Eight Tips for Salespeople to Use Social Media and Save Time

1. Create a social media strategy.  Think about what you want to accomplish by using the social media.  Do not join Facebook or Twitter just because someone asks you.  Decide why you want to participate and then set some clear goals for participation.  Think about how participating on these sites will help move you closer to your customer.
2. Limit your time on the social media.  Allow yourself no more than an hour a day to update, explore and contribute to the social media sites.  Block off the time as if it were an appointment. Use a timer to keep you on track.
3. Look for ways to network on the social sites without having to go to networking events.  Networking events consume a lot of time.  They require you to get in your car and go someplace.  Use the social sites to network with others as you would at a networking event, and then take it offline.
4. Use the social sites to search for potential leads.  In other words, use the social sites to prospect.  You can use the search function on LinkedIn or Twitter to locate businesses that fit your niche.
5. Use tools like Tweetlater.com or Hootsuite to backlog your Tweets.  You can prepare 8 to 10 Tweets and schedule them throughout the day.  Use tools like Delicious and StumbleUpon to file interesting blog posts to send out later.  While you’re at it write several blog posts and backlog them to schedule release several times in a week.
6. Use Hootsuite as your social media dashboard. Follow and communicate with people in your various networks – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. – all at the same time. Using Hootsuite, you'll save time by managing your most important networks from one central location. You can also queue up future status updates to save you time later in the week.
7. Set up Google Alerts to let you know when something is written about you, your company, industry or service.
8. Participate more. With all the time you’ve saved by not going to networking events and eliminating cold calling, add another hour or 30 minutes to your social media daily schedule, but never allow yourself to exceed two hours a day on the social sites.

jfortney@cascadecommunications.com