Mic Adam Interview: LinkedIn and Social Selling Tips and Pitfalls

Mic Adam has been named the #15^th Influencer on the Top 1000 Social Selling Influencers in 2017. He has also been named #16^th on the Onalytica Social Selling Experts in 2016. He is regularly named as part of the Top 10 Sales Guru’s on Social Media!

Here is what he said!

1 How can a brand create organic reach on LinkedIn?

That is tough and simple question at the same time. The only way a company can reach people organically is to have its employees “Like, Comment and Share” the posts on the company page. But that is the biggest challenge because employees:

Do not know that the company posts updates on the page
Do not view the content on the page thus take no actions
Are not motivated to share the content (especially the social media people)
Do want to share content that is too “commercial” to share
Can not identify themselves with the content
Do not see the WIIIFM factor
Do not see their management team lead by example

2 How can a business identify great sales opportunities?

Communication channels have to be open and authentic
There is a need for management to take a leadership position in sharing culture
Create a team approach to selling – we are all in sales

3 Please share some tips for the experts in social selling.

Social selling is all about building and maintaining relationships
Introduce sales to potential clients (applicable to anyone in the company)
Keep 3 x year in touch with your connections/contacts in a non commercial way (Birthday, Work anniversary and special holiday like X-mas)
Find and share value add content for your clients
Setup listening channels (sales navigator, hootsuite, google alerts) to listen to your clients, prospects and the market. Buying signals and content curation

4 What is the role of Content Marketing in Social Selling? Are there any pitfalls that a new brand can easily experience?

Before you can start a conversation you need content. Content marketing is key in social selling!

The biggest pitfalls of content marketing are:

Marketing is unable to create the amount or correct content needed by sales
Sales are finding content that is not approved and aligned with company sales and strategy
Content curation is seem by marketing as a bad thing and not done or used
There is no mix of curated and own content.

5 Finally, how do you see the future of Social Media Marketing?

Like everyone else, I see video as one of ways to go to become personal
More and more automation (which is not always a good thing)

More about Mic Adam

Mic Adam started Vanguard Leadership to help organizations with the implementation of social media. His focus lies on implementing Social Selling programs, employee advocacy programs, social media strategy and consultancy, writing & implementation of social media policies, conducting social media trainings and involved in community and conversation management.

He uses his experience as an international B2B sales & marketing professional to help companies implement social selling. From creating professional profiles to expanding sales networks and engaging customers and getting employees on board when it comes to social media sharing. He also puts this into practices for his clients. He is also a conversation manager at several companies as well as a professional coach/training on the subject of social media.

His training programs include Social Selling and Employee Advocacy as well as platform training such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Video marketing and content marketing in both B2B and B2C environments.

Mic has built an international career as general manager, sales and marketing manager at companies in B2B and B2C domains and includes Wang Laboratories (B & USA), Kryptonite Corp. (B & USA), Van Aerden Group (F, B & USA), Ophardt Hygiëne Technik (D) and Unisys (B & F & UK).

Mic is also a regular speaker are events as well as a blogger. He has been published in De Tijd, CxO Magazine, HR Magazine, Forward (VBO/FEB).

Social Media presence: