How to Create a Social Media Sales Prospecting Blueprint
A detailed blueprint should be the foundation of any sales prospecting efforts in social media. It's what makes the difference between using social media as a finely honed sales tool that can be measured and improved, or using it as a series of scattered ramblings and website links with little idea of what is working and what is not. The basic design of your blueprint should be a funnel, crafted from the bottom up, with your criteria for a qualified sales lead at the bottom, a list of your social media platforms at the top, and your methods and strategies listed between. Because social media and the people using it change all the time, treat your blueprint as a living document. Refer to it and update it regularly.
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Instructions
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Designing Your Funnel
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Write down your definition of a qualified lead at the bottom of the blueprint. What qualifies someone as a sales lead varies widely, depending on your business. For example, it could be anyone who clicks on a sales page, anyone who gives you an email address, or someone willing to meet you in person to discuss a sales opportunity.
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List the mechanisms you will use to capture leads above your definition of a lead. In most cases this will be on your website. For example, a newsletter on your website, or email subscriptions to your blog will capture email addresses. A free product, discount or free report can capture more information and can be used to get a name, address, phone number, job title, etc.
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List the types of content your ideal prospects are looking for above the list of mechanisms. This should revolve around one question: What are my customers looking for before they become customers? A realtor could offer a free checklist of questions to ask and what to look for when looking at a house. An artist could post samples of her work.
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List the social media platforms you will be using at the top of the funnel, including Twitter, Facebook Google+, LinkedIn, etc. You may choose to begin with one at a time, or use several simultaneously.
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List your strategies for initiating contact or getting followers or subscribers beneath the name of each social platform. Depending on your product or service, you may use the same strategies in each platform or expand on your strategies for each in a separate document. For example, you may find Facebook is better for humorous or entertaining posts, whereas LinkedIn contacts may respond better to more serious, practical or otherwise useful posts. Perhaps broadcasting interesting posts is all you need to do on Twitter, or you may find sending direct messages to followers to start a conversation is more useful.
Your Blueprint as a Living Document
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Make a list of measurement criteria you will use to measure your progress beside the funnel. This could be as simple as the number of likes on Facebook, circles in Google+, followers on Twitter, etc. Creating a Google Analytics account at google.com/analytics and posting links to your website on each platform on a separate day will help you discern which of your social media campaigns is most useful.
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Refer to your blueprint on a daily basis for the first couple weeks; then you can reduce that to a weekly basis. Make notes and adjust your strategies as needed. Ignore what should work but doesn’t. Focus on what works best and do more of that.
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List the URLs of the most popular pages or blog posts on your website so you can easily share them with new fans or followers in the future.
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Research what is of most interest to your prospects. As you identify leads, go to their social media profiles and investigate what sort of information they are most interested in. Look for similarities between prospects and customers to help you attract future customers.
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Make a list of your most important influencers in each platform on a separate column of your blueprint. These are the people who interact with you, retweet your Twitter posts, comment on your Facebook wall, etc. Too often these people are forgotten in the quest for sales leads, but they can be your most valuable assets in social media. Refer to this list regularly so you can maintain contact, develop friendships or reward them for their efforts on your behalf.
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