, can update the salesperson with their profile which includes references to their social media preferences. At that point the salesperson can step in. One way to do this easily is to introduce the prospect to the salesperson through the social media tools they prefer. That’s a personalized and warm exchange that can keep the momentum moving with a prospect who’s indicated interest in next steps.
The other way to go would be to notify the salesperson when the prospect asks for information that indicates they’ve moved forward in their buying process. The salesperson can step up and provide the answer the prospect is looking for and naturally enter the conversation at that time. This is a process-driven approach that requires some planning to execute well. You need to make sure the salesperson is adept at stepping in when the time is right. Social media requires more immediacy than internal handoff processes if it’s going to be highly relevant. If your sales rep doesn’t respond for two days, then it won’t work well.
Q: On Twitter… should Sales Initiate Q/A or should they try and find Q/A to participate in.
I always hate saying this, but it depends on the circumstances. If there’s an existing Q/A the salesperson comes across and they have something to add to the exchange, then yes, they should do so. On the other hand, if they’re hearing prospects say the same thing time and again, perhaps posting that question on Twitter will elicit some valuable response they can either use with prospects or to engage with those who respond.
Once you’ve found people to follow and have a Twitter stream to monitor, I find that if I pop out several times a day for 5 or 10 minutes, I can find something to respond to or that generates a question I can ask or a comment I can make. Time management is a key consideration with Twitter.
Q: for the record can you define the topic “social media”?
My definition of Social media:
Social media is the online publishing of content, messaging and communications designed to create interactive dialogue that serves customers and develops new demand for a company’s offerings.
Q: If I get waist deep in social media, how long will it take for that activity to get results to my top line revenue?
This is another it depends question. For most B2B companies, social media alone will not drive top line revenue. However, when integrated with an overall marketing-to-sales strategy focused on buyers’ top priorities (not the company or your products) it can shorten time to revenues. It’s often the combination of thought leadership blog posts, email nurturing with great content, webinars and social media interactions that can build trust much more quickly than any one of those efforts on its own. Social media can provide that humanizing touch that transforms the perception of your company into that of an approachable partner who brings value in addition to the products and services they provide.
I’ve worked with companies that have generated measurable impact to top-line revenues in 6 months and I’ve also seen the effort take over a year for measurable impact after the incorporation of social media. One of the biggest factors in play is based on the perception of your company by the markets you serve today which indicates how far you have to go for social media to play a telling role in helping you to meet that objective. Another factor is how well equipped your company is to measure the impact from the addition of social media.
Q: The goal of the first conversation is NOT to get the sale?? Shouldn’t the goal of EVERY conversation be to make the sale???
If your sale is transactional, then I’d agree with this statement. If it’s a B2B complex sale with a learning curve for prospects and a number of people on the buying committee, then no, getting the sale is not the goal of every conversation. Especially due to the economy, buyers are doing more research and having to work harder to justify every dollar they spend. Everyone has to agree. Even one person saying “no” can derail the entire deal.
The goal of each conversation is to get the buyer to take the next step. You need to know exactly what that is and help them feel confident enough to take it with you. The faster you can help buyers build that confidence, the shorter your time to revenue. Buying is a series of decisions, not just a purchase decision. They want vendors who can help them make solid decisions that will help them achieve their specific business objectives, not just sell them something.
Companies focused on making the sale with every conversation are focused on themselves. Companies who are focused on helping buyers learn what they need to know to make the best decision are focused on their buyers. The latter approach has been proven to produce sustainable growth and velocity in the marketplace.
Q: How should one go about establishing a Twitter ID if you are going to use it for business purposes?
If you can, establish it with your real name. Use your real picture in your profile. Social media is about personalized interactions. People buy from people. A secondary option is to establish a Twitter ID based on your business and to use your logo. If you do this, associate some names with the profile.
For example, take a look at @brainshark’s Twitter profile page: http://twitter.com/brainshark
Although the brand is represented, they’ve made it clear that people are behind the Twitter handle and told you just who they are. This approach is great if you have a group taking responsibility for Tweeting for your company, but not people with the bandwidth to participate individually on a consistent basis.
