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Why your social media profile can lose you a sale

What’s your social media profile like?

A little while ago I received a request to connect on LinkedIn from someone in the print industry. They also followed me on Twitter. As normal, I went to check out their profiles to find out a little more about them.

When it came to their Twitter profile I was rather surprised. Let’s just say that this person had a very racy lifestyle. And they weren’t afraid to Tweet about it explicitly. If I had been looking at this person as a supplier I would definitely have been put off using them.

Your social media profile can have a very big impact on buyers

Hopefully, your profile is rather less lurid than the one I’ve just described!

However, even if you lead a more sedate lifestyle, your social media can be just as dangerous. You have to stand out to buyers (but for the right reasons!).

Last time I looked, there were over 9,000 people on LinkedIn with the words print and sales in their job title. You face a lot of competition.

Boring profiles are just as likely to lose you work

Just as in a normal sales pitch, it’s important to stand out to potential prospects. Your potential customers are going to check you out (75% of business-to-business buyers use social media to research suppliers – source IDC Sept 2014). You need your social media profile to work for you.

Here are three things you really need to address if you want an effective social media profile.

Have an interesting job title

Remember, I just said there are over 9,000 people on LinkedIn with the words print and sales in their job title? It might be time to change you job title if you are one of the 9,000.

Make it something memorable. Or, even better, tell people how you help them. You could also consider keywording your job title.

Have a good profile photo

Social media is social. People like to get to know other people. So hiding behind the LinkedIn grey head or the Twitter egg or a picture of your dog isn’t going to work.

It doesn’t have to be a professional photo. In fact, you’ll probably come over better if you avoid having a professional photo. But do look at the camera, and do smile. It’s best to avoid pictures of you with your eyes shut, drunk at a party, in badly fitting swimwear or in a passionate embrace with your partner. I’m only saying this because I’ve seen far too many of these types of photo on professional social media profiles!

Make your LinkedIn profile customer-focused

You’re on social media to win new clients. So don’t put a cv in your profile. (It’s not even that effective if you are looking for a new job…) Instead, write a couple of paragraphs on the sort of people you want to connect with. Tell people how you help your customers. Tell them why they should connect with you.

This can be harder than it looks. You might wish to consider constructing your profile along the TPD Principle. See here to find out more.

Here are three other things you should do to make sure you have the best possible social media profile

  1. Firstly, review your current profile. Go through and check that you have an interesting job title, a good photo and a customer-focused summary.
  2. Next get some other people to review your profile and tell you, honestly, what they think of it.
  3. Finally, it’s important to tweak all the settings to make sure that you have everything optimized right for you. This is just one of the first things I walk people though in “How To Sell Print Using Social Media”. Then I walk people through my four-stage system to winning new clients with social media. Go here to get your copy.

Make sure your social media profile grabs people for the right reasons

You want to make sure that you don’t create the wrong impression and start losing work. By the way, when I was writing this article I went back and checked the profile of the person with the wild life-style. It appears that she has now left the print industry and is working as a dancer in a club…
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P.S.  You can find out more ways to get the best out of your social media activity 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.

Download your free copy of “10 Social Media Rules For Print Sales People” (worth £19/$29) right now

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