Many marketers might look at social media as simply a tool to share updates and content with followers. Little do they know, however, that an underlying layer exists of science and analytics that can be used to dramatically improve social media effectiveness and drive sales conversions.
Collecting and analyzing social data is the best way to fully understand each of your interactions with followers and potential customers, as it can provide insight into how you can improve your offers, messaging, and overall marketing strategy.
Using this data that your followers exchange through social media can help you better understand their buying behaviors, and with this focus on data and analytics, you can help prepare sales team members for more targeted, effective conversations with leads (and ultimately to close deals more quickly).
Digging Deep in Social Channels
Blending social data from various platforms — like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ — into customer relationship management (CRM) systems has become common in sales and marketing, and diving into different social channels will help you develop a more comprehensive system of information on your leads.
If a user is asking or talking about your product, brand, or relevant pain points on Twitter, for example, this can give your team a chance to address the subject directly and start a valuable conversation with that potential customer.
To help you stay on top of these social conversations, here are four tools your team can use:
- Mention gives you the ability to monitor billions of sources in 40 languages, and you can reply to conversations right away within the platform.
- Twilert sends you email alerts when specific search terms you set are mentioned on Twitter.
- Hootsuite allows you to monitor search terms on Twitter, and it lets you follow selected lists from various users.
- Talkwalker sends you notifications when specific keywords are searched in Google.
Building Connections
Once you dig through your social channels and begin receiving alerts when your specified words are mentioned or searched, you must start connecting with those involved in the conversations. Tools like Socedo and SalesLoft can help open up potential opportunities for connection (and sales). Here's how they help build more valuable relationships:
- Socedo helps you find the right people to follow and connects you with qualified leads on Twitter by targeted keywords and bio keywords. Plus, it has an automated engagement to qualify prospects. (Note Socedo and Influence & Co. have done business together).
- SalesLoft gathers relevant news and data about your prospects and presents it inside your CRM, email, and social alerts.
Generating leads and converting them into customers is a difficult task, but social data can help build personal connections with your prospects through more meaningful interactions. Most sales professionals today would agree that building a relationship with a customer both before and after the sale is incredibly important. People don't want to talk to robots — they want to talk and connect with other people. Personalization through social will help these relationships and connections develop more naturally.
Making Targeted, Strategic Decisions
One of the most effective ways to craft targeted marketing campaigns is through social data. This gives you the ability to segment your potential customers and create unique campaigns that focus specifically on targeted groups of people. The more precise the campaign is, the higher your conversion rate will be. Once you have access to high-quality data from your prospects on social media, you’ll be able to make more knowledgeable decisions about deals, strategies, and future improvements.
Social data is primarily focused on engagement of your potential customers. This is a great opportunity to learn more about them and better understand what they want and need. After all, the more you know about your prospects, the better you’ll be at starting a meaningful conversation and closing deals.
Need to better organize your social media distribution efforts? Download the free, customizable template below: 
