Creating Social Opportunities: Tim Sanders on How to Effectively Use Social Media for Business Purposes

On May 30, 2013, the Eagles Talent team welcomed business visionary and best-selling author, Tim Sanders, into our South Orange, New Jersey office.  During his visit, he taught us about the importance of embracing the online social channel and using it to connect digitally to new customers.

As a keynote business speaker on topics like The Social Opportunity and Relationship Power! How to Win Business & Influence People, Sanders is an expert at using social media outlets like Facebook, Google + and his favorite, Twitter, to attract new business and interest.  Since his days working at broadcast.com (bought by Yahoo!), he has contributed to the evolution of the internet into Web 2.0 – a new kind of online space that encourages virtual communities and interaction between website owners and visitors.

When social media outlets like those mentioned above started becoming popular after the internet’s evolution, Sanders started analyzing new ways to build brands, recruit talent and influence markets through social channels.   During this time, he also learned a lot about effectively selling products and services online, a skill our online marketing business speakers have at Eagles Talent.  Like Sanders, they recognize that social media participation is imperative for company success.

How to Effectively Use Social Media 

During Sanders’ visit, he referred to some of the social media tactics that came up at a previous interview he attended between interviewer Vince Thompson and Oliver Luckett, founder of a company named The Audience that manages the social media accounts of artists, athletes and entertainers.  Because Eagles Talent deals with the same talent The Audience manages, the information Sanders provided our team with was especially useful.  Here are some of the tips he gave us:

• Provide Valuable Content to Readers Before Selling: Sanders says “you should not think of social platforms as a bullhorn to make announcements.”  Instead, provide your readers with information that entertains and informs.  Give them pictures and information-rich videos and essays to build trust.  Then, once you’ve gained your reader’s trust and interest, feel free to sell a little.
• Measure Clicks and Conversions: The only way you know what’s working is by tracking how many much interest an individual piece of content receives.  You can do this with online marketing software and built-in social media features to learn what your followers like and give them more of it.
• Don’t Sell People with Your Content: In other words, don’t feel the need to attach a call to action to every piece of content you create.  When you give your content away without expecting anything in return, you’ll be rewarded with social shares, trust and other things that ultimately increase sales.  Sander’s says, “Don’t sell people, serve them and let them sell you.”

When you take action with these principles in mind, you’ll reach the minds of your followers and increase your social opportunity.  As one of our favorite inspirational speakers and business visionaries, we’re thankful for Tim Sanders motivating our team to improve its social media efforts.  We learned a lot from him and we’re sure you will too.

Note: Tim Sanders is currently available for booking.