CHAPTER 3

SPEAKING A NEW LANGUAGE

The Ten Most Important Rules for Online Social Interactions

Finding and targeting prospects on social networks is new territory for everyone—salespeople and marketers alike. For some social media purists, the idea of anyone selling into or making money from social networks is offensive. Other social networking users don't really mind the concept of social selling, but they're still trying to figure out exactly what it means and how it impacts on them. For example, when is it okay for companies to reach out to them (as users), and when does it feel a bit too intrusive or commercial? Because the process of selling through social channels continues to be defined, it's even more important to understand the new language of social networking sites and the rules that go along with social engagement.

There are probably a hundred different rules that I could share with you about having appropriate and positive social interactions as they relate to social selling. The list of things you should do is as long as the list of things you absolutely should not do. However, I've narrowed it down to the ten most important things for guiding you through positive online conversations that promote trust and brand loyalty.

This isn't just my list. True, I've spent much time on social media and learned some of these rules through trial and error (or, in some cases, through trial by fire!). But I've also spent a great deal of time interacting with other social media experts, with community managers, and with active users of social networks. I've invested time researching, analyzing behaviors, prodding interviewees and taking notes, and outright asking for feedback. Granted, it wasn't formal research, but I stand by it. The resulting list is focused on the top-level rules of engagement that generally apply across any social network.

In case you're wondering, this list offers pretty good advice, no matter what reason you have for jumping into social media–infused interactions. That said, I have developed this list with an emphasis toward social selling. You will find that these “rules” aren't all that different from the ones you are used to with traditional selling strategies. At first, it may seem that social media is part of a strange new world where people speak in short spurts of acronym-laced partial sentences. In reality, the social media lingo is easy to pick up, and the rules governing this new language are rooted in basic common sense, the same common sense that you already apply to your other customer and prospecting conversations. The guidelines are simply adapted ever so slightly to spur positive interactions when forming online customer relationships.

As you may have noticed, I frequently use the term, “positive interactions.” You may also hear the term “engage” or “social engagement” when people talk about social media. That's because industry professionals use engagement as a barometer of success. Simply put, did you get some type of response when you reached out to a person online? Essentially, the goal with online conversations is to engage, or interact. It's no different than making a call to a prospect. If you phoned a prospect, did they answer your call? If you sent an email to a prospect, did they open it and respond to it in some way? In social media, when you reach out to a potential prospect or customer, you want them to acknowledge you and respond in some way. Preferably, you want it to be a positive interaction. The following ten rules are focused on eliciting positive interactions. And while this list is short, it can have a huge impact on your social media efforts.

RULE #1: BE GENUINE

Remember when you were growing up and struggling to make friends for the first time? Adults usually doled out the same advice each time, “Just be yourself.” This tried and true advice applies to your interaction on social networks as much as it does in face-to-face situations. For some reason, that golden advice often gets thrown out the window when you are suddenly forced to communicate via a keyboard and hidden behind an avatar (the picture or graphic you use to represent yourself and it shows up next to whatever text you tweet or post). When jumping into social media conversations, people sometimes forgo their otherwise good judgment and decide that this is the time they are going to try their hand at being a stand-up comedian or a political pundit. But let's be clear: Your social networking persona should be an extension of your actual personality. And, being yourself is the basis for having genuine exchanges that lead to those positive, lasting interactions that translate to potential customers.

Another term commonly associated with the idea of being genuine in the world of social media is “authenticity.” Social media experts are quick to suggest that brands need to “be authentic.” I'd like to expand upon that advice, just a bit, in terms of how you develop your personal brand and in turn, the way you represent your company brand. For example, let's say you are known for having an outrageous personality, and have an endless stream of one-liners and jokes that regularly make your boss blush. Even though it's an authentic representation of your personality, there is some value in toning down that wit while on social networks (unless that's how you make your living).

Of course, this example is pretty clear-cut. Sometimes, it's trickier. Authenticity can involve religious and political views that, while authentic to who you are, may get in the way of appealing to and interacting with a diverse social network. Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer (COO) of the fast food restaurant Chick-fil-A, is an example of an executive who has struggled with the issue of authenticity in social media on more than one occasion. In 2012, Cathy made public statements speaking out against same-sex marriage and admitted that the popular chicken restaurant chain made donations with corporate funds to groups that shared his beliefs on the topic. Within days, the public backlash began to grow and the company used its Facebook page to reassure its fans (and the rest of the social media world!) that it did not discriminate against customers for any reason. But the brand's effort was not enough to put out the social media firestorm that Cathy's words ignited, nor did it stop the nationwide protests that forced loyal customers to choose sides. Less than a year later, the COO was at it, again. In 2013, Cathy tweeted what was considered an anti-gay response to news of a controversial Supreme Court ruling in support of same-sex marriages. The tweet was eventually deleted from Cathy's personal Twitter account; and Chick-fil-A was put in the position of trying to separate the brand's core message from the opinions of its executive.

