The analysis represents a small subsection of the capabilities available in the platform and is based on data that was collected in real time from various social channels.

To begin, we identified some key questions that we hoped our analysis would ultimately answer:

• How was the engagement around ASCO13 on Twitter?
• What were the tweet and re-tweet volumes, as well as the re-tweet ratio?
• Who were the top tweeters and re-tweeters during ASCO13?
• How was the “Network of Connections” on Twitter?
• Who were the key influencers for ASCO13?
• What were the blog volumes? Which were the key blog portals?

Social Summary for the Event:

Between May 31 and June 4, 2013, 18,566 total tweets regarding ASCO13 were sent from 4,117 total tweeters, and creating approximately 70 million total Twitter impressions. This is a large number of tweeters for this event, but they generated a low-to-fair volume of tweets over the course of the five days. Of those, only 2% of the tweets came from ASCO-owned accounts – a very low number when considered in the context of the total tweet number.

Still, this is good Twitter engagement for an event that targeted a highly specific niche audience and topic.

Additionally, there were 87 blog posts published, and 36 YouTube videos garnered 28,925 views – a reasonable volume.

Twitter Analytics

Let’s break down the Twitter numbers a little further. Of the 18,566 total tweets sent, 9,238 of them were re-tweets, meaning a re-tweet ratio of 50%. While tweet volumes are well distributed across the five days, the overall volume is on the low side. There is something to be said for the high volume of re-tweets, however. That metric indicates that tweeters did hold an active interest.

June 2 saw the highest single day volume of tweets (4,964) and re-tweets (2,603).

Among the top tweeters for the event, we’ve identified Dr. Steven Eisenberg (@drseisenberg; ~13,000 followers), Dr. Mike Thompson (@mtmdphd; ~2,800 followers), BiotechStockResearch (@BiotechStockRsr; ~7,000 followers), and H. Jack West, MD (@JackWestMD; ~4,300 followers).

Among the top re-tweeters were, again, Dr. Steven Eisenberg and Dr. Mike Thompson, along with MD Anderson Leukemia (@leukemiamda; ~1,300 followers) and @Edgarger (~140 followers).

Overall, the community participating in this discussion was well-networked, and there was good amplification of tweets originating from certain accounts and nodes.

The top influencers from ASCO13 included global news media as well as oncologists. Among them:

• @Reuters
• @LiveStrong
• @jimcramer
• @SteveCase
• @ReutersBiz
• @afpfr
• @don_dailyRx
• @carlzimmer
• @NoticiasMedicas
• @ACSNews

Of those top influencers,  Agence France-Presse (@afpfr), ACSNews, and NoticiasMedicas had the most re-tweets. Still, there were fewer re-tweets on influencer posts, and the numbers did not indicate good amplification.

Throughout the event, it’s no surprise the most of the conversation focused on topics related to oncology. Melanoma (1,077), breast cancer (452), and lung cancer (436) had the most specific tweets. There were also some mentions around the topics of drugs, treatment, and trials.

Blog Metrics

Of the 87 blog posts published over the course of the event, June 4, the final day of the event, was the highest post count day (35 posts). The second highest day was June 3 (16 posts), then June 1 with 14 posts.

Among the key portals for these blog posts were ulitzer.com, rd.yahoo.co.jp, lungcancertreatment.org, and news-medical.net. This all indicates good blog coverage – including both medical and mainstream blogs.

Summary Analysis

From our analysis, we can determine that engagement on social channels was excellent, given that it was a niche topic. Twitter was the key social media channel of choice when it came to interaction and engagement for the event. Finally, while Twitter was the star role for this event, the numbers also indicate reasonable-to-fair coverage on blogs and YouTube. You can find a more detailed analysis with key infographics on SlideShare.

Were you at ASCO13? Are you an oncologist using social media? How do you measure social success? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

But the solution isn’t to avoid social media. Instead, the solution is to understand the risks involved in using it and to have a management plan in place. Can you learn from others’ mistakes? Absolutely. And when others learn from you, let it be a positive experience.

Risk #1: Employees posting to the company accounts

Businesses hand the keys to their Twitter kingdoms over to employees all the time so that they might post on behalf of the company. But the employees aren’t always as trustworthy  or careful as they might seem, and businesses get burnt as a result.

Chrysler employed New Media Strategies to run its social media. One of that firm’s employees, believing himself to be posting to his personal account, tweeted just about the worst thing a car company in Detroit could imagine. He was subsequently fired from his job, and Chrysler did not renew its contract with New Media Strategies.

