There has been a massive increase in social media usage over the latest lockdown periods across the world.
The latest Simon Kemp figures show that there has been a 47% increase in social media over the last few months.
The internet usage has grown by 7% over the last year, there are now 4.57 Billion active users of the internet.
So while "Sharon" may have resigned from Facebook, 300 Million people joined social media over the last 12 months. There are now 3.81 Billion active users of social media, worldwide.
If we look at Zoom which is a "bellwether" for the current transformation to digital. They now have 300 million daily participants on Zoom, which is a 4 fold increase over last year.
Zoom is now the 6th most downloaded app in the world.
Twitter usage is up 55%.
Social Media Has Changed the World
Even before Covid19, Social Media has changed the world but even more so now.
We turn on the TV and it's about what people have tweeted. The other day the news was about Adidas had retweeted Nike.
But while social is changing the world, it's reassuring that there are companies out there that using social is business as usual (BaU). DLA Ignite, has been transforming sales teams for 4 years now to use social. This article is from 2016 on how to get 10 C-Level meetings a week by using Twitter. So even if you just look people up on Linkedin, we are all using social as part of our work.
The New Normal is Digital
So when Stéphanie Genin, vice president of global enterprise marketing at social media management firm Hootsuite said this, I wasn't surprised, are you?
“After weeks of adapting to Zoom parties, video appointments with doctors, online schooling, social distancing and tapping into social media for virtually everything, will people be happy to go back to their old ways of working and engaging with each other?”
she then goes on to ask.
“The answer will be no. Social media has been holding communities together and organisations will need to assess how to manage the new normal.”
But Once This Covid Thing is Over It Will Go Back to The Way it Was?
Sorry, recent Gartner research showed that once this is all over people said ...
84% said they will maintain their"increased use of social media to engage with brands"
78% said they will continue with their"increased preference for digital commerce"
34% said there are now an"increased number of stakeholders in purchase decision making"
Isn't it amazing the evolution that has taken place through the use of digital because of the coronavirus?
The Analogue Selling Conundrum
The longer Covid-19 goes on, the more we will build "network" skills and the more we will expect the people selling to us to behave in the same way.
The more cold calling, cold emails and advertising seems to be from a bygone age. The conundrum is this. If you are using advertising, email and cold calling you are driving customers to buy from your competitors, why?
Because for every $ you invest in advertising, cold calling and email you are NOT investing in social.
As we have agreed above, you prospects and clients are on social. Surley you need to invest in the demand generation, where you clients are?
The modern buyer now knows that if you present them with an advert, a cold call or a cold email, they will go online and compare you with the competition. Your social competition. This means that ever $ you spend on advertising, cold calling and email will drive a comparison with your competition.
In other words budget spent on advertising, cold calling and email is putting money into the pockets of the marketers in the competition.
Real Life Case Study
know that the moment somebody walks into one of their showrooms, that person will probably know more that the salesperson. Why? Because they will have searched the web, joined online discussion groups, asked their friends and family online and off-line.
It's not possible for the salesperson to know everything there is about all the cars. The way they first tried to get around that was to have "teams". An SUV team and a 5 and 7 series team, but still clients would know more.
(Clients will also know about pricing information and "deals" because people will have shared this on social.)
have therefore moved the role of the salesperson to be more advisory on the things that a person cannot Google. The right lease options, the right options on the car that hold their value. The fact that sporty versions don't tend to hold their value, if resale value is important to you.
Getting Your Sales Team on Social
I'm going to have to talk about the "elephant in the room" which is about your own sales team and the fact they are NOT social.
Social is not posting, social is not posting corporate content that marketing have told you to post. Social is not having emojis in your Linkedin profile, something that actually impacts the algorithm negatively. Social Selling (often called Modern Selling) is a methodology to enable you to sell more, or right now in the Covid-19 world to sell.
Take a look at your sales people's Linkedin profiles are they working hard for them? Do they stand out from the competition or do they look like every other salesperson? Are they using their Linkedin profile to qualify deals, so they only sell to the people who will buy from them? Think of the efficiency saving if you stop chasing business you cannot close / win.
Are they using content to accelerate deals through the pipe? Are they using social to prospect? Are they using social to close deals?
Selling has been reinvented, not by me or by any of us at DLA Ignite, but by your buyers. It's time your business got in synch with those digital buyers and right now, you have the time to do it.
If you want to chat about how we can transform your sales team, you can contact me here
The report titled, “The social enterprise at work: Paradox as a path forward,” notes that as restrictions ease and businesses plot their return to the office, organisations have an opportunity to improve the workplace with a stronger focus on employee wellbeing. Beyond enforcing new hygiene and social distancing measures, Deloitte argues this era of work will require a stronger focus on purpose to keep distributed teams working towards a common goal, and the ability to make bold decisions at a time of persistent change.
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