Focused Social Selling – Culling Your Social Network

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Now begins our journey and it starts with culling your social network(s) down to a manageable size. It is critical that you identify and start with your social honeypot.

As I was thinking about this process, and looking at the sheer numbers of connections on my social networks, particularly with Twitter, this at first appeared to be a hopeless task. How could I possibly pare 7,000 Twitter followers down to 300 or so connections? Your target number may be more or less but, think about your recurring touch schedules when you evaluate what number of focused connections based on what your time will allow. Then it struck me. My epiphany was that I did not have to. I could easily reduce LinkedIn (my honeypot) down to this number and then discover the Twitter profiles (as well as Facebook and Google+) for those folks only. Problem solved![Tweet “Culling your social networks will allow you to focus on those who are most important!”]

Considerations

Before we get started, we should take a look ahead …

  • LinkedIn is my identified network where my customers are most likely to be found. Yours might be Facebook, Google+, or some other social network and you should be starting there. If your network of choice is Twitter … I will pray for you if your network is of any size.
  • Even though my focus is on LinkedIn, I will reserve space for folks found on the other networks who might very well meet my buyer persona. The same can be said for folks who do not do social networking at all. These will be researched following the completion of our LinkedIn vetting process.
  • Your initial list will be just that … your initial list. You will likely have to repeat this process several times in order to arrive at a final working point.

Start your search!

Since LinkedIn is where my customers are found, I will start there and identify and connect (as needed and at the appropriate time) with up to 300 people that meet my specific buyer persona. You will need to use LinkedIn advanced search to start to whittle down your connections. I would try to use search first based on your non-negotiables and then look at each profile separately that meets those criteria.

Depending on your type of LinkedIn account (free vs premium and then on what level) you may have more search parameters to choose from and you will be limited in terms of the number of searches that you can conduct over a given period of time as well as the number of results returned by your search in addition to the depth of your search in terms of degrees of connection.

With these limitations in mind, there is a high likelihood that multiple searches will be required.Therefore, try to make your searches as discriminating as is possible. Remember too that you are able to save up to three searches with any LinkedIn account, that you can call up at any time, and LinkedIn will monitor your network’s activities and will alert you of any new members (or members who have changed their details) who now meet your search criteria.

Start with your own connections, then shared 2nd degree connections, then groups, and finally 3rd degree and others. People with a shared connection and who you share a group with get bonus points since somebody can probably introduce you (extra bonus if you share this connection with more than one person as you are increasing your odds for a good introduction) and for groups since you can introduce yourself and with whom you  already have something in common.

In order to search your connections’ connections, you will need to use a workaround as LinkedIn recently removed the ability to perform this task easily. Gee. Thanks, LinkedIn. I am taking these instructions from an article on Social Sales Link. Thanks to Brynne Tillman for this hack!

Premium accounts will deliver better search results (parameters)

  • Type your connections name in the search box, but DO NOT choose them from the drop-down…click the magnify glass.
  • If they have their connections open, click on the # of connections highlighted in green (if they don’t you won’t be able to this search)
  • Filter by 2nd degree, location and industry you are targeting on the right hand side.
  • If you have a premium account choose the seniority level and function as well.
  • Search and make your list.
  • If they are a first degree connection and the green number does not show, try the “message” drop down arrow to display connections.

Your initial list will be composed of people that you are already connected to as well as people that you want to connect with. If this is a potential new connection, who do you know that can introduce you? Also remember that we will be pursuing a strategy of progressive engagement prior to any invitation to connect is extended.

Progress check

Now, how many are on your list? Are you over or under your desired number? If you are sitting above your number, it’s time for round two of the selection process. If under, you will need to expand your search. However, as previously discussed, we must also consider that there may be connections that we have, or that we covet, on the other social networks who are either not on LinkedIn and/or we did not uncover them.

You will naturally attract new connections based on your activities but, ideally they are going to be targeted connections (largely) who already have relationships with your 300. Like everybody else, these will be used to improve the stock of the herd. Keep to your best 300. You only have so many acres on which to graze. This does not mean that you cannot have more than 300 connections. It does mean that you will focus on those 300 only.

In our next articles, we will discuss organizing your list through the use of tagging, completing each one’s overall social profile, filtering their social updates, and then initiating your progressive engagement model.

Please note – All posts in this series will be tagged FocusedSelling. You will be able to click on that tag at the bottom of any post in the series and all posts in the series, most recent first, will be listed for you. So, if jump in the middle and you want to get started, work from the bottom up. Cutting in line and skipping steps would definitely be ill-advised. #FocusedSelling

Craig M. Jamieson

Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services
Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!
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