Get Active on Social Media in Two Minutes (or Less)

By Selling Power Editors

When you get right down to it, social selling is neither art nor science – it’s a lifestyle. The question is, how do you find ways to fit social media into your life without neglecting your existing priorities? Follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Go mobile.

Download the apps for the social networks you use most so you can easily access them on your tablet or smartphone. There are also apps that can make monitoring your social networks much easier. Lots of free options are out there.

Step 2: Turn your down time into social time.

Once you get your mobile devices hooked up, you can start engaging in social activity from almost anywhere at almost any time. (Remember, a basic best practice of social selling is to stay active.) Social is a great place for small talk. The next time you’re on the couch watching Monday Night Football, send a few tweets or post some updates to Facebook from your smartphone. Waiting for the train or a dinner companion to arrive? Fire up the LinkedIn app on your tablet and find some group discussions to join.

Step 3: Broadcast small updates.

Remember that much of the sales cycle is happening out of your reach: up to 60 percent of it happens on the Internet before sales professionals even get involved in the conversation. That makes your social profile valuable real estate for prospects to see what you’re all about when they’re online. So don’t let them come up empty-handed. Here are some small things you can do in two minutes or less.

  • Use the picture of you on the ski lift last weekend as your new Facebook profile photo.
  • Tweak your Twitter bio to include a note about your latest reality-show addiction.
  • Add your latest professional certification to your LinkedIn profile.

(Bonus: These kinds of updates are often posted to your network as news items, which helps keep your visibility up among your followers and connections.)

Turning social platforms into selling opportunities requires staying consistently active and visible. If you start small and stick with it, you can eventually build a very large and valuable network.