DailyBlogr - How to sell Social Media ? Strategies for agencies & professionals

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OK, before we start, lets take a look from a birds eye perspective. Social Media is still considered as an experiment – by many. Its not glorious as we might think it is from a sales perspective. Sometimes, people push it off as a fad because they dont see the value in it. Not everyone thinks that social media can be sold. And what Id like study is that, what if they are right ? Is social media really a sellable commodity ? Or is it just a fun thing we all love to do ?

 

While some folks think that social media is what we see today, Id like to believe that weve only seen the tip of the ice berg, while not pushing away the fact that not everyone can sell it.

 

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Lets take a deeper look at things.

 

What might be the reasons for companies not being able to sell social media ?

 

 

 

 

1. Social Media is not for everyone Deal with it !

What most people do is believe the hearsay. Everybody is talking about social media and the coolness factor, so let me jump in too ! is what many people think. And thats where the problem is. Social Media can work for everyone, but it has to be customized for each industry to work closer to it. When you go for the hearsay, you ape what someone else did, and that might not be the right way for you. So at one point, there is a risk involved. You have to figure out what works for you and what doesnt. You also might have to do experiments to find how to reach out to your target audience. So, all this involves certain level of risk, and even then a lot depends on how the whole strategy is planned. For every product, there is an alternate way out, for instance a restaurants social media strategy can revolve around foursquare and facebook while a web-design agency have to go full fledged with as many channels as possible. So even when the efforts are the same, the strategy and channels are essentially different. If companies dont understand this, we have a problem.

 

 

2. Social Media probably should not be seen as a Fishing strategy !

Another major problem is when we see a social media strategy like search engine marketing. You put in your budget and wait for the results the next day. Two problems here.

 

i) Results on social media differs for each strategy. It necessarily isnt tangible in all cases. Social media measurement metrics needs to be clearly defined and tracked for real results.

 

ii) Time required for social media results can also differ for each strategy/plan. If its a website for which the hits are tracked, the results are immediate but if its a brand, then the scale and scope of results differ and expectations have to be tweaked accordingly.

 

So what is right way to sell social media ?

 

Wish if there was a book on this. Oh ! Wait, there are some noteworthy ones The only 6 books on social media you need to read.

 

So, is there a right way to sell social media ? Unfortunately no. There is no single fool proof way to read social media. Is that good ? Well, yes and no !

 

Before jumping into social media one needs to –

 

1 Figure out who your target audience is.

2 Find out if theyre actually on social media. If yes, where ?

3 What are your USPs? Is there something that differentiates you from the rest ?

4 How can you be entertaining ? Or can, you actually be ?

5 Understand if your management understand what social media means ? Do they see it as a value addition or an investment ?

6 Does your product have the potential to go social ?

7 Clearly define what your expectations are from social media.

 

Once these questions are defined, its easier to create a social media strategy around it. The idea is to clearly define what goes in, what it takes and what you get out of it. Blindly jumping in without knowing these is probably the wrong way to go.

 

 

So, how to sell Social Media to clients ?

1. Find out what the expectation is

As I said, for each product the strategy differs. So, lets say you have a small company with limited local audience. Find out what the expectation is. Is it brand identity or something more tangible and immediate, like referrals and sales ? Ask as many questions as possible and figure out what exactly the expectation is. Believe me, most of the time, the expectations are vague, which you need to bring more clarity in, otherwise it will result in failure later.

 

2. Clearly give an idea of whats possible and whats not

Social media isnt magic. The fact that one doesn’t know it properly, doesnt mean that it doesnt work. So clearly, give clients an idea of what actually is possible, what the ROI is and whats not possible. Clarity on all levels will help convince the client in more than one way.

 

3. Know your audience, know your tools

Whom are you going to talk to on social media this is a very important question. Sometimes, clients ignore or hide the fact that there arent sure of whom to talk to. They just know blindly that they got to be on social media, so they approach you. But it is your job as an agency or social media professional to figure out if there is a target audience, and if they are accessible via social media. If yes, give clients a detailed idea on how you will connect to them, with what tools and what you can expect in return.

 

4. Give time-cost estimates

When it comes to business, everyone has things ending at a three letter word – ROI. When you put money into something you expect returns, same with social media. When you have clarity on the deliverables, chalk it out on a timeline, with tasks and costs involved. Strategies and tools required. Because clients always wants to measure things and compare it to the money they put in, so give them a chance to do it. Many social media professionals and agencies fail in this area because they dont have clarity on what needs to be done and whats actually required. Putting down everything to numbers actually help.

 

5. Show how you can track analytics on social media

Stop the talking, stop those

. Those things are only good enough to excite the client. When it comes to results, you need to show people how things are measured and how the ROI works.  There are several tools to measure social media available today, use one of those, or create your manual spreadsheets and show an example of how things are measured, how the analytics are. Believe me, this is a crucial point. If its good enough, you dont need to talk any more. Closed deal !

 

Okay, so with that let me wrap up. The idea of the whole thing is that selling social media isnt difficult. Its that either youre not clear on whats required, or youre note taking the risk and clearing your own way out. Keep in mind, there is no one single way of doing things, there are more than one way of doing it, but you have to come down to results and numbers and not get stuck with the hype alone. Why ? Because everybody else is doing just that talk about the hype.

 

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