Again, an employee at Red Cross believed he was posting a personal tweet and actually updated all of the American Red Cross followers on their plans to imbibe.

During the debates leading up to the 2012 elections, someone mistakenly sent this update out over KitchenAid’s company account.

Risk Management: Have a plan in place for how you will respond if such an event happens to you. Here are the responses from Chrysler, American Red Cross, and KitchenAid:

In terms of managing a social media crisis, there’s something to be said for these responses. Both the American Red Cross and KitchenAid acknowledged the mistake and apologized. They assumed responsibility for what happened. Chrysler’s response, on the other hand, is worded interestingly. They apologize, but say their account was compromised. This is somewhat misleading. They weren’t hacked. Someone they they trusted mis-Tweeted. The word choice deflects responsibility as opposed to assuming it the way the Red Cross and KitchenAid do.

But what’s more, if you want to manage social media risk from the start, set clear guidelines for your employees when it comes to personal social media use. Many companies try to ban their employees from mixing business and personal accounts, when all they need to do is teach them how to use both accounts. Train your employees on everything from brand voice to social media etiquette. Set policies and social media guidelines. Make employees accountable, but also encourage them to tweet about products and other company news.

Risk #2: Not doing enough hashtag research.

It’s not uncommon for companies to make use of trending hashtags on Twitter to try to generate some clicks, re-tweets, and other social media interaction. However, if you aren’t sure what the hashtag is referencing, it’s best not to use it, lest it backfire in a major way.

The day after the tragic movie theatre shooting in Aurora, CO, Celeb Boutique took used the hashtag to promote a dress from their line that was inspired by Kim Kardashian.

Naturally, people were outraged. Celeb Boutique carried on tweeting and the post in question remained live for over an hour before it was deleted and an apology and explanation were issued. As it turned out, they weren’t just hijacking the hashtag.

They also noted that their PR team is not US-based and so didn’t know what was happening in Colorado when they sent the tweet.

Risk management: Do your homework. People appreciate tasteful, well-researched tweets more than they appreciate something tacky and done on-the-fly. In this case, the lack of research and the assumption that it would be ok to use that hashtag not knowing what it meant created a huge PR nightmare for this brand.

Never post anything without researching first. It’s worth the extra few minutes to get it right.

Risk #3: Newsjacking.

Newsjacking occurs when a company uses a current news item (assuming they’ve researched it) to draw attention to their brand. It’s definitely a risk – it can either pay off very well or it can go horribly wrong.

During the Arab Spring in 2011, Egypt was frequently in the news for the uprising in Cairo. During that time, Kenneth Cole sent this tweet:

It doesn’t work because it attempts to make light of a very serious situation. Kenneth Cole noted that they meant for the post to be humorous, but is it wise to attempt humor in such a situation?

Similarly, the morning after the Boston Marathon bombings, Epicurious (a Condé Nast company) sent out some tweets using the tragedy to plug breakfast foods.

This is, frankly, baffling and in incredibly poor taste. Many commented asking who would be comforted by cereal in a time like that. It was terribly tacky and an obvious attempt to use the news to get clicks. It didn’t quite work out for them, and they were soon issuing apologies.

On the other hand, you have brands who brilliantly pull off newsjacking. Take, for example, this now-famous example from Oreo:

During the 2013 Super Bowl, there was a rather lengthy power outage shortly after halftime. While viewers waited for the game to resume, many were on Twitter (the second screen experience) chatting about it when Oreo tweeted this. It was perfectly timed and, because the subject matter wasn’t sensitive, it worked.

Risk Management: Before you make an attempt at newsjacking, think carefully about the nature of the news. If it’s a tragedy or some other sensitive matter, do not attempt to make light of it. In fact, if it’s a situation like that, you should just remain quiet. You’ll only hurt your brand reputation by trying to use it for self-promotion.

If it’s something happy and good-natured, it could definitely be a risk worth taking. As Oreo showed us, the payoff can be quite rewarding as this is one of the most talked-about tweets of 2013. Great PR for Oreo.

In closing…

A lot can go wrong on social media, but if you learn to manage the risks of using it, you can have a very rewarding and lucrative experience. Spend time really learning how the platforms and tools work. Teach your employees to use them well, and guide them when it comes to using social media responsibly. If you’re smart about your decisions, content, and timing, you drastically reduce the odds of finding yourself in crisis (but it’s always best to have a crisis plan just in case!).

