7 Myths About Social Selling That You Probably Believe

Here are the myths and the opposing ideas:

1. Social selling takes a lot of time.

Actually, you can get enough done to see results with just 30 minutes a day.

2. You have to know a lot about social media to do social selling right.

If you wait until you’re a master at social media, you may never get started. Basic skills and some common sense are all you need to do well. The whole social selling thing is far less technically challenging that it appears.

3. Social selling is all about the data.

In part, that’s true. But the data is useless without all your well-tested sales experience. You’re not anywhere near being obsolete.

4. Social selling can be automated.

Again, some parts can be automated – like content sharing, and some email marketing. But you must reach out to contacts with customized messages that show you’ve done some research on them. Nobody likes automated social media messages.

5. All content is shared via social media.

Email is a more active sharing channel than social is. There’s actually more sharing going on via “dark social” than on any social platform.

6. It’s okay to stick with cold calling.

Not if you want to be competitive.

7. Social selling means LinkedIn marketing.

Surprisingly, Facebook and Twitter outperform LinkedIn for some social sellers. It depends on your business and your particular social selling techniques.

Want all that in a nutshell? Here it is:

Don’t get spooked by social selling. You’ve already got all the essential skills you need to do it well. Learn a bit about the different messaging tactics and the etiquette of different platforms, and you’ll do fine.

  Source: http://bit.ly/1RQ6oHK

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3 Social Media Trends to Look for in 2016

It seems as if social media trends change daily. In 2015, we saw major changes to the Facebook newsfeed, the dawn of live-streaming applications, and a whole bunch of content everywhere. To me, it seems clear: businesses have an issue with content. Your clients might be saying, “Wait a minute; we’re creating content just fine,” but here’s an alarming statistic: 69 percent of business-to-consumer marketers created more content in 2015, and 70 percent of business-to-business marketers also created more content.

The alarming word here is “more.” In an effort to battle 0% organic reach on platforms like Facebook, the ongoing strategy has been to create more content to cut through the clutter. But is this really the right path forward in 2016?

My answer to this is simple: quality over quantity. A brand that is too focused on the brand message as opposed to communicating with its consumer is a brand that will fail on social media in 2016. It’s time we really start to understand our consumers, because 2016 will provide brands a real opportunity to harness the power of consumer-driven content and brand affinity.

Here are three big trends I see really taking off in 2016:

1. Channel building.

Simply put, many brands are on multiple channels, but the content strategy isn’t working. Instead of cross-promoting the same content on all channels using the copy-paste model, brands will need to make the switch to a model that speaks specifically to the audience on each channel. Work to build specific audiences on the different channels—because they’re all so different.

We know that the LinkedIn audience is comprised of mostly C-level executives, so let’s help our clients understand that there is a better channel suited for community events, contests, etc. In the same vein, branded content will not generate any organic reach on Facebook unless you’re providing an awesome incentive to engage, so make sure you’re working paid budgets into the 2016 mix.

If a message is important and you want people to see it, be prepared to invest $2 in promotions for every $1 spent creating a piece of content. Don’t just drop a piece of content on a social network and hope it sticks, give each piece of content a runway to succeed.

2. Live streaming.

Content on social media that contains video is proven to be more engaging. Brands are beginning to use videos for customer service outreach and to show personality. In 2016, new applications like Periscope and Facebook’s new “Live” option will allow brands the opportunity to engage on a new level. Attending a trade show? CEO giving a keynote? Hosting a grand opening? Stream it live and give consumers a real look into your client’s brand and “who” they’re all about.

Notice I said “who” and not “what” – the sooner our clients can differentiate between the two, the faster they’ll see success on social media. It’s not about what a brand has; it’s about who they are and how consumers will identify with them. Many marketers think consumers are too busy to consume their content, but if content is relevant, the audience will consume it. Relevancy creates time.

3. Influencer marketing.

About 25 percent of all branded search results is user-generated content. That means a quarter of the content about your client’s brand is not developed by your marketing team. Yikes! Influencers, brand advocates, and even employees are talking about your brand online.

Remember the phrase: “word of mouth?” It’s happening on a massive scale, but your brand can weigh in. Businesses are making more than $6 on each $1 spent on influencer marketing.

I like to think of social media as a live 24/7/365 focus group. Get to know who is talking about your brand in 2016 and build some relationships; your efforts will surely pay off.

