Tools for the approach

     For each of these six approaches to the buying process, let’s look at some examples of tools.

Find the customer

     Here are some listening and search tools:

• http://blogsearch.google.com
• http://www.technorati.com
• http://search.twitter.com

     Use these tools to build searches on your company’s name, your products’ names, your competitors, but MOST importantly, think of what someone would type into Google at the moment they needed you most. Search for that.

Be there before the sale

     Build profiles on social networks and websites, and update them. Have an account on:

• http://www.twitter.com
• http://www.facebook.com
• http://www.linkedin.com
• http://www.flickr.com
• http://www.upcoming.org

     (You might have some other recommendations here.)

     Put up YOUR picture, not a corporate logo. Represent by being you, and by being a good employee.

Be (or empower) the influencer

     Have a blog, a lively blog, a place where you talk not just about your company and product, but instead, you talk about the space your customers inhabit. Luis Suarez talks about social computing - not just IBM products, but the ways in which companies use social computing.

     Make sure your blog is nicely designed, is professional, and that you’ve pointed your online points of presence to it so you can encourage conversation. Make it easy for people to share your material off-site, too.

Shift behavior

     This is more of a “how” you should do it section. To shift behavior, be helpful. Starbucks became our “third place” because it was inviting, because transactions were easy, because the place was configured for our business.

     Be helpful. If you’re trying to sell more product, how can you reduce friction to the purchase? What else can you do that isn’t directly tied to a sale but that still helps? Can you point to other people’s services when it makes a difference? Shift behaviors by being online and by being helpful.

Warm up the funnel

     Use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and commenting on people’s blogs as a way to keep relationships “warm.” Never underestimate the value of comments and general, non-sales-minded conversations. Some tools to help you stay on top of this:

• http://www.backtype.com - commenting tracking.
• http://www.friendfeed.com - lifestream hub.
• http://search.twitter.com - search for your name, company’s name, product’s name, etc, and subscribe to it via RSS.

Measure - Hubspot, Radian6, BuzzLogic, more.

     There are many ways to measure social media’s impact. You probably already think of pageviews, unique visitors, comments. Here are some more:

• http://www.radian6.com
• http://www.buzzlogic.com
• http://www.crimsonhexagon
• http://www.vibemetrix.com - sentiment and comments.
• http://www.hubspot.com - site search quality, value oflinks, more.

     Simple point: there’s more than numbers to consider.

     Source: Fishing where the fish are: Mapping Social Media to the buying cycle (Chris Brogan) e-book