On one hand, the company and its founding family have always been clear that they maintain “personal and business philosophies based on biblical principles” and conservative values.¹ While Cathy's statements may seem to some in keeping with an ultraconservative outlook, his words are also considered offensive to many of the customers who regularly patronize Chick-fil-A restaurants. As a result, the tweet, which was probably authentic to Cathy, put his business at risk of losing millions of dollars.

The challenge with authenticity on social media can also stem from something much less controversial than Dan Cathy's explosive tweets! In my case, I tend to be very sarcastic in my offline interactions. I quickly learned that sarcasm often doesn't translate well, online. For me, being authentic and genuine means maintaining a balance between my bent toward sarcasm and my ability to generate meaningful, positive conversations with people who only know me through a computer screen.

RULE #2: LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN

What makes a salesperson successful? You'll surely get a wide range of responses, including everything from having a passion for what you are selling to having the ability to persuade others. One fairly consistent trait is having the ability to listen—to truly hear what your customer is saying so that you understand her problems and can then present her with a viable solution. The same trait is incredibly valuable when it comes to social networking, but there are a couple of different layers to what I refer to as “active social listening.”

As part of the listening process, you first have to monitor conversations. This means you are actively on the lookout for comments coming across social media channels that relate to your company, your products, your competitors, or common industry-specific topics.

In addition to monitoring, or being on the lookout for conversations, once you enter into a conversation with someone on social media, you want to be able to keep that conversation going. You certainly don't want to walk away from the conversation in midstream—just as, if you were having a conversation with someone in person, you would not suddenly walk away from her while she continues to talk, because that would be rude and unprofessional. The same rules apply online. Unfortunately, conversation threads in social media move rapidly, and sometimes you can end up dropping out of a conversation and not even realizing it because you overlooked a response or forgot to get back to it. That's why it's critical to follow the conversation from start to finish and pay attention—to really listen to what the other person or persons are saying. Active social listening gives you a distinct advantage in social selling. It means you are more likely to:

• Use the monitoring process to find conversations that relate to you.
• Identify your prospective customer's needs, concerns, and interests.
• Remain relevant to your prospective customer.

Listening is a powerful sales and marketing tool. I cannot put enough emphasis on the need to practice online listening and put it to use every chance you get.

RULE #3: BE RESPONSIVE

Generally speaking, communication is the act of sending and receiving a signal (or message). However, that communication isn't effective unless the signal is understood and elicits an appropriate response. When it comes to positive social interactions, you certainly hope that people are seeing the information you are sending out over Twitter or your company blog, for example. Most important, you hope that it triggers the desired response. Unfortunately, you don't have control over whether or not that happens. Part of the reason is because there are so many signals going out across social networks today. The sheer volume of messages being sent prevents or decreases the odds that your messages are received every time.

But let's flip that scenario and put you on the receiving end of the signals. As I mentioned, a part of your listening goal is to actively monitor so that you receive relevant messages that are being sent out. That means it's then up to you to understand and respond to those messages. There are lots of ways to be responsive. You can answer questions, congratulate someone when they post an achievement or award, comment on articles that someone posts or links to, or simply “Like” or “Favorite” a post. The point is that you have the power to identify and engage, and ultimately create a positive social interaction.

When it comes to being responsive, there are three vital qualities, and you must have them all. The first is listening for messages and then responding to them, as I describe above. The second is perseverance—staying active and responsive once you are in engaged in a conversation. The third revolves around customer service. As you recall, in Chapter 2 I discussed how many customer-related complaints and concerns are voiced across social media channels. Being responsive requires you to identify and understand those customer concerns and help find resolutions. Whether you are in customer service, sales, or marketing, all of these conversations influence your ability to sell, so it's critical that you (and the company or brand you represent) are responsive to customer issues.

RULE #4: FOLLOW THE LEADER

There are all types of social networks in which to participate, including blogs, forums, professional groups, and other communities (where people gather online, based on common interests). And, as with other social networking sites (such as Twitter or Facebook), all of these social and professional gathering spots usually have rules and guidelines. For example, when participating in some Groups within LinkedIn, the person or organization that created the Group typically have a set of guidelines you must follow. This can include dos and don'ts covering everything from posting job openings to how often you should comment.