Source : http://bit.ly/1R2S50V

Boost Your Sales: Top 5 Tips to Successful Marketing Automation

The market for marketing automation software is in the midst of a rapid growth phase. Businesses of all sizes and industries are waking up to the fact that automating simple tasks allows them to target a larger number of leads while spending more time on building great content and driving higher conversions, shorter sales cycles, and more loyal customers.

Even for those business owners that understand the basics of marketing automation, implementation can still be a daunting task. You know what you need to do, but you’re still trying to figure out exactly how to make it all work. For a little extra help, check out these tips that have proven successful for some of the best in the business.

Have the Necessary Tools

Marketing automation software is great, but it only serves to enhance the resources and capabilities that your company already has. Before even considering purchasing the software, you should make sure that your company has:

• A quality list of leads
• An engaging and informative landing page
• Consistent, quality content creation
• A CRM that can integrate with the new software
• Established processes for moving leads through the sales funnel

Without these existing resources in place, any marketing automation software you buy will not deliver significant value.

Plan for Implementation

The first few months with any new technology are always going to be the hardest. Make sure you have a plan for training employees on the marketing automation solution and integrating it into your business. Consider this issue when selecting a software provider and try to find one that offers significant assistance and support during the onboarding process.

For your part, come up with a detailed list of employee responsibilities and have a plan for how the burden is going to be divided up. Identify any skill gaps that may exist and determine whether you’re going to need to bring in someone new or if an existing employee can be trained to fill the new need.

Have a Data Quality Solution

Getting data from customers is no longer the problem. In the past two years, we created more data than humanity has generated in its entire existence up to that point. The problem with that deluge of data is knowing what’s actually important, and how to turn those numbers into actionable insights.

This is another reason why integrating with your CRM and coordinating with the sales team is important, as they might need different data than marketers. There are several products that can help you automate the data collection process and turn those numbers into clear, understandable charts, stats, and insights.

Start Small and Experiment

You’re going to make some mistakes in the early stages of automation, and you’re going to have some failures. Those are inevitable, and can even be positives. Mistakes teach you what not to do in the future, and failure to target leads can help you gain a better understanding of who your target audience is in the first place.

The key is to conduct these experiments on a small enough scale that the failures aren’t too much of a setback for your business.

Nurture, Don’t Sell

This is the most basic tip, but it’s so important it must be reiterated. The goal of marketing automation software is not to make sales, it’s to get leads to the point in the funnel where they are ready to interact with your sales team and make a purchase. On average, that means 10 “touches” from first contact to the eventual sale.

It’s easy to get impatient and start bombarding leads with offers in an attempt to drive immediate conversions, but that actually defeats the purpose. Your goal should not be more efficient spamming, it should be to actually develop a relationship with potential leads and deepen their engagement with your brand.

Source : http://bit.ly/1NcBCEN

10 Palpable Reasons Why People Become Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are cut from a different cloth, unique in many ways. They come from different personality types, cultures, and genders.They are champions, full of determination, drive, and ambition. Entrepreneurs think outside of the box. Observing how things could be, instead of settling for how they are. They don’t need high levels of formal education to be effective and make an instant impact in any situation. Here are 10 palpable reasons why people become entrepreneurs:

1. They want to make a difference

Entrepreneurs have visions of pursuing their dreams, even if they are unconventional. Things that are not considered on the normal path of life, they may pursue.They get labeled as crazy, receive odd stares and judgment from the nonbelievers. Nevertheless, they push on to change the world one dream at a time.

2. They Embrace Having a Path of Their Own

Entrepreneurs are leaders, they embrace having a path of their own to fulfill their dreams. However, creating their own path is not always by choice. The lack of challenge and opportunity in the job market may push an entrepreneur to their pursuits. They create their own opportunity and use their skills that were neglected, by those they worked for and capitalize on them.

Robert Frosts poem “The Road Not Taken” explains this all too well. A business professor whose class I had taken shared a copy of this poem with me. I now share this poem with you, I hope it serves as a source ofinspiration.This poem is for those who believe there is an entrepreneur inside of them.

