Think about this for a moment - Whenever you are
on line there is an opportunity to amplify and reinforce your corporate brand
and its value to your clients.
People buy from people, not companies
People trust individuals, not corporations
It’s the way business has always been done,
So how, one might ask does social selling
3.0 come into all this?
Clara Shih in Harvard Business Review suggests that social
business complements traditional methods and allows for companies and their
employees to manage and measure this engagement at scale.
She suggests that social business has developed in a series
of waves.
The first wave of social business was all about employee
collaboration, giving rise to products like Yammer, Jive, and Salesforce
Chatter
Then came the next wave, external social business,
rooted in customer service, corporate marketing, and communications. Many
companies are still working through this stage by managing all social media at
the corporate level. Here many in selling would associate where they are with
social selling at present.
During last year, there was already executive commitment and
discussion around turning internal social media projects into strategic
imperatives owned by lines of business. Instead of discouraging
employees from social media or making it optional, companies are making social
business mandatory and part of the “standard issue” of communication just as
email accounts became standard issue a decade ago.
In 2014, more and more companies will usher in the third
wave of social business by empowering everyone across the organisation to
participate. While corporate marketing teams continue to use Facebook,
Twitter, and LinkedIn for brand awareness,
What this means for Selling
Sales teams and other customer-facing roles will
increasingly tap into social networks for ways to authentically reach and engage their
customers and prospects, build their credibility as a trusted advisor through
value-added content, and provide higher levels of service – all to
ultimately increase business and deepen relationships.
Even for Non-sales employees in non-customer facing
roles, the expectation will be that they represent the company whenever on line
to amplify and reinforce the corporate brand and its value to customers.
To make it all work, Clara suggests companies instituting
standardised operational procedures social business by
(1) enabling and training employees to effectively use
social media for business,
(2) creating social business programs and guidelines,
and (3) applying key business metrics to turn grand visions
of social media into real business
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