Introduction

The dot com era established the internet as the go-to place for sales and marketing, but with the boom in social media usage in recent years, social media has become a necessary realm to navigate if sales reps want to engage with their leads in a productive, up-to-date way.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram offer advantages to sales reps as they allow them to bond with their current customers and generate new leads as they cultivate their personal and company messaging to fit their audiences. 

Some sales reps might be a bit wary at the thought of dipping their toes into the rapid-fire, ever-shifting realm of social. However, social media platforms are sales engagement channels that give sellers easy access to leads everywhere and at any time. According to the October 2021 Global Digital Report  by We Are Social and Hootsuite, there are currently 4.55 billion active social media users around the world. In the month of November 2021, Facebook alone was visited more than 11.7 billion times, according to statistics from the Semrush Traffic Analytics Tool. 

As this brief peek at data indicates, social media is an invaluable resource for sales reps to get to know their prospective customers. Whether on a phone or a computer, there are potential buyers out there already on the lookout for new content that appeals to them. This realm of virtual interaction provides a huge base of clients and gives ample opportunity for sales leads and sales reps to engage. It is up to reps to take that first step and venture forth into this social world that is, at its core, meant to be about communication and connection.

The benefits 

If you’re still not quite convinced by the data, then we’re here to assuage your worries with some of the more qualitative, practical benefits. Accessing social media in a professional capacity gives sales reps the opportunity to generate new sales leads, engage current prospects, increase your conversion rate, and forge stronger connections with existing clients so that they recommend you and direct traffic your way.

Ready to give social media lead engagement a try?

4 Approaches to Social Media Engagement

Tactic 1: Appeal to Their Values and Interests

To engage sales leads, it’s best to know who they are first. Though it may seem obvious to any sales rep, it is important to get a firm understanding of who you are trying to sell to, what their values are, what their needs are, and how your offer appeals to them as the unique customer they are.

As part of your research, you should also take time to practice social media listening. Scan your prospect’s profiles and skim the list of accounts they follow whilst maintaining a respectful distance — don’t go snooping deep into their personal life. Just try to get a sense of who they are as a person and how your service/product may benefit them. Understand and value their unique voice and interests. 

Personalisation is vital to buyer engagement, so to elevate your prospective customer’s experience, it is important to tailor your content to appropriately advertise your services while signaling that you are paying attention to their priorities. Once you get a grasp on their needs and the type of content they find appealing, start brainstorming content that fits both your company and the lead’s interests.

By taking these moments to really get to know your lead in this social media space, you don’t just get the benefit of connecting with them on a personal level, which forms the foundation of any good sales relationship, but you can also begin to build an identifiable community around your growing brand. Just like in-person conduct, every social media interaction, whether it be through direct messaging, a comment, a repost, or an original post, is an opportunity to build up your personal and company brands as credible, approachable, and responsive. 

Tactic 2: Be Dynamic

Anyone who's ever visited any social media platform knows that its constant stream of content is what keeps users on there for hours. On any platform, you’ll see images, videos, links, and short snippet posts coalesce to make the social media experience ever-changing yet always engaging. So, to match the pace and appeal of the platform you’re on, adapt your content to it. For example, you can post about a webinar on both Twitter and Facebook with a relevant image and registration information, but on Twitter, you’ll be more to the point whereas you have more character space to talk about the speakers and topics on Facebook.

No matter what platform you use, it is important to employ clickable, all-user-friendly content and regularly update your account. You want you and your services to be known and accessible to everyone, so keep on top of your updates. Interspersing different types of content, like pictorial diagrams, company graphics, and links to informative articles and virtual information sessions about your product/services will help keep your leads in tune to what you provide and, as such, what you can do for them. 

Tactic 3: Follow Social Media Best Practices

No matter what platform you’re using, it’s important to follow social media best practices as doing so will give your account more credibility. Tagging the correct entities whenever you mention them and crediting your images and quotes will drive traffic and give your account a more polished look. Adding descriptions of visual content is also important to make your content more accessible to users of different abilities.

As a priority, you must provide credible and accessible contact information so that your leads know where to reach you if they want to chat more about your services/products. Your bio and profile picture should be professional and highlight the values and services you stand for. It’s also a great idea to add links to your company site to direct traffic there so potential buyers can learn about it. You can even include call-to-action buttons in your profile, such as linking to a sign-up page if you have a newsletter that you want prospects to subscribe to for more information.

Maintaining these habits will yield better content distribution and a higher level of credibility when engaging with sales leads on social media.

Tactic 4: Social Media Ads

If organically curating a community and generating traffic on social media isn’t quite working out or you just want some extra back-up, you may want to consider using lead ads. These hyper-directed campaigns help you spread word of your services/products and collect the information of those interested when they fill out a form. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram allow for lead ads. You can find out more about how to create lead ads on their websites.

Helpful Reminders

The opportunities

As with anything, there is always room for growth and improvement whilst using social media tactics to engage with sales leads. Whilst an invaluable tool, it is important to remember that it is not the only way sales reps can engage with their prospects; rather it is one of many tools sales reps have in their repertoire. Also keep in mind your own mental health as a sales rep, so if you find yourself spending too much time on a platform, try exercising other innovative channels to engage with customers. 

It’s important to remember that social media should not be used to access private information about prospective customers. You should also try not to oversaturate your feed with unrelated content, as you want your clients to know exactly who you are and how the services you offer will benefit their lives. That way, you can forge better connections to your prospects.

Keep it friendly and professional

To build and sustain credibility, it is best to maintain a professional voice in every post. Uphold your company’s voice and ethics, and remember that being friendly in a professional way makes you more accessible to sales leads.

Keep it focused

Everything you post forms a coherent image of who you are as a sales rep and as a company. As such, it’s best to keep your content mission-focused, meaning no posting tangents about topics unrelated to sales and your company’s services. Always uphold your employer’s confidentiality policies, so don’t get too personal by calling out information from private meetings with sales leads.

Conclusion:

Final notes

Social media is a powerful tool to employ dynamic, personalized content to generate sales leads. To survive in the increasingly digital world of customer interaction, it is necessary to use the advantages of social media to their fullest. However, for a successful campaign, it is best to know your audience first, plan a strategy beforehand, and adapt appropriately as you go.