How to Align Social Marketing and Sales to Create More Leads
by Jeff Molander
Time to Read: 6 Minutes. Is it important to understand the sales process before applying social media? Absolutely. Regardless of the media used, marketing process must tie to sales process to generate leads. If you feel like marketing and sales processes are not aligned in your organization you're not alone. Let's discover how to align marketing and sales—blending marketing media to effectively assist prospects through the sales cycle. Understanding the sales cycle helps you determine what medium to use when or where.
How to Be Sure Content Marketing Produces Sales
by Jeff Molander
Time to read: 2 minutes. Most content marketing speakers, social media experts or social selling speakers are proclaiming, "engaging content drives sales." But in reality even the most engaging blogs, YouTube videos, Facebook updates, LinkedIn discussions and other forms of content marketing fail to produce leads and sales. For most businesses, engaging customers creates profitless prosperity---impressive marketing statistics that don't ultimately, directly help generate leads and sales. The businesses who DO create leads and sales using social selling know something the rest of us don't.
What Social Media Experts Don’t Want You to Know
by Jeff Molander
Time to view: 90 seconds. The social media revolution is a lie. Yes, this new phase in marketing is exciting but successful social sellers know something most of us don't: That social media marketing so over-hyped and so sensationalized that it is what prevents success---blocks us from actually selling with social media like Facebook, blogs and Twitter. Here's what you can do to overcome this critical, strategic roadblock and make social media sell.The Amount of Time You Invest in LinkedIn is Irrelevant to Results
by Jeff Molander
Time to Read: 2 Minutes. “How much time do I need to devote to LinkedIn per day?” Stop. Behind this question is a lie that is preventing your success. LinkedIn is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It is a better, faster way to get hired or create a sale---not something to react to, feel compelled to start using out of fear or lack. LinkedIn is making a difference to your competitors because they see time as being abundant. They see LinkedIn as a time-saver, not a time suck. And you can too.
How Much Time You Invest in Social Media Does Not Matter
by Jeff Molander
Time to Read: 3 Minutes. Wanting to know how much time to give LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogging (etc) per day is a natural desire. But having that answer won't make social media produce better results. That's why many of us are putting down "hour a day" books and picking up a new habit: asking, "how can I get clear on what social media's purpose is for my business---and how I can best use it to achieve that specific goal?" By asking these questions (first) deciding how much time to invest occurs naturally, painlessly and obviously. Use time and pressure to your advantage. The result will be like a fine, balanced Italian espresso.
How Energy, Manufacturing and Technical Businesses Sell with Social Media
by Jeff Molander
Time to read 3 minutes. Is social media relevant to the thermal processing industry? Or how about appliance manufacturing? Pollution engineering? Biotech, biofuels or energy? How about plumbing or pest control? Do Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs matter to technical or industrial businesses? If you are hoping to sell something in these fields then the answer is yes. Yet most marketers of technical products and services are failing to generate business leads with social media marketing. Here's why and how to avoid being one of them.
Here’s How I Define Social Media ROI:
SALES
by Jeff Molander
Here's my definition of ROI: A sale. Period. You can engage with social media or you can sell with it. Which will get you hired, promoted, grow your business or your customers' accounts? The debate around social media ROI is tired and built on false premises: 1) Defining and measuring ROI is more important than earning a business lead or making a sale. 2) Listening and gaining customers' attention is the end game.Content Marketing Cannot Be Outsourced: Here’s Why
by Jeff Molander
Time to read: 2 minutes. Should you outsource your content marketing efforts? Don't---unless you want your blogs, white papers, videos or magazines blend in with those of your competitors. Good, effective content marketing cannot be outsourced. No matter how much you're struggling to create a constant stream of content keep it in house. Here's why.
How Associations Can Recruit Members on Facebook
by Jeff Molander
If everyone else jumped off a cliff would you? When it comes to acquiring new members using social media most professional associations and non-profit trade groups do just that. The result: most social marketing strategies fail to create new members. The solution: don't do what everyone else is doing. Case in point, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Facebook campaign earned a lot of industry accolades and member engagement but few if any new members. Here's how you can avoid making the same mistake and make sure your social media strategy acquires members.
How to Sell Home Furnishings and Textiles with Social Media
by Jeff Molander
Time to read 3 minutes. Selling home furnishings, kitchens, appliances, sofas, beds, mattresses and textiles using social media can be a snap. But only if you don't follow the leading examples of best practices. That's because most social marketing best practices fail to create sales. Case in point, Ikea's Facebook campaign earned lots of industry buzz and customer engagement but few if any sales. Here's how you can avoid making the same mistakes and create sales with social media marketing.
