Is Social Media Relevant in My Industry?
Business professionals are asking a very valid question: Is social media relevant in my industry?
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Is Social Media Relevant in My Industry?
The influence of social media in today’s society is inescapable. Millions of people are linked together on social media sites. They are constantly checking in with these sites, looking people up, and updating their status. Because of this, Social Media as a business tool is gaining traction.
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Hundreds of articles are published weekly on how to best use social media for connecting with customers, and many new books have been written exclusively on how to use social media in business. I even dedicate an entire chapter in my new book, People Buy You, to using social media to build and enhance your personal brand.
Still, most business professionals are asking a very valid question: Is social media relevant in my industry? Take this email we received from Claudino, a Sales Guy podcast subscriber from
“I am not sure if social media sites are relevant in my industry, it does not seem as though any of the purchasing agents, construction superintendents or utility engineers care about our presence via those sites. I would like to gain any advantage I could but am not sure if those sites could help or how I could get the most out of what they offer.”
If you have similar doubts and questions about the efficacy of social media to your sales efforts listen carefully to what I am about to say.
Do Clients Care About Your Social Media Presence?
Buyers don’t care about your presence on social media sites, they care about your ability to solve their problems. They buy YOU and from YOU because they have trust that YOU will deliver solutions to their business problems and that YOU will be there to back those solutions up.
How You Use Social Media Effects Your Reputation
On the surface this statement is simple and easy to grasp. However, the process of building a foundation of trust with prospects and customers is a bit more complex. Trust is a foundation built one brick at a time and today’s savvy customers make judgments about your trustworthiness by observing every action you take. Everything from how quickly you return calls, your knowledge of your product, to what they find about you on social media sites influences their perception of you and your ability to deliver on your promises.
So if you are asking the question, “Do my clients care about my presence online?” you are asking the wrong question. The more appropriate question is, “Does my presence online support my efforts to build my reputation as an industry expert who solves problems and can be trusted?”
There is a reason why Google is used as a verb. In today’s business environment new customers, existing customers, managers, and peers will look you up online in an effort to get a glimpse of who you are and what you are all about. They will use what they find to make instant judgments about you. Those judgments will impact your ability to influence and persuade them.
Use Social Media as Part of a Larger Strategy
This is the point that many sales professionals miss when considering how much effort to place in building a presence online via social media. They wrongly assume that there should be a direct, measurable, 1 to 1 result from these activities. But, it just doesn’t work this way because, as I said earlier, customers care about getting their problems solved. Your professional presence online simply positions you as the one person who is most capable of bringing solutions to the table. That positioning plays a key role in getting people to buy YOU. However, it just one piece in a strategy designed to get people to like you, believe you, and trust you. With this in mind take some time this week to review all of your online profiles and answer the question: “Based on what you see and read, would you BUY YOU?
For more information on building your professional presence online read chapter 8 in my new book, People Buy You: The Real Secret to What Matters Most in Business available in book stores everywhere.
This is Jeb Blount, the Sales Guy. If you have a sales question please send it to salesguy@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email.
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