3. They Desire Challenges

Entrepreneurs desire challenges. They are problem solvers, innovators and game changers. Given the right opportunity they can turn around a project, company or anything, they put their mind to. They are hard working and dedicate the effort to making a great change in the tasks they pursue. They have the ability to see things that others do not. Unfortunately, many are overlooked and their suggestions are brushed off and dismissed when working for others. However, an entrepreneur being the smart person they are, they decide to turn it around and use it to their own advantage in a business of their own.

4. They Crave Flexibility

Entrepreneurs crave flexibility they don’t prefer your typical 8-5 work schedule. They may work more or longer hours when working for themselves, but the flexibility will make all the difference. They will appreciate having a schedule that they have a better control over.

5. They Want More Stability

Whether it’s for their family or themselves entrepreneurs like the idea of more stability. The facts are that you can work at a company today and be laid off tomorrow. Entrepreneurs like the idea of being the determiner of their outcomes and financial security. You can work hard at a company, increase your skills and still not get a promotion, bonus or other forms of advancement. Even if you do receive a bonus they may give you a few cents or so which doesn’t go very far for really high achievers. Entrepreneurs know that when putting in the time, effort and hard work for their own business, it will pay off better rewards.

6. They want to create jobs

A driving factor to some entrepreneurs is that their passion may be able to create jobs. The thought that if they make enough money, their family members won’t have to go looking for jobs when they are laid off. Their family can always have a job when times get tough. I understand some believe work and family don’t mix. However, they still appreciate the idea of being able to help out family when in a crunch. With the economy the way it is unstable at times they like the idea of being able to do their part in helping out increasing jobs.

7. They are underestimated and overlooked

A lot of companies don’t understand what kind of amazing possibilities this type of person can bring to their company. Managers often overlook and underestimate the potential of this employee but sometimes don’t know this person exists.

8. They are passionate about change

Entrepreneurs can be passionate people because they actually care. They can see the difference in their minds before it is actually implemented. They can also see the destruction that will occur if something is not done about the situation. They can get frustrated, but this does not make them less effective it makes them human. Although, passion doesn’t always exhibit itself in the form of frustration. Passion can also be displayed in hard work, being focused and determined.

9. They are limited in the job market

Entrepreneurs at some point have felt stuck while working for others. With little room to advance, concerns not being heard or addressed, feeling undervalued and unappreciated by the management of companies they have worked for, they are likely to be tempted to start their own business. Many entrepreneurs leave their employment to fulfill their own destiny and succeed.

10. They know they can make a difference
Entrepreneurs know the power they possess to make a difference. They have high confidence in their abilities. Although, others sometimes can’t see the power in their abilities. Entrepreneurs can see their vision so vividly as if it was right in front of them. This is sometimes the motivation that keeps them determined, they can see the end result as if it already were in existence.

Being an entrepreneur is about a mindset, it is engraved in a certain individual. Whether or not they possess all the traits at the current time, at some point in their life it will develop inside of them. Like a flower destined to bloom or an eagle destined to soar it is their destiny to thrive. It doesn’t take formal education completion for these individuals to thrive or to be successful, it’s only a matter of time. Mark Zuckerberg (founder of facebook) and Blake Mycoskie (Creator of Tom’s) are just two examples of two successful entrepreneurs who did not complete their higher education but still achieved greater levels of success.

Source : http://bit.ly/1MMElRP

How to Master Your Online Presence, Yoda Style

You must unlearn what you have learned."

When Yoda said that to Luke Skywalker a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (i.e., the 1980s), he wasn't referring to digital marketing.

Nevertheless, the old Jedi Master would make a terrific CMO today.

And if he had traded his position on the Jedi Council for a cushy desk job, he might have imparted these words of wisdom to Padawan marketers.

1. 'Judge me by my [presence], do you?'

A strong presence is the most important element of online marketing that local businesses can focus on: Half of all mobile searches are conducted with the intent of finding local results, and 61% of those local searches result in a purchase.

Accordingly, business owners require a simple way to control their online visibility and promote their reputation effectively.

The main areas to focus on for establishing an online presence are as follows:

• Online listings: Making sure listings are accurate and consistent across key sources 
• Online reviews: Generating and promoting reviews and addressing negative ones 
• Mobile-friendly websites: Providing an effortless browsing experience for customers 
• Social activity: Maintaining active social accounts on the most relevant networks with consistent profile data and engaging content

Without a solid social presence, a mobile-friendly website, and accurate listings featuring positive reviews, you may as well be waving your hand in front of Google and saying, "These are not the search results you're looking for."

