How can IT sales professionals use social media to close more deals?

1 Define your goals

Before you start posting and engaging on social media, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Do you want to increase your brand awareness, generate more leads, nurture existing relationships, or showcase your expertise? Depending on your goals, you will need to choose the right platforms, content, and metrics to measure your success. For example, if you want to reach decision-makers in the IT sector, you might want to focus on LinkedIn and Twitter, where you can share valuable insights, case studies, and industry news.

3 Provide value

One of the most important rules of social media is to provide value to your audience. You don't want to spam them with sales pitches or promotional messages, but rather educate, inform, and entertain them with relevant and useful content. You can share your own blog posts, podcasts, videos, or webinars, as well as curated content from other sources that your prospects might find interesting. You can also create polls, quizzes, infographics, or live sessions to engage your followers and get feedback. The key is to position yourself as a trusted advisor and a thought leader in your field.

4 Build relationships

Social media is not a one-way communication channel, but a two-way conversation. You need to interact with your prospects, clients, and peers on a regular basis, and show genuine interest in their needs, challenges, and goals. You can do this by commenting on their posts, liking their updates, sending personalized messages, asking questions, or offering help. You can also join relevant groups, communities, or hashtags, where you can network with potential buyers, influencers, and partners. By building relationships on social media, you can increase your visibility, credibility, and loyalty.

5 Convert leads

The ultimate goal of social media is to convert your followers into customers. However, you need to be careful not to rush or push your prospects into buying. You need to follow the buyer's journey and move them along the sales funnel gradually. You can do this by creating and sharing content that addresses their pain points, offers solutions, and showcases your value proposition. You can also use social media to generate leads by offering free trials, demos, ebooks, or webinars, and asking for their contact information in exchange. Once you have qualified leads, you can follow up with them via email, phone, or video call, and close the deal.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?