Some interesting points. I had a few thoughts as I read through:

I use social media to connect with international audiences, this is mainly North American audiences for me as I’m based in France – so using social media is a no-brainer.

My primary goal on Twitter is not the potential individual client, instead I’m looking for good people to connect with who could open doors for several clients and become sources of referrals. It’s like the yellow-pages with an initial cocktail party or business networking encounter rolled into one. I still need to develop the relationship outside of social media. But this also brings me contacts from potential individual clients – and yes, I still have to continue the conversation outside of social media here too.

My second goal on Twitter is to develop the resources for my blog… not a sales goal, but one that is important to me now.

I think there are too many different types of businesses to really come up with a clear “yes” or “no” answer to the effectiveness of social media in sales. The answer today is in the shades of gray… it depends. Yes, there is LOTS of hype, so you need to jump in to find out how “it depends”.

Some businesses do not have a good strategy or offer to start with, so social media will never help to bring in sales. This makes me wonder whether social media is effective for eliminating the crap. I do believe that for some businesses, if they cannot find a good social media strategy to connect with their clients, it’s because they are starting from a bad place to begin with – they don’t know what to say to their clients, or how to connect to them.

When I look at people who use social media successfully I notice two things – a laser sharp business focus combined with something else that reminds me of the feeling I get when trying to understand someone from a different culture. It’s a bit fuzzy and you need to make the effort to understand it. This “something” is the uniqueness of social media. It is what makes it different from traditional sales platforms. And if you don’t get this elusive difference, no matter what you call it, you will not be able to use the social media platforms successfully for sales.

I also wonder where information overload will lead us, with regards to sales methods. Looking forward to watching what unfolds in the future.

As you can see, your article was very thought-provoking! Thank you for a great series of articles.

Youth sometimes gives one more boldness than sense. I think your overwhelming certainty will disappoint as you’ll find that ‘how its done in the 21st century’ isn’t so easy, so impersonal, or so uncaring as you may think. I would also suggest that if you are so certain of your position and so sure that I need to be educated in how thing are today, you will be taken more seriously if instead of hiding behind a nickname, you identify yourself. You know who I am. You know my credentials. It is only fair and reasonable you let us know who you are and what your credientials are.

I was with ya till your last sentence. If you’re only using social media to connect with new customers, you’re giving up the majority of your prospects. Yes, it takes work to find them outside the internet, but that’s what success takes–work. I’d encourage you to expand your prospecting and you’ll find more prospects, more sales, more profits.

I am not sure if social media will ever convince big companies to buy big GM products. Or for that matter, large trucking companies, airlines, to upgrade fleets. It is necessary where it is necessary.

But the hype is exciting for a small business owner like myself with near zero advertising dollars, and zero dollars for a sales force. My market is mostly young and using social media as a way to stay connected to friends and the world. For the small company, it is the only way to connect with new customers.

Thanks for responding to my post. I do want to let others know that the link you have given is to an MLM discussion. As the visitors to this blog are all adults and can make up thier own minds, I’m going to leave your comment up, but want to warn others that if they’re not interested in getting a pitch for an MLM deal, they can forego clicking on the link.

Paul

regards
joe young
joeyoung@99main.com