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Existing customers are crucial for revenue, but you’ll need a constant influx of new clients to grow your business. Social prospecting, also known as social selling, is an effective strategy for broadening your customer base. It involves leveraging social media to identify potential leads, guide them through the sales funnel, and convert them into loyal customers.
In this article, we explore the two primary stages of social prospecting—identifying and nurturing leads—to guide you in expanding your client pool, leading to increased sales.
Why should B2B marketers practice social prospecting?
Every business wants to bring in more customers. While traditional prospecting methods like cold-calling work, social media prospecting works better. According to a LinkedIn study, 78% of social sellers outperform those who don’t use social media.
Social prospecting not only lets you meet customers where they are; it also enables you to engage with them on a more personal level. Through this approach, you can gradually nurture prospects into loyal customers. This, in turn, expands your contact list, leading to a natural uptick in sales.
Besides, it doesn’t just give you leads—it gives you high-quality leads. With 33% of marketers reporting that their most promising leads come from social media, it’s clear that social prospecting is essential for maximizing outcomes.
3 Techniques for identifying quality prospects
Social prospecting doesn’t involve casting a wide net in the hopes of catching a few good prospects. It’s about connecting with individuals who are likely to become your most valuable customers. Here are some techniques to help you secure quality prospects:
1. Select the best platforms based on your ideal customer profile
A clear understanding of your ideal customer profile (ICP) can offer insights into which social media channels to use. By considering their demographics, preferences, and buying behaviors, you can accurately pinpoint the platforms where they’re most active. This ensures your efforts are focused on channels with the most opportunities for conversion.
2. Find prospects using hashtags, keywords, and location filters
Track relevant keywords and hashtags to uncover conversations where potential prospects are actively participating. If you’re using LinkedIn, make the most of advanced search filters to pinpoint prospects based on specific criteria such as job titles, industries, and locations. This ensures your outreach is directed toward individuals with a genuine interest in your offerings, which in turn, enhances the effectiveness of your social prospecting efforts.
Additionally, be on the lookout for posts with the phrases “can anyone recommend” or “any advice on”. These are buying signals that provide you the opportunity to step in and address the prospect’s immediate needs.
3. Search for prospects on social media communities
Platforms like Facebook Groups and X communities bring together individuals with shared interests or goals. By becoming a member of these communities, you can conveniently draw prospects from a pool of individuals already interested in topics relevant to your industry.
Effective strategies for engaging with prospects
It takes time and consistent effort to nurture prospects into leads, and much of it depends on how well you engage with them. Here’s how to effectively guide them toward conversion and ensure you build lasting relationships with your audience:
Share content that matters to potential customers
To attract prospects, create content that resonates with them while communicating the value you provide. This could include sharing product demos, informative articles, and compelling case studies that demonstrate your expertise.
As you craft your content strategy for social prospecting, keep in mind that you don’t always have to start from scratch. Sharing articles from reputable sources, coupled with your own insights, is an effective way to deliver value while establishing credibility.
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Engage, and then engage some more
In social prospecting, consistent engagement not only gets you noticed; it also ensures you remain on the radar of potential customers. Follow them on social media, like their posts, and start a conversation by commenting on their content. This lets you build an authentic relationship with prospects, ultimately leading to more conversions and sales.
Tailor your engagement strategy to each platform
Each platform offers unique opportunities for engagement. For example, on LinkedIn, you might regularly post on groups to drive traffic to your profile while establishing credibility. Meanwhile, on Instagram, you have the opportunity to post polls, questions, and quizzes to engage with prospects in a more interactive manner.
When carrying out social prospecting on Facebook, be sure to set up a Business Page. This will serve as your credible “storefront” to showcase products, share relevant content, and connect with prospects. Additionally, joining Facebook Groups lets you monitor conversations and insights into their preferences, allowing you to refine your social prospecting approach further.
Follow up to drive leads through the sales funnel
When prospects show signs of interest (e.g., clicking on your content, repeatedly visiting your website, etc.), don't let them slip away! Reach out through DMs, send tailored emails, or schedule a demo. Do whatever it takes to deepen their interest, keep the conversation going, and move them further along the sales funnel.
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Add a personal touch to your interactions
71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized experiences. Rather than sending generic messages that will likely be ignored, tailor your communication to each prospect’s needs, interests, and preferences for better engagement. Additionally, infuse your messages with an authentic, conversational voice that reflects your brand identity—this will resonate better with audiences, resulting in more meaningful connections.
Maximizing social media prospecting through employee advocacy
While these strategies lay the groundwork for effective prospecting on social media, there’s a powerful yet often overlooked asset you should also leverage: your employees. Let’s look at the key benefits of combining your social media prospecting efforts with employee advocacy:
Amplifies reach
When employees share your business’ content, they tap into their social circles, expanding your reach beyond your established followers. This draws increased attention to your posts, enhancing your brand’s visibility. By leveraging employees as brand ambassadors, your business gains access to new audiences you might not have been able to reach.
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Enhances your business’ credibility
People tend to trust their peers more than brands. Research shows that company posts shared by employees garner higher click-through rates compared to those shared by the business itself. By actively advocating for your business online, employees can add a layer of authenticity to your content. This genuine endorsement fosters trust, making potential customers more receptive to your outreach efforts.
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Effective social prospecting requires the right tools for outreach and engagement. Clearview Social enhances your efforts by using AI to streamline content sharing for your team and tapping into their influential power, enabling you to connect with more prospects. Featuring automated content delivery, post-amplification, and more, it's the ultimate solution for engaging your team in social prospecting.
All of these, combined with our platform’s content creation and analytics capabilities, make social media prospecting a breeze and allows you to secure leads with greater efficiency.
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