How do you manage the risks involved with using social media? Please leave us a comment to share your thoughts. 

Few people currently question the opportunity social media has to revolutionize industries and companies. Many organizations are currently leveraging social media to transform their business by allowing them to engage with their customers, partners and influencers to offer a more consistent and real-time customer experience.

How about saving lives? The world first experienced the true power of social media during the ‘Arab Spring’ events that toppled governments in the Middle East more than two years ago. More recently, many associate the capture of the bombers during the horrific events in Boston a few weeks ago to the effective spread of the news over social media.

NextPrinciples has been working with some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies during the past few months. Based on what I have seen, I believe the world is now in a position to prevent the loss of human life through the effective use of social media. The opportunities we have seen through the use of our Insight-to-Action platform powered by SAP HANA® are both limitless and beyond my wildest imagination. From the effective use of social media to gain real-world insights by connecting with others to research new therapies by adopting crowd-sourcing techniques, to proactively identifying potentially lethal product safety issues before they spread, we believe the potential social media has to actually save lives is enormous.

One of our customers is using our platform to gain real-world insights by engaging with medical experts across various social media channels. The insights and speed by which they attained those insights would have been unimaginable without the use of social media. Their researchers will soon be able to hone in and focus on approaches that would have taken them years to develop on their own.

Another one has been able to detect potentially lethal product safety issues with an over-the-counter medication on two separate occasions. By proactively recalling their products and notifying the public, they were able to prevent the loss of human life.

Imagine the possibility of being able to track millions of conversations across the web about a drug or disease and have your platform analyze and present you with a summary of these conversations. Now imagine being automatically alerted based on the velocity of these conversations, kinds of people talking (e.g., consumer vs. expert) and the underlying content, context and sentiment of these conversations. Today’s social media analytics and engagement platforms such as NextPrinciples’ Insight-to-Action powered by SAP HANA make all this possible.

Can you attribute an ROI to this? We think not.

PS. Do you want to learn more? If you are planning to be at SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW Conference in Orlando next week, please join us at 1PM ET on Thursday, May 16 at the Database and Technology Microforum (DT629) to hear first-hand how one large pharmaceutical company is harnessing the power of social media to gain real-world insights.

When employees already having their hands full with existing work, it can be difficult to add social into that. Sure, someone could be hired to fill that specific role, but there isn’t always budget for that. When businesses get to this point, knowing that this is a method of marketing that they need to be embracing, outsourcing becomes a popular option.

As with anything, though, the decision to outsource may or may not be the right one. And there are certainly pros and cons to each option. While this list is by no means exhaustive, we’ve listed some of the primary pros and cons here to help you begin the decision-making process.

A few reasons to outsource

If you are starting small and don’t have the in house expertise, outsourcing can be a great way to start. Someone else is taking care of social for you, which frees you, and your team to focus on other important matters within your business. If you invest in a well-respected agency, the outsourcing team could be more knowledgeable than your employees when it comes to social, meaning they’ll be more effective at managing and measuring the accounts. A good outsourcing agency can take the time to work with you to establish your brand voice and get a good feel for your company culture so that they can seamlessly engage and interact on your behalf.

A few reasons not to outsource 

Think about it – When you outsource, you’re also removing your employees – the blood, sweat, and tears of your business – from the equation. They cease to be unique voices within the company, traded in instead for someone who perhaps only knows of the company and its mission in the most remote sense. Also, if any of your employees have an understanding of social media and a demonstrated interest in growing that skill, you block their opportunity for growth and involvement by outsourcing. If they feel like they can grow somewhere else, they will. Making someone else a middleman between you and your customers or clients can be detrimental, especially when quick decisions regarding such communications need to be made. A lack of response to timely events or questions could be the only reason the customer needs to move on to someone else with more personalized attention. Finally, there is always the unknown quality issue.

The verdict

It depends.  You need to determine where you are on the ‘social maturity’ life cycle today? What are your plans for the future? Are you planning to spread social across the enterprise (@Jowyang)? If you are small or just starting out, or don’t see yourself investing in becoming a social business, it probably makes sense to outsource. To truly give your customers the best experience, you need your business to be alive and thriving on social channels. As Esteban Kolsky(@ekolsky) of ThinkJar says “Social + CRM = CRM”. In order to truly achieve that, the voice of the company must be your own – a collective voice created by executives and employees alike. I see the merits of outsourcing and offering a helping hand; however I believe for organizations to truly evolve to being customer centric they need social to be imbibed in the very fabric of the organization – across sales, marketing and customer support. However, the answers in life are never so cut and dry. Are they?