2. 'Difficult to see. Always in motion is the [listings environment].'

The world of online listings is more fragmented than the plot of The Phantom Menace.

In a nutshell, four major data providers control most of the Internet's listings data: Infogroup, Neustar/Localeze, Acxiomb, and Factual. If they don't receive updates from authoritative services, they default to traditional sources of information, such as public records (think tax files and other government indexes). Those sources can be out of date, and their refresh timeframes are unpredictable.

According to our research, businesses that push their information to the four major data providers via listing management tools show a 172% increase in their overall listing accuracy, while the accuracy scores of those that do not correct their data stay extremely low (around 10%).

Moral of the story: If you offer marketing solutions to local businesses, start investigating presence management solutions to help them continuously correct their data and generate recurring revenue for your company.

3. 'Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate... hate leads to [bad reviews].'

Getting a bad review can feel worse than being chained to Jabba the Hutt and forced to wear nothing but eyeshadow and a degrading space bikini.

The trick is to control your temper. Most consumers post negative reviews because they can't connect with someone at the business who can solve their problem. Therefore, listening for feedback and replying in a timely manner can mitigate a lot of potential damage.

Of course, that won't be the case for all negative reviews. The best way to deal with truly disgruntled customers is to apologize publicly (so others can see that you care about your customers' experience) and then take the conversation offline.

4. 'A Jedi uses [Marketing Automation] for knowledge and defense, never for attack.'

Marketing automation is like the Force: Most people use it for good, but some others are tempted by its Dark Side. The goal, of course, is to collect as much information as possible and put it into action without coming off like a stalker.

For agencies and media companies that sell products and services to small and medium businesses, automation opens up a gold rush of opportunities. For example, imagine creating campaigns that deliver personalized content about the specific solutions your firm sells and sending them to your prospects, then tracking which ones the prospects engage with to spark phone calls and conversations with your reps.

Superior to cold-calling, right?

If you provide demo accounts or sample reports to each of your prospects with rich data about their businesses, you're guaranteed to receive higher opens, click-throughs, and overall engagement. And if you can surface that information directly to your outbound team so they can follow up with prospects the moment they interact with your message, then good relations with the Wookies—err... sales reps, you shall have.

5. And, finally, in social media: 'Do. Or do not. There is no try.'

This one's self-explanatory, folks. Post regularly to your social channels and work on delivering quality content that will resonate the most with your audience.

Source : http://bit.ly/1Li6yTd

Social Media Strategy.

Generate more than just chatter, building more sales and leads generation, it's time to change.

STEP 1: Determine what business challenges social media can solve

Setting clear goals are vital to any marketing plan and social media is no exception.

So whether you want to drive more traffic to your website, engage with your customers or increase your brand awareness, ExtraDigital will ensure these goals remain at the heart of your social media marketing.

When Social Media is used correctly you can build a team of customers who will advocate for your business online effectively marketing your business for free.

Social also enables you in building a strong community and build greater customer loyalty.  

Step 2: Which Social Networks Suit Your Business?

Choosing the right social networks is vital, get it wrong and you could be talking to the wrong audience for your products or services.

For B2B customers often LinkedIn, Twitter and Quora are the best performing social networks. While if you’re a fashion ecommerce store then there is a lot to be gained with Instagram and Pinterest.

ExtraDigital can help you focus on the networks your customers and potential customers use.

Step 3: Creating Engaging and Sharable Content 

Having the right content is key to any effective and engaging social media campaign.

Your content needs to connect with your audience and encourage engagement. To do this requires proper planning and research.

In addition you need to consider the types of content your audience will like including 'how to' videos, competitions and Infographics.

To be ahead of the competition, it is important to plan content in advance with content calendars and posting schedules.

ExtraDigital can help will all aspects of your content planning and creation. We have an excellent range of specialist copywriters that we work with on a regular basis. Alternatively we are always happy to work with in-house teams or other agencies to get you the very best content.

Step 4: Data Analysis Powering Campaign Improvement

No campaign is complete without proper analysis of the results, but this is only really useful if those results then go forward to power further optimisation and development of your social marketing .The most important step is to analyse the sales and leads generated via Social Media.  

Source : http://bit.ly/1NfXONE