What makes a great Presales social media profile?

Many presales professionals develop very strong in person skills on presenting, listening and handling objections. Often people ask me why should they bother having a strong linkedin profile or other social media sites? This is an interesting question, as having a good profile could help you start your face to face meetings with a stronger first impression. Your customers and prospects will do their research on you before meeting you. They want to know why you are coming, or hear from you in between sessions. 

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A strong profile is part of a complete communication profile and could help you sell more by doing less work individually with customers. You may also have a stronger impression on others in your network and find new opportunities more easily. 

Here's my top tips on what makes a good presales social media profile:

1. How to make a good first impression? Your profile should reflect your company values, demonstrate your passion and knowledge, build your credibility and appeal to your target audience - customers, colleagues and your industry.  

2. Do the basics first. Choose a name that people will search for. Tell your reader who you are and what you do as clearly as possible. Make it easy for them to contact you and give them a call to action. Include a links to your website and provide key contact details.

3. Fit your tone to the medium. Don't be too casual or comical on a business networking platform such as LinkedIn, and Facebook is more a place for friends & family. Each profile you choose to use needs to be consistent with your brand values, but tailored to the audience on each site. You might even consider having separate profiles & brands if you have different audiences with different needs.

4. Encourage your previous contacts to give endorsements to improve your standing. Mention some professional achievements, but don't make it just about you and your achievements. Tell people what you want to do, and WHY you are doing it.

5. Interact! Don't do everything just from your own posts and profile. Read other people's articles. Comment on them, or reshare them with your own perspectives. Get into discussions.  High engagement will draw people back to your profile to find out more about you and could help influence other people's opinions.

6. Do show some personality. People like to see a balance of who you are, and not just the job you do today or what your company is doing.  It is good to show you work at not just helping customers understand your products, but that you work at being a better presales resource for them too. If reposting something, it is always better to give some of your perspective and views on it, rather than just reposting it without context.

7. Pictures are important. Make sure your profile pictures (and any that you post) are good reflections on who you are today.  A quality image helps give customers an anchor point on who you are and feel more affinity than a blank profile or corporate logo. 

8. Help people find you! Keywords and phrases help people searching for the products and services you offer and the way customers get value from your solutions. If you have particular areas of expertise like demos or presentations, this would be good to use as well. Thinking about a quality BIO will help you get noticed more often, and help customers and others know more about the value you bring to a session.

9. Keep it fresh. Update your profile often to show what you believe in today. Curate any pinned articles and posts to make sure your best items are easy to find.

10. Social selling is not blatant. You should use it as a way to bring people into your network, and you'll get a clear signal if they want to know how to buy from you.  Avoid being too pushy about what you can sell, and focus on what people want to learn from you.

11. Check out what other good presales folks are doing (not just in your industry). What draws your attention and what pushes you away? Would you connect with them?  What can you learn from them?

Other ideas-  read some books like "The Social Sales Engineer" which could help inspire you to be a thought leader in your industry or field.