Social Media: A Roadmap for the Channel

Roadmap-to-Success-2

To be sure, the benefits to using social media to promote business within the channel are proving to be huge. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter are allowing vendors to extend their professional reach and better connect with their partners. The platforms aren’t just a great way for vendor and partner communication: Social media cuts costs by getting channel-specific content out to a much larger contact base without the “cold” email and much faster than snail mail.

But it can be difficult to go from using social media entirely for personal conversation to sharing business information. There is a learning curve involved. Channel Maven Consulting’s Social Media Road Map is a possible resource for vendors that want to help their partners go deep in the social media game. The idea is to offer up information in easily digestible sections so as not to overwhelm partners. Channel Maven’s road map covers a 12-week time frame, pinpointing goals to work toward weekly. Vendors want to ensure the information not going to overwhelm partners or take them out of the day-to-day for long.

Here are the topics we use and suggest for what to cover and how:

Week 1:  Online Branding

With so much information online today, vendors should ensure their business is at the forefront of prospects’ and channel partners’ online searches.

Week 2: Complete your LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is the primary online networking resource for professionals. Having an incomplete profile is like showing up to a meeting in sweats and a baseball hat. Vendors should help partners improve their online presence starting with LinkedIn.

Week 3: Website

All roads–emails, social, SEO–lead to a company website, so ensure partners’ sites are user-friendly.

Week 4: Online Listening

Help partners start listening to what people are saying within the industry. Once they receive feedback on what people are saying about your, the vendor’s, solutions it will open interaction with these people.

 Week 5: Increase a Twitter Following 

Partners learn to build direct dialogue with others in the industry, both customers and prospects.

Week 6: Get more engaged with LinkedIn

Vendors should concentrate efforts on building connections and exchanging information within a broader range including Groups.

 Week 7: Drive Traffic to a Company Website

Increases partners’ visibility to prospects that are looking for solutions, or services that you as the vendor can provide them.

 Week 8: Create a Blog

Provides partners greater reach to their prospects by creating a blog. Blogging can help to station partners as an industry thought leaders.

 Week 9: Facebook and Google+

Help partners stay top of mind with current customers and improve SEO by engaging on a Facebook or Google+ page.

 Week 10: Start a Newsletter

Partners now have now an engaged audience, newsletters help to stay relevant and get an accurate measure of interest levels.

 Week 11: Amplify your Business’ Social Media Presence

Now that partners are engaging, who else is sharing their message? How should they respond?

 Week 12: Continue with the Good Work

Keep that momentum going and put it all together with traditional marketing.

The road narrows down to the person that can stay top of mind generates more business. There are so many assets to this course of action. Whether the Social Media Road Map or another easily digestible resource, the road to success is to access social.