Image courtesy of Nina Matthews Photography’s photostream
If you’re looking for new B2B prospects, social media can make it incredibly easy to pinpoint your prospects. Social becomes even more powerful when turned into offline connections and interactions. Follow the 10-step social prospecting checklist below and accelerate your growth today.
Step 1: List Your Targets
List five companies in the area that would make a great account. If you have specific contacts in mind, list them, as well.
Step 2: List Job Titles
List the five most common job titles of your clients. This will be used to find prospects who are the appropriate prospects (i.e. decision-makers.)
Step 3: Do Company Searches in LinkedIn
Now search in LinkedIn for each of the companies listed in step 1. Using the search function in the top navigation bar, select “companies” to begin the search.
Step 4: See Who Works There
Click on “See all” to see the employees who work at your target companies. Just searching up to this point can be useful, but we’ll dig deeper and look for more powerful connections.
Step 5: Look Prospects with Mutual Connections
As you browse the list, look to for 1st and 2nd degree connections. List any first degree connections below. These prospects can be turned into referral candidates, if well played.
Step 6: Find 2nd Degree Prospects
For 2nd degree connections, look to see who your “shared connection” is. This is a mutual contact between you and your prospect. Write down your 2nd degree prospects, along with shared connections below.
Step 7: Facebook Graph Search
Next, we’ll tap into the power of Facebook’s Graph Search. In Facebook, search for the job titles you listed in step 2. We’ll run through a similar process that we did for LinkedIn, now on Facebook.
Step 8: Pinpoint Prospects via Title and Company
Repeat the searches in the last step, this time including the both job titles and the different company names listed in steps 1 and 2.
Step 9: List Your Results
Write down any good prospects that come up, based on titles. If you have mutual friends, write that person’s name down, as well.
Step 10: Review Your Findings and Take Action
This process can create some great prospects. Be sure to reach out to your friends and 1st level contacts that are connected to these prospects. Ask them how they know one another and take notes. Ask them for an introduction, as well.