Social media use has skyrocketed over the last few years, with two out of every three people in the UK having a presence on at least one social media platform.

Many people use social media to keep in touch with friends and share their photos, but did you also know that you can use it to seek out prospective customers for your business?

This is what social media prospecting is; using social media to find, listen to and engage with prospective customers. It’s a great tool to have in your business toolkit as it is low cost and has potentially high returns if you use it right. LinkedIn has said that half of their users would buy from a company that they engaged with on the platform!

So, how do you get started with social media prospecting?

Get listening

The first step is to use keywords to find people who could be interested in the service or product you provide. Put a list together of keywords, hashtags and phrases that people would use to find you, or if you are using LinkedIn, use search options to find relevant companies and job roles.

Once you have found the right people, connect with them and start engaging with them.

Provide content

Content is at the heart of social prospecting. Whether your content informs, educates, and entertains, it will ultimately help nurture your prospects and move them further along the sales funnel.

It doesn’t matter if you share relevant industry content, tell your personal story or help answer your prospects questions; the fact that you are engaging with your audience is vital.

Reach out to prospects

Once you have connected with your prospect and engaged with them, reach out to them. You can do this on the social media platform with a direct message, or send them an email. If they do not have their email on their profile, you should be able to find it online.

As with all prospecting, be friendly, helpful and avoid the hard-sell.

Join groups

Groups on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn can be great for finding prospects. Do some research on what groups your prospective customers are likely to engage in, and then go and join them. You can even start your own group to attract the people that you want to engage with.

How Funnel Boost can help

Of course, if you do not have the time or the knowledge to carry out social media prospecting, we can help. We will pinpoint the right people on social media, engaging them on your behalf and then reaching out with a conversational company introduction.