Come on now, we’ve all heard the buzz about Web 2.0 and Social media. Do you actually understand it, believe it and participate in it? You should.
First, I was an idiot for too long. At around 34 years old, I was already starting to feel like a dinosaur on the technology front. Just keeping up with all the websites, portals, software and more. Then I came to a realization. I have to separate my personal instincts and gut feeling about emerging trends and look more at the market response to see what is going on. In all honesty, I thought Web 2.0 sites were a fad (anybody remember Personal Homepages back in the late 90’s?). But with my new found beliefs in mind, I created accounts on Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Xing and even this morning on Entreprenuer Connect.
I have since all but abandoned Myspace in favor of Facebook for my personal page (if I don’t know you personally, I won’t accept invitations to connect, sorry). I use LinkedIn and Xing for business purposes and that’s what I really want to talk about.
I’m blown away by these business websites in particular. Millions of prospects, all effectively free and with unbelievable information on most profiles. I have done sales for many years prior to this social networking world, cold calling from crappy and great leads lists alike. Its never been fun.
Right now, I’m doing international business development and marketing. My company AmeriStart does US Market Entry services primarily in three areas. Life Science, Software/IT and now we are focusing on Green Business (as we call it).
Literally, I use Xing every single day to prospect. I’ve generated better returns on my time and energy using it than any other tool for marketing. I simply do 3 things consistently….
- I write 20-30 introductions per day (these are personal messages to each person, so it takes some time) and wait and see if there is interest.
- I created a group on XING called US Sales and Marketing Strategies. I frequently post articles and information on tapping into the American market. To date, I have about 150 group members.
- Finally, I use the search agent to put in criteria for people I want to meet.When someone adds a profile or changes theirs and it matches my own, the search agent tells me about them.
It’s almost mind numbingly easy to do and it pays off big returns. All of my international pipeline has been generated by Xing alone. I’m now getting really to tap more into the International base on LinkedIn as well.
All this matters to you if you are out there trying to sell and market in either the US or globally. It matters because you can easily take advantage of it and start getting their pipeline filled up. Get connected and use thee tools for sales prospecting. Its what all the cool kids are doing today. You’ll love it too!
photo credit: Social Media Butterflies via photopin (license)