Are you looking to boost sales and find new leads for your business? Then social prospecting is the way to go. People are using social media in their billions, which means no matter what your business is offering, there are people out there on social media who want it. Social prospecting is the art of finding those people, listening to what they have to say, and then engaging them.

How Social Prospecting Works

Social prospecting works by listening to conversations on social media to find good prospects for your business. The question is, just how can you do that, considering the number of conversations taking place on social media every moment of every day?

The answer is, first of all, to plan carefully what to listen for (more on that in a moment). The next step is to figure out how you’re going to do that. A social prospecting tool, which is designed to bring you the most relevant information, can help you prospect successfully and isolate the conversations that matter to your brand.

What Should You Be Listening For?

So now you’re clear on what social prospecting is – listening on social media to find strong leads for your brand – the big question is what should you listen for?

An obvious place to start of course is brand mentions. Looking for brand mentions will let you know who is talking about your business and what they’re saying, but to prospect successfully you’ll need to drill down beyond brand mentions. Competitor mentions can also be useful. Who is using your competitors? Even more importantly, who is complaining about your competitors? Show them why your business is a better choice.

Listen For Buying Signals

Customers on social media are constantly letting you know that they’re ready to buy. All you have to do is listen. People love to talk about purchases on social media, and frequently ask questions, share opinions, follow businesses that interest them or share pictures of intended purchases.

Listen out for key phrases that show intent to buy or a strong interest in finding the right products, such as:

• I’m in the market for…
• Can anyone recommend?
• Where can I find?
• I’m looking for …
• Has anyone used this product?
• Is it any good?
• Is this available near me?
• Where can I buy this?
• I want to know more about …

Customers are giving clear indicators that they’re ready to buy. Social prospecting helps you hear those indicators.

Find Customers That Match Your Ideal Demographics

Another way to use social prospecting is to look for customers who match your ideal customer demographic. Say for example you offer a party planning service. With social prospecting, you can search for people who have made mention of needing to plan a leaving part or birthday do, or who are asking questions about party planning, venues or party supplies, and who live in your local area.

To maximize your success with social prospecting, choose a tool that lets you draw up profiles so you can find people who match those and see who is the closest fit for your business.

You’ve Found Your Leads – Now What?

You’ve used social prospecting to find your leads, now it’s time to convert them into customers. How can you go about doing just that? Start by:

• Joining conversations and making your business known
• Showing your value by helping prospects to solve their problems
• Engaging them with content that’s been specially crafted to speak to their needs and answer their questions
• Offering content that matches their point in the buying cycle, giving them the information they need and encouraging them to take the next step

Social prospecting is all about cutting through the noise of social media to find people who need a business like yours, then letting them know why you’re the best choice for them. Know what to listen for and build your social prospecting efforts around that to bring you the most promising new leads.

#TwoMinuteTuesdays – Take two minutes out of your Tuesday mornings to digest some interesting and informative content brought to you by the interlinkONE team. Have content ideas or questions you want discussed? Tweet at us @interlinkONE!