A Quick Start Guide to Personal Branding and Social Selling.
By Ken Troupe
Today I was having a conversation with one of our career coaching clients about how to take her personal social media efforts to the next level. We had nice chat and she was very thankful for my insight. Here is a summary of some of the key takeaways on social selling and personal branding.
My number one suggestion to anyone trying to develop their approach on their social platform is to position themselves as a resource to your network. To put it another way, your goal should be to bring value to your network.
Social selling and personal branding can help you sell more tickets. Gone is the way we used to sell tickets. Gone is the way we used to find leads. And gone is the way we used to network, ask for referrals, and build our network. Yes, the old tricks still work. It is still important to make phone calls. It’s still important to hit some networking events. And it is still important to ask for referrals. Today, it is important to understand how to reach potential buyers on multiple channels. Today, it’s important to use social networking sites to develop potential leads and ask for referrals. Today it is important to understand how to use personal branding to sell tickets.
There are three social networking sites I recommend all ticket sales reps should understand and be active on. The “big 3” of social selling and personal branding are Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook. Having s presence on these sites is important because not only do people like to buy from people, they like but now they like to buy from people that Google well.
Here is what you need to know about social selling and personal branding for all three of the “big 3”.
LinkedIn is the number one social media website for business professionals and your profile will come up in the top 3 every time when you Google your first and last name. Here are some things to keep in mind.
100% Complete Profile – LinkedIn wants you to have a good experience and that starts with a complete profile. Just follow the prompts until it says profile 100%.
Headshot – Have either a professional headshot or photo of you having to something with your organization. For example, standing in your stadium or arena.
Professional Headline – you can use up to 120 characters with your headline so pack it full of SEO-type words. For example, group hospitality, client entertainment, ticket sales, fan engagement, and client retention. Your goal here is to pack your headline with details on the business challenges you help to solve and show up more often in a potential client search return.
Complete Contact Info – Include work email and office number. When you sell something like tickets where everyone is a potential client, you want to make it easy to contact you.
Well Written About Section – The about section should read as a quick snapshot of your professional life and should be a narrative and not bullet points. You really want to focus on the business challenges that you help solve (why you are a resource to your network) Also, another great place to include some rich SEO words that will move you up a Google search.
Group Communities – The networking gets done here. Join groups that fit your interest and don’t be “that guy” and try to be salesy. Build relationships and let them grow organically.
Twitter is best used as a listening and customer service tool. Here are a couple of Twitter personal branding tips to keep in mind.
Fill your bio with a few SEO words and let your personality show a bit.
Twitter is not about what you say…..it’s about who you listen to and what you say to them.
Use search.twitter.com to listen for leads or customer service issues in real-time.
Use your Twitter to retweet often your organization’s main Twitter feed. Remember you can be a powerful extension of your team’s social marketing efforts.
Follow companies you want to do business with and stay current on their trends.
Twitter is a business tool and not a place for you to give updates on what you had for lunch, kids, dogs, or offer up your own hot sports opinion.
For the individual front office member, Facebook is where your friends and family live. Keep your business contacts on Linkedin and your personal friends and family….just that…personal. But with this being said you still want to keep a few things in mind.
Use your Facebook to let your friends and family know that you can sell tickets and always open for referrals.
Like your team’s Facebook page and share content as needed.
Find that middle ground between sharing content and beating down your Facebook friends with an excessive amount of your team’s updates.
Master the “big 3” and develop your personal branding skills and watch your network grow and the ticket sales come in. Happy Social Selling.