The best social apps for B2B engagement and business growth!

For over 30+ years, I’ve enjoyed my cousin Ryan’s interest in sports. Our moms would get our families together a couple of times a year; holidays, the usual. But each time, there’d be a pickup basketball game in a driveway or some catch with our baseball mits.

Until recently, we hadn’t been able to connect as adults much. He’s busy with his two kids, and me, with mine. But when I saw him for my Grandpa’s funeral back in March, we decided it was time to take in a ballgame together!

It helped that one of his former students (Ryan coached youth basketball during his kid-less days) was now playing for Major League Baseball’s Toronto Bluejays, as their starting Left Fielder, no less.

With my connections at the Minnesota Twins, I was able to get us on the field during BP (batting practice) before the game. I was able to meet Ryan’s former student (Daulton Varsho) and we had a great night!

My biggest takeaway? Up close, the players look SO young. But that’s easy to do when I compare them to my 43-year-old self.

The level of engagement Ryan and I were able to share was amplified by such a cool experience together, and one that hopefully sets us up for seeing each other a little more frequently.

_{Do you follow Twitter? If not, I’ll post my “Sales Tweets of The Week” below, for more thought-provoking ideas, trends, or stories. Check them out below!}

Here’s my list of seven (7) apps that can help you scale.

What’s up, homies!

Did you see this recent tweet on my Twitter feed? I ranked what I considered the most-to-least important apps to engage with as it pertains to a B2B SALES role.

During the baseball game, my cousin Ryan divulged that he’s flipped golf carts (and other golf gear) for years! The key to his business model’s success?

Facebook (marketplace).

Let’s take a look at the top 3 (of 7) apps and how they differ in terms of engagement types.

^LinkedIn

Are you even trying to participate within a business segment if you’re not engaging with an audience, or building your professional online brand via LinkedIn?

According to Britannica, LinkedIn launched in 2003, only 20 years ago! By 2011, LinkedIn had over 100 million users and launched an IPO that raised $353M.

Since, all LinkedIn has done has been acquired by Microsoft for … $26B (2016) and has topped north of 500 million users.

LinkedIn has invested a lot of great tools into its ecosystem that can aid and assist business and brand developers:

• Creator Features (including Newsletters; I post one-month-old Sales Homie blasts on my LinkedIn page each week).

• Sub-Focus sites, such as Sales Navigator, and LinkedIn Premium.

• One-to-one messaging, liking/commenting, business pages, and more round out why LinkedIn is simply the #1 app for B2B professionals.

How do I use LinkedIn?

1. Always up-to-date professional history/resume.

2. Creator section (Sales Homie Newsletter).

3. Messaging/Connecting - building followers and connecting with those I meet and/or do business with.

4. Research a person that I’ll soon be meeting.

5. Always in stealth mode (so no one can see that I view their profile).

6. Host a company page … to show cultural and important industry-associated events or milestones.

^YouTube

Just like real estate (location, location, location) in today’s modern professional settings, it’s all about video, video, and video!

YouTube was created by three former coworkers from PayPal back in 2005. During its first months in operation, the platform was already serving more than two million video views each day. By the summer of 2006, YouTube was serving more than 100 million videos per day!

By December 2006, YouTube was acquired by Google for $1.65B in stock.

Like LinkedIn, YouTube remains a steadfast platform for delivering intimate engagement to a selected audience:

• Scale an alternative revenue stream through subscribers

• Create vlogs and business marketing videos

• Produce YouTube shorts for quick hits

How do I use YouTube?

1. Share videos of products/tools that I’m positioning to sell.

2. Use videos as testimonials.

3. Use videos as educational nuggets within my industry.

4. Experiment with vlogging; converting a newsletter to video clips (coming soon!)

5. Push marketing colleagues to capture video over images.

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^Twitter

If you would have told me that Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX and Tesla would be the owner of Twitter 5 years ago, I would have laughed at you! Yet, here we are!

Twitter remains the best short-form, written word publisher on the internet. The application was developed for microblogging and continues to be a short-form messaging king for businesses and professionals.

Founded in 2004 and launched in 2006 by Jack Dorsey and others, Twitter because a news source platform that saw its fame rise on the backs of celebrities.

Do you remember who was the first ‘tweeter’ to amass 1 Million followers? Ashton Kutcher. And don’t forget the 2008 Presidential election, which saw Barack Obama use his 20X more Twitter followers than John McCain to cruise his landmark victory.

Although Musk has started to monetize parts of the platform with various controversies, Twitter remains the place to shout, remind, inform, argue, or plead with the Twittosphere masses.

How do I use Twitter?

1. Content, content, and more content.

2. DM like-minded people to start to build awareness to my brand (Sales Homie) and expand my network.

3. Engage with like-minded people to offer my own opinions and takes on the content that they publish.

4. Reference a Twitter link for a news story as opposed to the actual news organization’s website link.

5. Setup auto tweets with hypefury, so my life doesn’t get consumed with Twitter. Twitter adjusts and “happens” on my terms.

The Others

^Instagram

The ‘gram. Insta. What’s the cool way to say Instagram today? I don’t know. I’m in my 40’s.

But here’s a breakdown of its birth and rise!

^Facebook

Marky Mark and the Zuckerberg bunch. Is there a more culturally dominant social app that’s ever been created? I mean, it even had a movie created out of its backstory.

Here’s more to that story.

^TikTok

When your status and name reach my 4-year-old’s comprehension, you know you’ve spread messaging across generations.

Still, it remains controversial with the claims of the Chinese targeting and spying on citizens of the West via the app.

TikTok remains the newest of the most popular apps in the United States. It currently boasts 800 million active users worldwide.

^Snapchat

All I’m going to say is that I’m glad my daughter is 4, and not 14. I’m not ready for all of the disappearing pictures and messages-bit.

Does that statement make me the old guy who yells at kids to ‘get off his lawn?’

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The moral of the story? If you haven’t begun to maximize a couple of the top 7 social apps for growing in a B2B SALES role, what are you waiting for?!

Of course, there’s no better time than the present. If you’re just starting your professional career, be sure to close previous accounts and start fresh with new names, handles, and pictures. Leave your college pictures off any publically facing apps. We’ve all been in college; we have our own pictures that we think are the funniest ever.

And when you get serious about engaging and growing your professional brand, be sure to use the tools as both a brand-enhancer and communications conduit to and for your prospects and customers.

Sales Tweets of The Week!

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