What are your thoughts on social media outsourcing? 

In most cases, these strategies are constrained by the limitations of the CRM systems that are currently available in the market. There have been many gallons of ink spent over the last few years on how ‘traditional’ CRM systems have promised so much and delivered so little, how so much of innovation is still lying on the table etc. I am not going to bore you by repeating all of the details.

A couple of months ago, Mike Boysen wrote an interesting guest post on Paul Greenberg’s ZDNet blog. He expounded on some of the above points in great detail and his fundamental hypothesis is that the next generation CRM systems should focus on helping people within companies get their jobs done through their desired business outcomes. We also had the opportunity to speak with Peter Ostrow from the Aberdeen Group a few days ago. He had some very useful insights on the future direction of CRM. This is bang on target with our thinking here at NextPrinciples.

There are a number of interesting lessons that we are all learning as a community through the paradigms introduced by social channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Companies such as IBM, Jive, Lithium and GetSatisfaction are focused on helping their customers take some of these learnings ‘in-house’ through the community platforms they provide. Can’t we do the same with CRM?

It is a tired chestnut that today’s CRM systems are about the ‘M’ and not the ‘R’. We are seeing similar issues with the first generation of social media tools where the fact that these tools are meant to help their customers understand and serve their own customers much better across social and traditional channels is mostly forgotten. So, how about if we truly rethink what a CRM system should be like?

How do you actively involve the end-customer in the business processes instead of treating him/her/it as an ‘entity’ that somehow needs to be ‘managed’? Maybe elements of the VRM movement can play an important role here. How do you ensure that business users can use the CRM system to do much more than enter ‘transactions’ and as Mike says, seamlessly do things that need to be done before and after the interaction with the customer? As Peter puts it, how do you ensure that a CRM system truly becomes a ‘system of engagement’ instead of just being the ultimate destination for transactional records? How do you ensure that the use of a CRM system is not restricted to Marketing, Sales and Customer Service teams but is ‘democratized’ across all customer-facing functions?

These are tough questions and I don’t pretend that we have all the answers available today. But these same questions are key drivers of the thought processes here at NextPrinciples, as we figure out how we can expand our footprint from helping a company bridge the gap between ‘social’ and ‘traditional’ channels to helping them enable a ‘consistent cross-channel customer experience’ through a next-generation CRM system.

In order to know that any action is having a positive effect, you need to be able to link it to positive business outcomes. For example, you might have a lot of Likes on your Facebook page or a lot of followers on Twitter; but if you can’t show how those numbers are helping to boost awareness, applications, and enrollment, nor how it increases retention and involvement from the outside community (parents, donors, and alumni, perhaps), you’re not really able to prove success.

To measure success, first pick a framework. Look at the input and ask yourself what you’ve done with this channel so far. How have you built it out? Next, identify your reach by determining how large an audience you’ve built. Furthermore, how engaged is that audience? Finally, what kind of impact is each channel having? If the audience is large and engaged (the ideal situation), are they doing what you’d like for them to be doing?

Second, focus on use cases. This is a cycle of sorts:

Identify

• Understand the market
• Listen to and monitor conversations
• Identify key influencers

Acquire

• Extent the reach of your programs
• Influence the university’s perception

Retain 

• Get to know the community (students, parents, alumni, etc.)
• Manage and engage (respond to comments, answer questions, elicit interaction in the community

Nurture

• Help to make connections (alumni, parents, faculty and staff, students)
• Support that community

Finally, resist analysis paralysis and think progressive disclosure.

There are multiple tools out there that can help universities and other educational institutions provide a useful and enjoyable cross-channel experience for their social communities. With just one integrated platform, it will be easy to analyze, engage, and integrate your social activities with traditional ones.

For some further reading on the subject, check out…

• HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Strategy (via Mashable)
• The 10 Stages of Social Media Business Integration (via Mashable)
• How Higher Education Uses Social Media [Infographic] (via Mashable)
• How Are Educational Institutions Using Social Media? [Infographic] (via MediaBistro)

Finally, if you’d like to take a look at how some other universities are making social work for them, there are any number of great examples out there. Have a look at the following case studies, which will hopefully help you to start thinking about what similar strategies might work in your own institution.