As you become involved in the different social networking communities, take a moment to find out what rules or guidelines they have for participation. If you don't see guidelines posted, or don't receive any when joining a community, do a little research. Identify group leaders or other active community members and follow their lead—watch how they participate, try to identify when they have a successful conversation, and use that as your guide.

RULE #5: TAILOR THE CONVERSATION

Communicating with people, whether in person or over social media, isn't rocket science. It's about finding common ground and sharing information that is relevant to your audience. Talking with people is usually very easy, certainly for those of us in sales. However, for your message to be received and understood, it must be meaningful to the person you're trying to reach. That means you want to match both the type of content you have and the tone or structure of your message to your target audience.

This can be illustrated by looking at vertical markets. Perhaps you sell a product that can be used by school systems, retail stores, and hospitals. You may have a particular piece of content, perhaps an article that discusses your product in general terms, and you want to share it over social media. Let's say you take that single article and decide to post it in a LinkedIn Group dedicated to clothing retailers, and a Group dedicated to healthcare executives, and post it in another Group made up of secondary school administrators. In each case, you post a link to the article using the same message: “Here is a great article that describes the power of a Coverall Health-Based Cleaning System. Please read it and let me know if you have questions.” Chances are pretty good that you are going to get zero response, except some criticism for posting a message that borders on spam! That's because the message and the article are so general that they don't have any meaning or relation to those Groups or their members.

A better option is to find several articles, or other pieces of content that relate to members within each of those vertical markets. Even if you don't have vertical-specific content, you can still tailor the message you that use to post the article. For example, you might say: “Schools are increasingly challenged with keeping classrooms clean to help prevent the spread of illnesses. Are you using an updated cleaning system, like the one in this article, to help prevent the spread of common germs in your school?” By using a more personalized message, you are much more likely to get a response.

Keep in mind, when you are tweeting, you have to be much more succinct: “Losing money to student sick days? See how an updated cleaning system helps prevent the spread of germs. bit.ly/11mTips” Notice that the use of a link-shortening tool allows you to use fewer characters by shrinking the original URL for your website address (www.coverall.com/about-coverall/detail.aspx?id=117) to a special miniature URL address (bit.ly/11mTips).

It's important to take a similar customized approach when sharing information across different social media channels. The type of content or tone of message you use on Facebook can often be much more lighthearted and fun. That same approach might not work on your LinkedIn company page, where posts are typically framed with a more professional tone. Again, the idea is to tailor your message to each audience so that it is more likely to be received and understood—and you get a positive response.

RULE #6: BE HELPFUL

When you think about a social networking site, such as Twitter, think about its origins. It was intended to be an open system for sharing information with others by using short messages. Most social networks are based on that same concept of sharing information, events, and images that are meaningful to your circle of contacts. That's why one of the ten rules for having a positive interaction is about helping others. When it comes to social selling, being helpful can mean offering educational opportunities, or general support, or even inspiration.

One of the brands that I follow on Facebook and Twitter regularly posts tips that relate to their particular industry—in this case, it's online marketing and search engine optimization. Probably three out of every four posts they share are pretty general, and don't relate to or reference any of the products or services they offer. Nevertheless, the information is extremely helpful and often includes valuable tips of things I can do to help my website get found more readily in Google so potential customers can learn about me. Because of this company's helpful posts, I choose to continue to follow them and I make a point to turn to them when I need additional information. In fact, the information they shared helped position them as an expert in their industry. When I began looking for a tool to assist with optimization, I went to their website, first—and, yes, ultimately purchased from them. Additionally, I share their informative posts with everyone in my social networks. Being helpful goes a long way in the rapidly expanding world of social media networks.

RULE #7: IDENTIFY THE ENTER AND EXIT SIGNS

This rule is a bit tricky. When it comes to having positive social interactions, you not only have to identify relevant conversations to participate in, but you need to understand how to gracefully enter into and exit out of those same conversations. I like to refer to this as how not to be awkward. For starters, you may pick up on an existing conversation that is between two or three people. Perhaps they are going back and forth about a problem which you know your product can solve. The temptation is to immediately insert yourself into the conversation; to send a tweet or post a comment directly to the person with the problem and tell her you have a product that will solve her problem. Unless you already have a relationship with this person through other social interactions, she will have no idea who you are, and no reason pay attention to you or your recommendation. Even worse, she may view you as a nuisance or be offended by your outright sales pitch, when all she wanted was someone to provide her with helpful information. She or others may even push back and challenge your statement, possibly even mentioning one of your competitors as a better solution. So what do you do?

