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February 7th, 2008

How to Sell Social Media

Posted by: Brian
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Selling Social Media
I’m going to be leading a panel on how to sell social media at the Social Media Club, Louisville chapter on February 19th. My focus will be on selling social media to clients. This can sometimes be a tricky matter. You’ll hear things like this from prospective clients (my witty suggested thoughts in parentheses. Make sure that the person you’re attempting to sell to has a sense of humor. :) ):

  • Why would I ever need that? (Well, why are you calling me? :) )
  • We need more information. (Can you show me every little detail of what you do so I can repurpose it?:) )
  • We’ll just try to do it ourselves. (Sure you will, but you’ll come back later when you get yourself in a bind.)
  • Is that like SEO? (Ok, now I want to smack you.)
  • Can I pay you to be on the xyz homepage? (Ok, now I want to punch you in the face.)
  • Gee, I don’t know. Can we test you out? (Sort of fair, but you get what you pay for.)
  • My web designer says that he knows how to do social media, so talk to him first (Fine, but would you mind asking my pediatrician how to be a matador? Seriously, come on.)

    Really though, when I’m selling social media, I try to explain what social media is, how it breaks down, and where is a best fit for me to offer consulting for them. Also, I make sure they understand the closely fitting areas of community management and reputation management.

    If you’re in the Louisville area, stop on in. I won’t disappoint :) (Hint: I’ll be asking for a volunteer).

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    About the Author
    Brian Wallace is the founder of NowSourcing, Inc., a social media agency since 2005 serving everyone from startups to the Fortune 500 and everything in between. Prior to founding NowSourcing, Brian worked in a variety of technical and marketing environments being a Chief Technology Officer for a noted media company. Brian holds an MBA and MS in Information Systems and resides in Louisville, KY with his wife and children. He started the group social media blog, Collective Thoughts and appears as a guest author on Mashable and Google Tutor.
    View all posts by Brian
    • http://www.techtipsblog.com SearchBuzz

      What type of contract do your enter upon, or how to your scale out your pricing?

      Thanks,
      mike b.

      SearchBuzz’s last blog post..External Storage: Go Big or Don’t Bother!

    • http://copybrighhter.com/blog BrettFromTibet

      The headline of this post implies that it will contain tips and information about “How to Sell Social Media.” but it’s just an promo for your talk (where I’m sure you will go into it in full detail). Please post notes and tips from your talk when you have the time – I would be interested in what you have to say on it but I can’t make it to Louisville for the meeting ;)

    • http://www.nowsourcing.com/blog brian

      @SearchBuzz:
      Contract and pricing varies based on what the client is looking for. This is a much longer discussion that would be more specific and not really meant for the comment thread. Please do drop a me line though :)

      @BrettFromTibet:
      Well, I offered up some suggested humorous responses to what clients will ask and a few other points, but this proves the effectiveness of powerful titles. I’ll post a follow up after we have some fun at the meeting. (We’ll save you a seat if you change your mind) :)

    • http://broadcasting-brain.com Mark Dykeman

      I might not know how to describe what social media, but I know it when it see it!

      Yeah, that kind of thing.

      Mark Dykeman’s last blog post..Catch the brainwaves with Muhammad Saleem

    • http://www.seduction-chronicles.net/david-deangelo/ David Deangelo

      It’s hard to “sell” social media to clients, I would suspect, because it’s not really quantifiable. Do you have a case study of a previous client and what you’ve done with social media for them?

    • http://www.srclarke.com Todd Mintz

      I always thought the IT department was in charge of social media…silly me.

    • http://www.nowsourcing.com/blog brian

      @Mark Dykeman – knowing it when you see it is a step ahead of the game.

      @David Deangelo – there are methods to measure social media as quantifiable, perhaps just not in the way you may be thinking. So to that extent, case studies can be made.

      @Todd Mintz – sadly, the IT department left to not be in charge of very much.

    • http://www.seochris.com/htaccess/ “I haven’t learned to sell social media effectively, yet!”

      This would be content to broadcast on You Tube or as a podcast. You guys thought about that?

    • http://www.mixx.com/users/fatlester Fat Lester

      I don’t care if it’s just a promo for the Louisville talk, that was one funny post with some genuine insight.

    • http://www.nowsourcing.com/blog brian

      @haven’t learned yet:
      Might be fun to have on YouTube or podcast. Anyone else interested in seeing this?

      @Fat Lester
      Right on. It’s better than if I were to drone on about the event. This is called value add, people! And you’re welcome! :)

    • http://smallbusinessblog.clicksharpmarketing.com/category/social-media/ Paul Burani, Clicksharp Marketing

      I tend to think that the best way to sell social media is with a story. You start with the business scenario, talk about the creation of linkbait at the start, what multitude of channels was used, which hit, how we knew it, etc. And then of course how it was monetized… my go-to story usually doesn’t raise eyebrows until I share three core metrics: pageviews, ad clicks (we were using Adsense), and dollars earned.

      You gotta convey the excitement of the viral explosion…we all know what it’s like, but if we can’t paint that picture in the client’s eyes it becomes really hard to sell social media.

      Paul Burani, Clicksharp Marketing’s last blog post..2,000 marketing executives agree: Search is the new Email

    • http://www.nowsourcing.com/blog brian

      @Paul Burani: a good consultant in any industry should be an expert storyteller. And yes, you need to get people excited about things going viral. Many probably have an idea of what going viral means, but that’s far different from seeing what things actually translate to.

    • Pingback: How to Really Sell Social Media

    • http://www.inkode.co.nz/ NZ seo

      I’d like to see a youtube video Brian – make it funny and show us your viral marketing skills :)

    • http://www.seduction-chronicles.net/david-deangelo David De Angelo

      Love to see some case studies. I think many of your readers would!

      David De Angelo’s last blog post..By: David Deangelo Announces New Live Program

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