You don’t need to work hard to hear about the growth in social media.  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Millions and millions of strangers are having sometimes intimate conversations in public… a few characters at a time.

If you tried to join or follow all these discussions you’d quickly become overwhelmed.

A lot of business owners, entrepreneurs, and sales professionals are asking, “Should I get involved in social media?”  There isn’t a simple answer because the answer depends…

• Are your best potential buyers participating in social media, and if so which ones?
• How much time can you invest in social media?
• What do you expect in return?  If you’re expecting an immediate lead source or revenue stream you will likely be very disappointed.

The More Important Lesson

 
photo credit: tranchis

The more important lesson is the quantifiable demonstration and proof that people are desperate to be heard and have their thoughts valued.

Whether you decide to participate in social media or not, this lesson is applicable to you.  You see most people are so worried about what they have to say they don’t take time to listen to what you have to say.  So when you demonstrate you are truly interested in what your potential buyers have to say they will be glad to tell you what you need to know to help them buy.

When or if you decide to join the social media trend don’t forget to listen first and use those tools as research tools to improve your marketing and sales first.

photo credit: hdport

One thing any entrepreneur, business owner, or sales professional knows for certain is you need to get in front of as many of your best potential buyers as possible.

The scarier the economy gets the more costly it gets to close a sale. That means savvy sales experts realize they’ve got to get more from less.

Generation Y has mastered the online world. They proved exactly how effective they are in there techno environment in the last election when young people probably made the biggest impact on an election in history. But are Gen Y’ers the only ones surfing the net and living their lives through their computer?

Perhaps not, Steve Rubel reports “Baby Boomers (those born 1946-1969) are the fastest growing users of social networking sites and are also increasingly reading blogs too”.

Now you may wonder why or how this is important to you.

You may wonder how you could use that information to increase your sales.

Well, that’s exactly what I’d like to challenge you to think about here.

Just a few short years ago social networking sites didn’t even exist. Originally these sites were the domain of the tweens, teens, and young adults. However, things have changed. These sites are now used by businesses including big businesses whose target market isn’t necessarily consumers ages 13-29.

No matter what business you’re in or what you sell you simply have to identify your very best potential clients. You have to know specific details about who they are, how they spend their time, and what they pay attention to. All this because when you know this information you can position yourself in front of them more often, you spend less doing it, and you can do it without hard-selling.

And that’s exactly what some businesses and sales professionals are discovering. Even those selling to other businesses might benefit from social networking. IF they understand their potential clients well enough they can find them, isolate them, and engage them.

Social networking websites are nothing more than electronic communities that allow members to connect, engage, and strengthen their relationships. So if you can identify specific groups within those networking sites and engage the other members of the group you have an opportunity to develop relationships. Plus there’s one similarity between this networking environment and networking in the offline world that could prove a huge advantage. When the leader of a networking group endorses you and what you sell you gain an enormous competitive advantage through the strength of their authority.

Researching social networking sites might be real work rather than horsing around. Once you find the right sites with the right groups you will also need to set clear objectives for engagement. Plus you’ll have to make certain honor the purpose of these sites… networking not direct selling.

How are you using social networking sites to network with potential buyers?