As with in-person gatherings, when entering a new social conversation it's helpful to introduce yourself or provide a valid reason why you have something worthwhile to offer to the conversation. For instance, you might say something like, “I happen to work in that field and I'm always interested in hearing what problems pop up when dealing with this” or “I totally agree. I've worked with others who had that same complaint.” Even though many social networks are open and conversations between just a few people are completely visible to the public, it can still be poor form to intrude on a somewhat private group conversation. In that case, you can often enter the conversation simply by starting with an apology for interrupting: “Sorry to intrude, but I couldn't resist sharing an idea that may be helpful.”

Along these same lines, you do have to monitor social media conversations and make a call on whether or not the person is open to hearing from you. This is especially important if they are engaged in a conversation with your competitor, in which case directly entering the conversation may appear too aggressive. If entering the conversation doesn't look promising, instead of openly commenting on the conversation thread you could be more subtle and Like or Favorite a comment that is made and then come back at a later time and engage with the person.

Knowing when to exit a conversation over social media is equally important. Sometimes you can engage with a person who does not want the conversation to end. Or the conversation could start to get heated or uncomfortable for some reason. (This really does happen.) While an easy out is always to simply stop responding, that too can be awkward. Again, as with face-to-face conversations, it's perfectly acceptable to “sign off” and let the person know you need to go. Or be honest and say you don't have answers to the questions being asked and you need to go research the matter. Be sure to follow up on any promises you make, even when using it as an exit strategy.

RULE #8: MAINTAIN THE SEPARATION OF PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL

When using your social media presence for both professional and personal purposes, it can lead to a struggle. The challenge becomes trying to balance two very different identities. After all, the things you discuss in your downtime from work may not always be appreciated by or appropriate for people you interact with professionally. The easy answer is to maintain separate social media accounts—one for personal use, one for work. This reduces the likelihood of you getting carried away and posting something you shouldn't. But sometimes it's not feasible to maintain multiple accounts. For example, Google + is increasingly trying to tie all your online identities together. LinkedIn is also structured for a single account per user. And, sometimes, you simply prefer not having to worry about managing duplicate accounts or spending twice the effort to build followers and connections for both work and personal accounts.

If you do end up using a single social media account for multiple purposes, be cognizant about the information you share. It's certainly preferable to stick to information that is suitable for both of your audiences. Of course, you do want to be genuine and true to your personality (Rule #1!). Having a professional profile doesn't mean you have to be robotic and devoid of personality; find a comfortable balance. Because you are also using social media to find customers, your social profile descriptions will likely mention the type of work you do and for whom you work. It's important to make it clear that all of your comments do not necessarily represent your company or brand. You may want to state that right up front. (You often see reporters, analysts, and executives of high-profile brands state that they work for Company X, but the opinions they express on social media are their own.)

RULE #9: BE CONSISTENT

Have you ever followed a company or a celebrity on social media because you look forward to the information they share? Then you quickly discover that the amount and types of posts they share are hit and miss, at best. It's disappointing. More important, it becomes incentive for you to disengage. Even though you may not have celebrity status, once you start networking across social channels and building relationships with followers, it's critical to keep up communication. Maintaining a social media schedule is helpful to keep you on track, and I give you some guidance on how to set one up in Chapter 8.

Along with maintaining frequency, you also want to be consistent with the type of information you send. You want people to have a clear expectation of who you are and what your area of expertise is so they think of you when they need assistance in that area. Recall the Internet marketing company that steadily sent out helpful information. They were consistent, and it paid off for them—I became a customer.

RULE #10: ADMIT WHEN YOU'RE WRONG

Truthfully, this rule doesn't require much explanation. Simply put, be ready to admit when you make a mistake and apologize for it, whether you say something you shouldn't, put out information that is wrong, or don't do a good job taking care of your customer. When those things come to light on your social networks, the right thing to do is to own up to your mistake. The good news is that, in most cases, information moves fast across social networks and the social ramifications of your mistake are likely to pass quickly. In addition, people are usually very receptive to apologies and are happy to share with others that you made good on the issue, which can lead to more positive social interactions.

Now that you understand the basics for successfully communicating on social networking sites, it's time to find out how to turn those positive social interactions into potential customers—without pushing your solutions.