In yesterday’s post, I addressed the most difficult question in B2B Social Media: How do you sell in an environment that hates sales pitches? Strategy #1: Use a LinkedIn group to bring together experts and customers online in ways that would never happen offline. Here’s the five-step process that I’ve used with very solid success:
1. Identify a “latent community.” This is a term I use to describe a group of people who are in a community, but won’t know it until you tell them. They have a lot in common, and are facing similar problems, but don’t yet know that there are other people out there like themselves. This takes a decent amount of creativity, and it’s worth taking a lot of time to consider. If you know a targeted market well, look for its its conversational pain points. ”If only the R&D guys would talk to the lawyers.” Or, “There’s a big problem coming for people in XYZ position and they don’t yet know it yet.” Another would be, “This is an emerging field that should have a trade group but hasn’t hit critical mass yet.” The lists of people that flow from these types of questions are your latent community members.
2. Come up with a snazzy name for your group. Something that sounds interesting and leader-like that people will feel proud to join. Remember, people join communities as a way of expressing their identity. Focus your group on something that brings out an element of their aspirations. You’ll need a good logo. No one wants to join a group that looks unprofessional or would cause their peers to judge them badly. Do a search for “logo” and a relevant keyword on iStockPhoto.com and you’ll find some stunning pics to work with, and they’re all relatively cheap — under $20.
3. Prepare the invitation. The invitation is everything. It explains the problem, introduces the person to a community that is tailor made for them. It expresses the group’s need for this person’s participation. It also need to come across as somewhat established or certain to be established so that they don’t think they’re the main draw.
4. Once people accept the invitation (as the moderator you control various settings that open or close the virtual gate), send an introductory email. I recently got one from the B2B Social Media group that was outstanding. It made clear that spammy comments wouldn’t be allowed and reserved the moderator’s right to delete them. Beyond that it set high expectations for participation, all of which made the group seem more special, serious, and worth my time. In that moment the group became even more valuable to me.
5. You’ll need a content strategy. Hopefully you’ve read up to this point before setting up your group! But be careful. Content strategies that rely just on you are sure to fail. You’re not running a magazine here. You’re creating a community. In the beginning, communities need to be cultivated. Water them with introductions between group members, industry news to debate, recognition of contributions, and throwing out interesting questions for the group to discuss. Although you’re the group leader, the role you want to achieve is merely group member. Equality breeds trust. And trust is the basis for sales. Don’t forget that most of the group’s value isn’t what’s being discussed, it’s the connection to the other people discussing it. To that end, keep membership requirements tight. Don’t let in people who aren’t perfect for your group. Just as perfect members make a group’s value rise, imperfect ones will make it fall.
Congratulations! Having followed the steps above, you’re a thought leader and trusted member of a highly targeted community. Now start making direct connections, use the phone, meet in person and make some sales.
Have you set up a group along these lines on LinkedIn? Share your story and the lessons learned below.
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