Though social media is a great way to connect with your target market, using it to find the decision makers you can pitch directly to is not discussed very often. That’s too bad, because social media gives you the tools to not only find them, get introduced to them, and discover what their company is up to, but also to listen to them to learn what they are talking about.
Here’s what to look for on social media to help you find and connect with decision makers:
Title
Whether you are doing a little reconnaissance on LinkedIn or working through the list of people who have downloaded your white paper, the person’s business title will indicate where they fall on the corporate hierarchy and thus whether or not they can make decisions. If you target IT directors, for instance, you don’t want to waste your time on a network administrator, while the CTO might be too high up and therefore too busy to chat with you.
Social Media Updates
Use the information that either the person or their company is pushing out on social media to figure out if they are ready to buy.
Look around on LinkedIn for company news, such as new product or service launches, acquisitions, expansion efforts, and other clues that will tell you how sales-ready they are.
Find them on Twitter and start following their tweets. If they write about something you like, retweet it. If they write about something you can help them with, direct message them.
Follow their company on Facebook if you have not already.
This is not social media-related, but this is another really great way to find out more information about a company: Does their website have a news page? If so, it’ll be full of press releases—a great way to find out more information.
Connections
If your lead is not the decision-maker, search for a mutual connection to him or her on LinkedIn, and ask for an introduction.
The most important part of finding the decision-maker on social media is taking the time to listen to them. Before you know how to approach them and what you should say to them, you have to listen (or, really, read) what they are talking about, looking for, commenting on, and sharing. Hopefully they also share what events they are attending so you know to look for them there.
Of course, if you see them post something that is relevant to your product or service, jump into the conversation. Otherwise, hold back until you can create a compelling pitch that will grab their attention.
Image by Flickr user shining.darkness (Creative Commons)
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