The Roxburgh Agency » Using Social Media in Your Presentation to Make the Sale

Using Social Media in Your Presentation to Make the Sale

Social media is no longer used just to keep up with high school friends or long lost family, business have started to use it to build client bases, speak directly to their consumer as well as monitor their brand’s image. Now social media is being taken one step further, utilizing it in sales presentations. Mashable has provided 9 tips for improving your presentations by adding a little social media.

Build Relationships With Your Audience – Online community tools, like Hotseat, are extremely helpful in assisting your attendees with networking pre and post event. They also allow you to find out what your audience wants from your presentation, as well as a way to get immediate feedback after the event.
Recruit a Backchannel Team - It never hurts to get another person on your team to monitor the backchannel during a presentation. They can answer questions and add links to additional resources while you are speaking. This way your audience is never left feeling like they need to follow up with you, you are thinking ahead and giving them the information they need right then.
Create a Separate Hashtag – Twitter’s hashtags make it extremely easy for your audience to follow the presentation as well as what other users are saying without having to search all over Twitter to find the information. Twapper Keeper is an excellent tool for archiving your backchannel, especially since Twitter hashtag searches are usually only available for 6-10 days.
Welcome the Backchannel - Using a slide to display your Twitter username and hashtag, as well as other social media handles shows your audience you welcome and encourage feedback throughout the presentation.
Reach Out to Your Virtual Audience - Since we are in a virtual world and not all of your attendees will be sitting in the room with you, make sure you give them a countdown and heads up via your online tools letting them know the presentation is about to start.
Make Your Key Points Tweetable – Try to make your main points as Twitter friendly as possible with Tweetbites. Tweetbites are easily retweetable points that allow space for your username, should your audience want to retweet. If you are using slides, display your Tweetbites, Powerpoint and Keynote now have clever add-ins that make that function easy. Slide Tweet for PowerPoint, and Keynote Tweet for Keynote.
Audience Participation Through Social Media – “Audience members don’t need to have a Twitter account to take part in a backchannel. If you use a backchannel tool such as TodaysMeet or Backnoise, participants can just start typing.”
Display the Backchannel When You Want to Focus on It – Only display the backchannel with you want your audience to focus on it. The backchannel is particularly helpful when you’re answering questions via social media.
Learn From the Backchannel – Since you will be able to have a play-by-play account of how your presentation went, use the feedback as a way to prepare for your next presentation.