• Vanderbilt University Social Media Handbook
• University of Oregon Social Media Best Practices
• University of Alabama Social Media Best Practices and Recommendations

These framework questions, along with the key points that accompany them here, should serve to help you get organized in your social media endeavors. They will help you identify why, specifically, you want to use social media at your institution. This knowledge will, in turn, help you to tailor your efforts and see more success. Also have a look at Social Media for Educational Institutions on Slideshare.

Which is better: Social CRM or Traditional CRM? Satya Krishnaswamy says that’s a false choice. The reality is they work together. While companies have wrestled with CRM and integrating social effectively into their CRM, it is actually an huge opportunity when you bring all these channels, new and old, together.

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★ Social+CRM=CRM at SugarCon 2013 ★

One study conducted by Rutgers and Duke researchers tracked the metrics of an inside sales team and a control group. They found the inside sales team that used a combination of public social tools and internally deployed tools were a lot more effective.

Social Sales Closed More Business

• 26% more leads for the inside sales team using social.
• 3% to 7% increase in closed business.
• Faster cycle times.

Social has become an important part of a true customer centric strategy. While many companies work out the details on how to actually incorporate all customer communications channels into the process, there are several that are already doing it successfully, and baking analytics right into the process.

You can join this presentation at SugarCon 2013

Social+CRM=CRM: How Social can Help Fulfill the Promise of Delightful Customer Experience is part of the Tech Trends: Big Data, Mobile, Social, & Cloud track.

Wednesday, April 9th, 2013
1:45pm-2:20pm

As social media exits the hype cycle, vanity metrics such as fans and followers are becoming less and less important. In this session you will hear how forward-thinking companies are integrating social media into all their customer-facing processes from marketing to sales to customer support in order to provide a consistent cross-channel experience to their customers.

Joining Satya on the panel to talk about what they have learned, the key obstacles they were facing, the challenges that they’ve overcome, and how they did it are several NextPrinciples users: Marathon Sports, IT World Canada, and none other than SugarCRM itself.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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★ Tips For Optimizing Customer Engagement at SugarCon 2013 ★

This is not a problem without a solution. Brands must consider how they can optimize their communications in all these channels. Traditionally we had phone, email, and the web. Now, we have social which creates multiple new channels for customers to connect with us and reachout. That and the addition of mobile is putting a significant strain on companies to keep up to prevent frustrated customers and brand damage.

Customer Engagement Horror Stories

There are so many horror stories of different and conflicting messages coming out. One on the web, a different one from the telemarketers, and several more versions coming out via social. The negative impact of failing to address the issue can be seen daily on social channels by those frustrated customers telling their friends, and the world, about their experience.

While there is no one-size-fits-all, Ted says the solution to this challenge requires you to look at a holistic approach to your customer communications. All your channels must be synchronized, and that will take persistence and perseverance.

You can join this panel at SugarCon 2013.

Tips for Optimizing Every Customer Engagement is on Tuesday at 1:45pm-2:20pm.

It is part of the Flexing the Sugar Platform: Extensions & Integrations track. The panel includes Aldo Zanoni, CEO and Managing Director, Omni Technology Solutions, Inc. (Riva) & Ted Sapountzis, Head of Products & Marketing, NextPrinciples & Nirav Bisarya, Strategic Alliances Executive, InsideView.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

 “We have been investing in social media for almost eight years.  It is now time for us to disband all our social media teams and fully integrate them within our business units”.

OK, Mr. Dell actually made no such statement today.  In honor of April Fools’ Day, I wrote this post hoping that the many executives that believe in social business take note.  In my opinion, and as I have already mentioned many times before, there is no such thing as social business, it’s just business.

Social media has long been the shiny new toy and it’s about time we all took a hard look at how we organize ourselves.  Social media is just another channel just like email, your corporate website and your call center.  While consumers’ expectations about how they expect to be treated when they interact with you on social media are different, it is just another channel (oh, and by-the-way, social media is also changing our expectations about all our interactions with the companies we do business with).

We have seen this movie before

Is this really the first time we have seen such a major disruption in the recent past? No, we are not talking about marketplaces in medieval villages. How many of us remember disruptive concepts such as Business Process Re-engineering (1990), the emergence of CRM (1993), or even web 1.0 (1994)? Each of these movements shared this one core characteristic: break down the silos in our companies so we can provide a superior customer service and experience. While we can all argue whether this promise is fulfilled, can anyone argue whether the underlying promise of social media is that new?

