3 ways to use social media to increase your print sales – why you should Think Different
Don’t just think: Think Different
Think Different was an advertising campaign run by Apple in 1997. It was created in response to IBM’s slogan: “Think”. The campaign, and the slogan, has proved to be something that has lasted the test of time. People still talk about it today: it even has it’s own Wikipedia entry.
These days, everyone is encouraged to Think Different. However, there it’s quite a bit harder to actually come up with some different ideas!
“Here are three ways to Think Different on social media” https://t.co/h26qeZdcMN
— Matthew Parker (@PrintChampion) December 1, 2015
Here are three ways to Think Different on social media
Apply this thought to your social media efforts!
If you put these ideas into practice you suddenly find yourself creating more social media relationships. You will also typically find that you have a better control over your sale pipeline as you create more warm prospects. You’ll be using social media to achieve your sales targets.
1 – Contact lapsed clients and contacts
If you are like me, you probably have a long list of people you used to talk to or work with. But now they’ve changed roles or moved on. You no longer have the right contact details for them.
LinkedIn is a great way to track these sorts of contacts down. I was recently contacted by my manager from over 15 years’ ago. It was good fun to meet up again. We may even end up working on some print projects together.
One of my social media mentoring clients contacted 20 “dead” contacts. Within two weeks she had found them all on LinkedIn and was connected to them. She also had three meetings arranged. That’s pretty good going.
The next strategy will also help you create more face-to-face time with your prospects and clients.
2 – Invite prospects and clients to events
I have had a lot of success with this strategy. If I am going to an event where prospects are likely to be attending, I send them a quick message on social media. It is a very effective way of winning a knot of easy meetings.
You can also create your own event. One printing company did this for a group of clients in a specific market sector. They had such success with it that they now run these events regularly. Prospects and clients even pay to attend them.
The final strategy is rather different.
3 – Send gifts to prospects
I was delighted to receive a box of Halloween chocolates from my friends at @Prontaprint. In return, (although they didn’t ask for this), I was happy to take a picture of the box and put it on my social media feeds. It turned out to be a very popular post that got shared by a number of my contacts.
I know of at least one print company that focuses on social media influencers in their target markets. They send out from gifts to these influencers. They measure the success of their campaigns carefully. They have told me that this activity gains them good exposure on the social media networks. They also know that this exposure leads to an increase in jobs being placed with them.
So there are three simple social media strategies. However, some people fear that they are not so simple.
Doesn’t this sort of activity take up an awful lot of time?
Compare the time taken in strategy number 1 to the time you would take trying to arrange the same number of meetings through call calling. I think you will agree that the social media option is more time effective! Strategy number two is so effective on printing company that is drives by far the greater part of their business.
Used correctly, the strategies can get you good results quickly.
Here are three action points if you want to Think Different on social media
1 – Make sure you have a compelling social media profile before you undertake any of this work
2 – Understand exactly whom you are trying to engage with social media
3 – Know what you want your prospects to do after they have engaged with you
Remember, it’s important to do the basics right before you Think Different!
==================================================================
P.S. You can find out more ways to think different about social media by downloading the free e-guide below.You’ll also be signed up to “Views from the buyer” where I share tips, stories and resources to do with selling print and social media.
