Twitter Strategies for Sales Lead Generation: 5 Strategies To Drive Your Competition Crazy

FoxBusiness.com published this deansguide article 4-28-09

Every great sales professional, business development director, and account executive should be paying attention to the huge opportunities that Twitter represents to their bottom line sales quota and success. As a former national account executive in the software industry, I never had a tool like Twitter. If I had Twitter at my disposal, here is how I would drive my sales while driving my competition crazy. The following are 5 tips for lead generation.

Twitter Strategies: Lead Generation for Sales Professionals

1. WeFollow.com: Wefollow.com is a Twitter directory covering every niche market of businesses, entrepreneurs, and celebrities. Go to wefollow.com and register your account in the appropriate niche. This helps provide exposure. Next look for your competition to see if they are in the directory. Finally search for your peers who you network with or collaborate on projects. Tip: Give your customers and collaborators this information so they can take advantage of wefollow.com
2. Search: Utilize Twazzup.com and Twitter’s internal search engine to search for your competition, peers, collaborators, and consumers. Make a list of your competition and clients that are using Twitter. Tip: Again make this information available to clients using Twitter. Be a go-to source of valuable Twitter information
3. Blogroll: On the profile page for every Twitter account sits a microblogroll aka the Followers section with pictures of some of that account’s followers. The following is @guykawasaki’s blogroll:

4. Mine Blogroll: Mine this blogroll for your competition, for people or companies you wish to contact, and for recon on who your competition is actively engaging. The key is to scan this roll but then go deeper by clicking on the link “view all” at the bottom of the blogroll widget

5. Mine Competition’s Tweet Stream: Go to your competitor’s profile page look for:

• Competition’s consumers or client communications
• Who your competition engages with in conversation
• How often they are engaging
• Signs of customer service activity may signal an opportunity to “steal” an account or customer away from your competition
• Search for announcements that your competition is partnering or about to “consult” with a desired account
• Search for reputation management issues that could be a deciding factor in why your company is a better fit for a client
• Search for “loose lips” or “bragging” where your competition could not keep their mouth shut. Approach companies with information about your competition’s “communication”  tendancies

Realtor’s Hyper Local Investigation Tool: Local Perspective Through Experience

Placeblogger.com is a fantastic local and hyper local site that lists local blogs for the express purpose of creating news and information about places that may be ignored by the local media due to their tiny size or stature. To further understand the site, you must consider their definition of a placeblog:

“Placeblogs: are sometimes called “hyperlocal sites” because some of them focus on news events and items that cover a particular neighborhood in great detail — and in particular, places that might be too physically small or sparsely populated to attract much traditional media coverage. Because of this, many people have associated them with the term “citizen journalism,” or journalism done by non-journalists.”

Placeblogger’s Differentiating Factor

Without a doubt this site takes on a hyper hyper local flavor and one that is built on the experiences of people who have lived in the places they write posts for and about:

According to placeblogger: “They’re about the lived experience of a place. That experience may be news, or it may simply be about that part of our lives that isn’t news but creates the texture of our daily lives. . . “

Find a Location: This is a search engine for placeblogs

Add Places: This is a method to add your blog to the directory and gain more exposure

Founder-Editor and Advisors: A solid list of bright people in which to entrust your research with confidence

Placeblogger’s Value

This site is supported and produced by the Center for Citizen Media a grassroots organization that promotes and sustains citizen journalism at every level possible. This is the type of organization that provides the help and guidance for bloggers to continue to propagate hyper local messages, prosper as self contained journalistic entities, and create community amongst the masses.

Principles of Citizen Journalists

1. Principles of Citizen Journalism

2. Accuracy

3. Throughness

4. Fairness

5. Transparency

6. Independence

7. Resources

Blogger’s Guide to Expertise: Lorelle VanFossen’s “Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging”

Reuters.com published this deansguide article September 24, 2008

I never push my readers to read or subscribe to someone’s blog or website. I feel it is their choice, their time, and their preferences that are most important. But I am going to break that rule this one time. If you are about to establish a blog, a beginning blogger, an intermediate blogger, an experienced blogger, or if you think you know everything about blogging–you MUST check out Lorelle VanFossen.

Why Lorelle VanFossen?

Complex strategies made simple, hands on help made easy, effective and valuable guidelines made accessible, and the energy to continuously deliver fresh valuable content without asking for anything in return. Lorelle is an incredible resource.

Lorelle Van Fossen was a presenter at WordPress’s Word Camp 2008 in San Francisco and she made a huge impression on the audience. She is an expert on WordPress, how to stretch that platform to it’s limits, and everything blogging. On top of those facts, Lorelle is very giving of her time and energy to help people–she’s one of the good ones.

Authority and Substance Factor

Lorelle VanFossen is one of the leading experts on WordPress software, techniques, strategies, and writing. Her blog Lorelle.wordpress.com is a massive treasure chest full of help and answers. Lorelle’s blog mantra:

“Helping You Learn More About Blogging and WordPress Every Day With Help, Tips, Advice, and Techniques For Blogging and Using WordPress, and WordPress.com. The Blogging Help You Need. Now”

Must Read For Any Blogger

Although it is a beginner’s guide to blogging, “Blogging Tips” has many very valuable tips and strategies for the intermediate and advanced blogger. Yes all of the type of information Lorelle has outlined exists for free online–if you are willing to research each author’s reputation, compile the information, and then organize it from ground zero to advanced techniques. For a sample chapter and the chance to see what I am raving about go here for your free chapter

Why This Book?

1. It is organized extremely well leaving out nothing for chance

2. The text is simple and easy to digest

3. Bullet points, well thought out examples, and commentary lead the reader at their own pace on a learning expedition

4. Lorelle addresses your motivation. Do you blog for fun, to write, or for business. She approaches each with strategy and useful advice

5. Succinct style as this book is 92 power packed pages

6. SEO tactics

7. Blogger Rights section with copyright information

8. Community Building strategies

9. Blog Management and Administration

10. Work-Book Size and Index section make this an easy book to cross reference

Analysis

People are curious animals in that many of us do not want to take the time to buy a book. If it’s free we can find it online. Yet when push comes to shove, we don’t always find the right information. We don’t spend the time to investigate, and we don’t make the learning process a priority.

Suggestion: The Best $12.95 You Will Ever Invest

Invest in yourself, your blogging, and your education. Buy Lorelle’s book as it is the best $12.95 I have spent in years! At the very least subscribe to Lorelle’s blog and begin to reap the benefits!