It still is about the customer experience

Today’s empowered customer has very different expectations of their brands. Not only do they expect a very different interaction in social media, they also expect the same experience in all their touch-points with us. What is the value of having a very strong presence in social media, when your marketing, sales and customer service teams are disconnected? Is it really acceptable for your call center agent to not be able to solve a customer problem, because they are in ‘pre sales’ and not ‘customer service’? I think not.

There is no social business

My view is that social media is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Success in social business is when our companies no longer talk about social media as this is weaved in our corporate DNA. Today’s leaders are born social. Just look at Zappos, the leading online shoes and clothing retailer. Most social media gurus will tell you that Zappos is the ‘poster child’ of social today, but their tag line simply states ‘Customer Service Isn’t Just A Department!’ Most importantly, this is not just a tag line, but rather what Zappos stands truly stands for. I challenge you to find one unhappy Zappos customer! Now, for most us this will be a multi-year journey, but my belief is the sooner we begin to think about social media this way, the shorter our journey will be.

What do you think?  Is it not about time we really started to think about social business in a different light?  As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

It’s safe to assume that your customers and prospects are on social media. This is where they’re doing their research, asking their questions, and getting opinions from those whom they trust: their friends, family, and close networks. They’re making decisions about you and your company based on social media. These are but a few of the reasons why social selling is now imperative for any business.

Of course, social selling emphasizes the ‘social’ more than it does the ‘selling’ aspect. This makes the term a bit misleading, maybe, but it’s really about empowering your customers and prospects to make informed decisions about their purchases. Some of the key components of social selling include:

#1: Providing information to customers and prospects across a variety of channels

In order to be effective at social selling, you should do some research about your target market first. It’s up to you to know where your market is on social. For example, if you’re a B2B, your market might be concentrated more on LinkedIn than they are Facebook. If you’re a B2C, your market might be more active on Facebook.

You must understand your target customer so that you know where to be sharing information and providing answers. If your prospects are asking questions on Twitter but you’re hanging around LinkedIn waiting for them, you’re missing big opportunities.

#2: Using content marketing as a way to show, not sell

Similarly, if you’re waiting to be asked for information, you’re missing more opportunities to engage, empower, and educate through content marketing. This content can be shared all across the social web – anywhere your target market might be – and includes white papers, guides, blog posts, infographics, videos, and other informative content.

The important thing to remember here is that this content doesn’t go for the hard sell. Instead, you use it as a way to establish yourself as a thought leader. In doing so, you gain the customers’ and prospects’ trust – a big plus for business.

#3: Articulating the company brand

What does your brand stand for? What is your brand voice? What’s your vision? These are all important to know if you’re in social selling. Because you’ll be spending so much time interacting across various platforms and channels, it’s important to be always be representing your brand in the best possible light.

At the same time, social selling will benefit from your ability to maintain your brand voice and vision across those channels, as this will create a cohesive experience across the board for customers and prospects.

#4: Establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry

This idea of becoming a thought leader goes back to the principle of showing, not selling. Today’s consumers don’t want to be sold to. They want to be educated and empowered enough to make informed decisions.

Establishing yourself as a thought leader within your industry means a few things. First, it means that you’re not constantly pushing your products and services. That’s an old practice that annoys customers more often than it convinces them to buy. No one wants to listen to a company that can only talk about itself.

Second, it means being able to recognize and share helpful content with your customers and prospects. This means reading a lot of publications, posts, and charts and sharing the best information in an effort to educate your social following.

Third, it also means being able to create some of that content yourself. When you create high quality and engaging content, not only does it provide value to your customers and prospects, but it also gets shared around social channels, meaning it helps to increase your visibility and open the possibility for new leads.

In Conclusion

Social selling is all about making connections that help to increase your brand visibility, retaining your current customers, and gaining new ones. This is done through engaging your target market across various social channels and sharing relevant and useful content with them.

Ultimately, when you’re able to adequately educate your customers and prospects about your industry without making them feel like you’re constantly selling to them, you empower them to make educated decisions about their purchases and gain their trust. And you certainly don’t need to be told how valuable that is.

Let us know: are you practicing social selling? What has been easy for you? What’s been most difficult? We’d love to hear your thoughts about and experiences with this topic in the comments!

image courtesy: salesforlife.com