What Is Social Prospecting?
Social prospecting is the process of finding, connecting with, and engaging potential customers on social media. In its simplest form, it’s a way to find new people who might be interested in your product or service. But social prospecting has evolved into something much more than simply finding new leads or customers. It can be used as part of the sales cycle to qualify leads and identify products that are most likely to succeed before any money changes hands.
You’ll also hear social prospecting referred to as “social selling,” which we’ll define here as “the use of platforms like LinkedIn or Facebook for personal branding purposes.” The idea behind social selling is it’s easier for prospects to buy from someone they already know—or at least trust—and if you’re already involved in their network, that trust level won’t have anything stopping them from buying what you’re selling!
How Is Social Prospecting Different From Email?
Social prospecting is a form of prospecting that uses social media to find new leads. Unlike email, which can be automated, social prospecting is done manually. It’s also not as fast—it takes time to build relationships with people on social media so they’ll want to hear from you later.
Social prospecting tools allow you to research and connect with prospects before reaching out via email or phone call. This way, when it comes time for the follow-up call or e-mail, your contact already knows who you are and has an idea of what you do for them.
Who Should Care About Social Prospecting?
So, who should care about social prospecting?
● Salespeople and reps
● Sales managers and directors
● CEOs
What Are The Challenges That Come With Social Prospecting?
Social media is a different medium than email, and there’s a learning curve to it. You have to be creative in how you use it. You have to be consistent, patient and authentic. It might take time before you see results using social prospecting, so if you’re impatient or not willing to take some risks, then this strategy may not work for you.
So Why Bother With Social Prospecting If Email Is Doing A Good Job Already?
While email is a great way to reach your audience, it’s not the only option. Social media is also an effective way of connecting with your audience and generating sales leads.
Email has been around for decades now and it’s easy to think that nothing can replace it as the king of marketing channels. It’s true that email has been doing a good job at getting customers through the door, but not everyone uses email so you can’t reach every single person in your target market. You might have heard it before: social media isn’t just for fun! It’s also an excellent tool for generating sales leads because of its ability to connect with people on different platforms (Facebook, Twitter,etc.) where they are spending their time online during the day or weekdays when they don’t want to talk on the phone anymore because they’re busy working on projects at home like uploading videos onto YouTube or Instagramming pictures of your food right after dinner without even washing dishes first!
Social prospecting is a good way to go beyond email but you do have to learn how to do it well.
Social prospecting is a good way to go beyond email but you do have to learn how to do it well. Social media can be more difficult than email and requires a different message, tone and style. The same techniques that work in social prospecting might not work in an email campaign, where it’s hard to convey emotion through text alone.
If you’re not sure if social prospecting is for your business and brand, ask yourself:
● Do I like communicating with my customers?
● Are we willing to invest some time into learning new skills?
Conclusion
We hope this article has helped you understand the benefits of social prospecting, as well as its challenges. While there may be some skeptics out there who feel like email is already doing a good job and don’t want to change, we think it’s time to embrace new strategies and methods in our digital marketing world. The truth is that if you do not adapt with technology, then you will soon be left behind by it! So what are some great ways for marketers to start using social prospecting?
