It can be difficult to show traditional salespeople the value of social media. To many, social media can be a stream of disjointed, fluffy content without order or process, and many regard social as just another corporate initiative without much merit. How can you present social media in a way that speaks the language of sales and helps get buy in?

Align social media with your sales cycle and explain it in sales terms. Not only can this better explain social media to sales, but it can help to better quantify social media’s impact on sales, and help tell the story of social media to management and executives.  

Five main questions need to be answered when strategizing:

1. What are your sales cycle steps?

A typical sales cycle looks something like this: 1) Initial Contact, 2) Approach, 3) Needs Assessment, 4) Presentation, 5) Meeting Objections, 6) Commitment, 7) Follow-Up. They can be anywhere from three to eight steps and establishing it is the first step in speaking the language of sales.

2. What are your buyer personas?

Whether you have established personas or need to develop them, your organization probably has between three and five personas. This can be the IT executive, the soccer mom, the procurement manager, or whatever target markets are likely to be in charge of the purchasing decision.

3. What questions are your buyers asking at each step of the sales cycle?

Create a spreadsheet with the sales cycle steps along the side axis, and buyer personas along the top axis. Fill in each step and persona with questions that buyers are asking at that step in the process. “Why do I need a helpdesk solution for my company?” or “What’s the difference between satellite and cable TV service?” List as many questions as possible by each persona.

4. What type(s) of content best answer your buyer persona questions at each step in the sales cycle?

Below each question, list the best type of content to answer it. “Why do I need a helpdesk solution” could be answered by an infographic, where “The difference between satellite and cable” might be answered with a quick video. List the various types of content that can best tell the story and answer your persona questions.

5. Which channels best fit your content and buyer personas?

Finally, list the channels that match the content types listed in step four. Infographics can be distributed on Google+, or used in a blog post and then shared on Facebook and Twitter. The video can be hosted on YouTube, embedded in a blog post and tweeted.

By following this strategy process, you can better align sales processes, buyer personas, content types and social media networks. Tell more cohesive stories, get organization-wide buy-in, and make social media a more concrete and integral part of your salespeople’s processes. 

Have you used similar strategies? What other ways have you been successful in getting buy-in from sales and executives?

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