Social Media is not Selling

I’m fairly new to the social media scene and certainly don’t consider myself an expert in the field. So it may be best to regard this as an early observation.


In order to get an understanding of what social media is about I decided to follow some of the more obvious thought leaders in social media including @thinktankmedia and @smcmelb for a local perspective and @mashable for an international perspective. Interestingly most had initially bypassed Linkedin having started in social media from a marketing or blog background.

I recently attended a gathering for @smcmelb and was amused at the reticence of attendees to engage. Most of them were busy using their various smartphones to check the latest stream of witty comments. I was specifically there to meet people as I’m recruiting for some sales roles, so widening the network helps. It was better after the presentation but I’m sure that was an effect of the wine. This probably explains why social media clubs like to gather in a bar!

My observation is, apart from a few, most social media experts get there from two perspectives:
1) Marketing People using a new medium, or
2) Technical experts who understand how to configure the applications.
It reminds me of the time when every person who could run a PC suddenly became a “Desk Top Publishing” expert. Just because you can drive word processor, or blogger, it doesn’t mean you can increase revenue for any company, especially your own. Likewise, having a twitter account or facebook fan page does not make you capable of engaging a market or selling a service.

Whilst social media is great for brand awareness, product and business, and can be a great source for leads, business to business sales for any complex product or service still requires a structured sales process.

Networking is Forever

This is probably some of the best advice that I can give on Networking to anyone, especially if they have just entered the workforce or just started their career in sales. Keep in touch with your peers.
If you are going to succeed there is a fair chance that the people that you know, and meet, are also going to succeed. Whilst they may not currently be in a position to make decisions, it will become obvious that a number of them will make it to the top of their various pyramids. I still stay in touch with people that I worked with 25 years ago. We may not see each other socially but every now and then they receive either a phone call or an email from me.

As a sales manager, whenever one of my sales people came back to the office and reported that a person that they were dealing with had left the company, my first questions were 1. Where did they go? and 2. Do you have their contact details. Why? Well why waste all that work developing a relationship and not use it to gain entry to another company?

Social Media sites such as LinkedIn have made it easier to do this. You can see my LinkedIn profile here.

If you want to find out more about networking then go to www.intermizzi.com.au