Podcast Summary: The Digital Marketing Podcast

Episode: Social Selling for B2B Businesses

Date: December 1, 2017
Host: Ciaran Rogers
Guest: Maggie Maspero, Head of Marketing at SoAmpli

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into using social media as a strategic tool in B2B sales—commonly called "social selling." Ciaran Rogers is joined by Maggie Maspero from SoAmpli to debunk myths about B2B’s role in social media, discuss the impact of social platforms on the sales process, outline best practices for content and team alignment, and explore practical steps and tools for effective social selling.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Debunking the B2B Social Media Myth

• Myth: “Social media isn’t for B2B.”
• Maggie addresses this common misconception:

  "It's a myth in a way that we can and we're trying to debunk on a daily basis, because people are just people, and social media is just another place where you can find them." (02:09)

• Social media is another medium to initiate and sustain business relationships, provided it’s approached correctly.

2. The Measurable Impact of Social Selling

• Social selling leads to noticeable prospecting growth, even within the first month:

  “Within the first 30 days you can have an increase in prospecting of 30%.” (02:56)

• Quality, not just quantity: More conversations and content lead to better prospect identification.

3. Moving Away from Cold Calling

• Cold calling is widely disliked and inefficient.
• Social selling allows prospects to come to you:

  “I've never heard someone saying, oh my god, I love cold calling. It's my favorite activity… The people doing it hate it and the people on the receiving end hate it as well." (04:06–04:18)

4. Social Media’s Effect on Search and Visibility

• Being active on social media enhances discoverability and search engine rankings.
• LinkedIn, in particular, improves visibility:

  "If you Google your own name, it's very likely your LinkedIn profile will come up... Search engines are looking for social signals." (05:21)

5. Choosing the Right Platforms

• LinkedIn: The essential and most effective channel for B2B.
  • Networking, recommendations, and group engagement are valuable, though groups are now more for broadcasting content.
  • Example: Industry recommendations spread quickly and organically through personal networks (07:32).
• Twitter: Especially valuable for events (live tweeting, softer networking, pre-event engagement).

  • "Before you go to an event... look at all their attendees. If there's anyone that you want to speak to... reach out to them." (08:24)

• Facebook/Instagram:
  • More relevant for employer branding and recruiting younger talent.
  • Not primary for lead gen, but good for showcasing company culture (11:04).
• ‘Lurkers’ Matter: Many benefit from your content even if they do not publicly engage (11:45).

6. Integrating Sales & Marketing Through Social Selling

• Social selling bridges the gap between marketing (content creation) and sales (relationship building/closing):

  “You can give the ammunition to the sales team, even the people that are not particularly digitally savvy.” (13:05)

• Sales teams need to be equipped, even if they’re not social media natives.

7. Sharing Insights: Two-Way Benefits

• Sales can provide marketing with real feedback on customer pain points and responses, making content more relevant.

  “You really create a connection… you can really feed back that information to the marketing team.” (15:18)

8. Consistency, Listening, and Adding Value

• Be Consistent:

  “Once you start being on social media, you just don't do it like once every three months. You have to be there.” (16:54)

• Don’t Just Push Content: Listen, observe competitors, and learn from industry leaders.
• Quality trumps quantity: Aim for truly remarkable, insightful content (18:08–19:46).

9. Building Trust, Not Doing The Hard Sell

• The process is about relationships—not going straight for the sale:

  “You wouldn't ask someone to marry you on the first date.” (23:07)

• Maggie’s 80/20 Rule:

  “20% of the time you’re allowed to promote your services... for the remaining 80%, you need to make sure you add value to your network.” (23:29)

• Social selling is analogous to real-life networking—don’t monopolize the conversation.

10. Best Practices for Team Alignment & Tooling

• Leadership buy-in on both sales and marketing sides is essential.
• Simplicity and Enablement: Make it easy for both teams to participate with ready-to-share assets and clear strategy.
• Maggie introduces SoAmpli as a tool:
  • Designed to be “stupid simple” and actionable (30:27–31:45).
  • Key features: easy scheduling, automated queues, actionable real-time insights into client behavior.

11. Further Resources

• SoAmpli’s ebook on social selling tips is available for beginners (32:57).
• Maggie’s parting encouragement: “These are things that you don’t need specific tools to do—it’s just, okay, when it comes to Twitter, when it comes to LinkedIn, what should I do?” (33:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Cold Calling:

  “It's a classic lose-lose scenario. The people doing it hate it and the people on the receiving end hate it as well.” — Ciaran (04:18)

• On Content Quality:

  “Far better to have maybe one or two really good thought leadership pieces... than... 20, 30, badly written, hurriedly rushed off short... pieces.” — Ciaran (18:08)

• On Sales/Marketing Alignment:

  “There's a bit of a disconnect, and it's almost like the two are in opposition, when really we're all trying to do the same thing. We're all trying to just sell more—so let’s do it together.”— Maggie (16:39)

• On Social Selling’s Approach:

  “You wouldn't ask someone to marry you on the first date.” — Maggie (23:07)

• On Listening and Lurking:

  “I think I've learned a lot just by lurking in dark corners and listening to what's going on.” — Ciaran (18:08)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:46 — Maggie’s background and SoAmpli’s focus
• 01:27 — Addressing the myth: Social media isn’t for B2B
• 02:56 — The 30% boost in prospects from social selling
• 05:21 — LinkedIn’s SEO value
• 07:32 — LinkedIn recommendations and real-world examples
• 08:24 — Using Twitter for industry events
• 13:05 — Integrating marketing and sales through social
• 16:54 — Importance of consistent output and listening
• 19:46 — Creating remarkable content, not quantity
• 23:29 — The 80/20 content rule
• 25:46 — Aligning sales and marketing teams in daily practice
• 30:27 — SoAmpli overview and actionable features
• 32:57 — Free ebook and practical tips for social selling beginners

Conclusion

This episode provides a comprehensive roadmap for integrating social selling into B2B organizations, emphasizing the importance of consistency, value-driven content, team alignment, and the use of simple, actionable tools. Maggie Maspero’s insights challenge B2B marketing myths and empower teams to maximize their reach and effectiveness through coordinated social efforts.

Find resources and show notes at: TargetInternet.com/podcast