Show notes
Talk of social media in sales is all the rage and everyone is frantically trying to crack the code of how to get clients. But is social media really all that different from other forms of customer acquisition? The truth is that getting clients via social media is not just about posting.
David: Hi and welcome to the podcast today co-host Chris Templeton and I will be discussing social media and how to use it to get clients. Welcome back, Chris.
Chris: Thank you David. Nice to be here. You know, let's just get going with social media and using social media to obtain clients. I get this sense that people really seem to see social media as a necessary part of prospecting these days, but there is a whole lot of confusion about it. So, let's start with this: Is social media really necessary for prospecting or is it all just a lot of hype?
Is Getting Clients Dependent on Social Media?
David: Well, that's quite a decision, right? Is it necessary or is it a lot of hype? I would say it's probably both in the sense that it can be necessary, it can be very effective for people, but when it's done improperly, then it really can end up being a lot of hype. One of the things that I see happening, Chris, is that a lot of people think in terms of just sort of pumping out content and putting stuff out there. And the problem with content is, you know, when you even think of the definition of what that is, what is content? It's something that's inside of something, right? It could be bad, it could be great, could be somewhere in between. We just don't know. So, when people take the approach that they're just going to go out there and they're going to go on social media and build a presence out there and just sort of be present, then it might not accomplish their objectives. It will certainly get them in front of people, which can be helpful. But unless you actually have some ideas and some goals in place for it, it's going to be very unlikely to accomplish the objectives they want.
Chris: So, when you look at what content should be, what's kind of the basic recipe for that? Because I think some people think, well, here's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to put up a bunch of stuff about why you should buy my product. And then I think you get the other end of the spectrum, like you mentioned, where you're just putting up stuff that really doesn't... how's this really helping?
David: Right.
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Chris: So, when you look at it, what's kind of the recipe that you see as being a great starting point?
David: Well, there are a couple of aspects of it just in terms of appearing in social media. So, there's the personal aspect. Are there things that you can put up there that will let people know who you are so they can relate to you as a human being? Now, if you love cats and you're posting cat videos every 10 minutes, then that's going to create an impression of you that might not be consistent with everything that you need to go along with your business persona. Right? So, it's a balancing act. What can I let people know about myself that will let them feel like they know me as a person, but that will not necessarily take away from how they're going to view me as a professional? Starting with that and saying, okay, I want to evaluate what makes sense to put out there from a business standpoint. So, if there is something that lets them know about my expertise, that type of content is often very helpful, and people can also go overboard with that. You can get on social media and you can be providing lots of great ideas, lots of great information. I mean this podcast is sort of an example of that. In this podcast we tackle ideas that people pay for, you know, we provide content that people would actually pay for. And so, it's possible to go overboard and deliver more content to the point where people feel like they don't even need to do business with you because you're giving them so much free stuff. And so, the balance is there. So, if you look at it from the standpoint of the personality, what am I letting them know about myself? Authority, what am I letting them know about what I'm able to do for them and how I'm able to help them? And then from there to the extent there's going to be any sort of pitch, which is what you were talking about, people who go out there all the time, they're just trying to sell stuff. Where's the balance? And so, to the extent that there's a pitch and a lot of cases, it just needs to be about how they can reach out to you, how they can get in touch with you and potentially work together if it makes sense. Because in every audience there's going to be some percentage of the market that's going to be interested in working with you. It's not likely to be all of them. And so, a lot of what we need to do in social media is to present ourselves in a way that is going to be attractive to the types of clients that we want to have. And that is going to repel the types of clients we don't want to have.
Chris: That's exactly what I was thinking as you said that. There's the attraction and the repel isn't there, and we really want you, as somebody who's gonna look at using social media to look at both ends of that spectrum. It's so important to understand that you create that persona and hopefully it's authentic, right?
David: Yeah. And it's rarely completely authentic with most people on social media. I mean, we don't share every aspect of our lives. Most people tend to put their best foot forward. Here's something interesting I did, here's something fun that I did, and to that extent, it always looks like our lives are far more interesting than our day-to-day lives probably are. So, it's sort of a highlights reel and we're saying, okay, this is some of what I'm doing and the parts that are worth sharing, I'll share. I'm not the kind of person who's ever sort of taken a picture of my lunch and shared it, but there are people who do that, right? And....
Chris: Oh, you're really missing out there, David. (laughs)
David: I know, but there are other people who might like that. So, it's different strokes for different folks. But when we look at what's really going to attract clients from the standpoint of wanting to do business with us, the things I think we really need to look at are the authority, the personality, and then mixing in opportunities for them to interact with us.
Chris: Love it. It's a great point. So that brings up the really big question, which is what platforms should I be using?
Which Social Media Platforms are Best for Getting Clients?
David: Well, it's really going to depend on where your clients are. So, there's no one size fits all solution here. Obviously at the moment Facebook is huge because it makes it easier to reach a lot of the people that you might want to reach. You can advertise to them or you can reach them directly through messenger or you can post stuff and you can reply to things that they're posting on their walls. So, Facebook is very accessible and so many people are on it that it seems to be the go-to source, the first place to go. A lot of people, particularly in the B2B space, are reaching out to people through LinkedIn because of course LinkedIn is really perceived as more of a business platform. People tend to engage in more business type conversation there. Whereas on Facebook, sometimes people don't like the idea of having a lot of business stuff on Facebook. So, depending on your client base you really want to go where your clients are and that way it's really no different than any other type of marketing or networking that we might be doing because it's all about being where our prospects and clients are.
Chris: I think it's a really great point, looking at business to consumer being more Facebook oriented but not necessarily only business to consumer. And the same for LinkedIn, although LinkedIn I do think of being is more B2B.
David: Yeah, and then of course there's Twitter as well and some people are on Twitter. Another way that I view this, Chris, is it's like whatever your prospects and client’s preferences are. Some people like to communicate on the phone, some people like to communicate via text or email. We each have our preferred methods of communication. It's similar with social media. Some people prefer to interact on Facebook, some on LinkedIn, some on Twitter. And so, depending on who you're targeting, you may have to go different places to get to different people.
Chris: And that's really good point too because you, I think neither of us would suggest for a second that oh just go, go tackle all three of them at the same time.
David: Right. And I mean many of us have accounts on all three, but it is often challenging to maintain an interesting presence on all platforms at all times. And so, what we really need to do is to focus our attention on the areas that we think are going to provide us with the very best return at the time that we're doing it.
Chris: So, let's talk a little bit about Facebook because there is a tremendous amount that can be done from an advertising standpoint. Do you think it makes sense for your listeners to be spending money on Facebook ads?
David: It could make sense for them to do that. And a good way to determine that is to say, “Okay, on the stuff I'm not spending money on, is anyone interested in that? Is anyone looking at the stuff that I'm not spending money on?” So,