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The Inbound Growth Blog covers all topics relating to an integrated marketing strategy. We write about inbound marketing, social media, integrated marketing strategies and the sales process.

5 Social Media Hacks for Technology Companies

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Posted by John Beveridge on Jul 30, 2013 4:20:00 AM

social media hacks blogSocial media marketing is a great lead generation tool because it reaches buyers on their own terms. Buyers today do more and more pre-purchase research and interact with sales people much later in the buying process than in the past. But many people aren't aware of the other business uses of social media like customer service, thought leadership and prospect intelligence. Social media changes frequently, so we wanted to to share some of the latest "hacks" to help your manage your technology company.

1. Use Google Hangouts for cross-team collaboration 

You are using Google+ in your social media marketing, right? If you're not, you should be! Google+ recently passed LinkedIn to become the second biggest social network and the SEO benefits of Google+ are invaluable. If you are using Google+, you have access to Hangouts, a feature-rich video chat tool that comes free with your account. Think of Skype on steroids. If you have teams across the country (or world, for that matter) that need to collaborate, use Google Hangouts for team meetings. It's a great way to bring everyone together and have a face-to-face chat, even if it's by means of a computer screen. Hangouts also let you share each other's computer screens or YouTube videos.

2. Use Google Hangouts for marketing webinars

Buyers are turning more and more to webinars to get educated on professional topics of interest. Businesses conduct webinars for lead generation. Use Google Hangouts for your thought leadership webinars like you would for team meetings.

3. Use Google Hangouts Remote Desktop feature for tech support

Do you provide tech support for customers where your support team has to get on the user's computer? If so, the Remote Desktop feature of Google Hangouts is for you. In addition to shifting control of a user's computer for support purposes, Remote Desktop lets you use Hangout's video chat feature so that your customers can see their technician. To access Remote Desktop, go to the Hangouts dashboard and click the Remote Desktop icon on the left side of the screen. You'll need to download the app the first time use Remote Desktop and then you're ready to go.

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4. Use Facebook hashtags to enhance your social media marketing

Facebook recently rolled out their hashtag features. By using a hashtag (#) followed by a topic or phrase written as a single word, you create a clickable link that will display a listing of other posts about that particular hashtag. The top of the page will include a listing of similar hashtags. This is a great way to monitor what other people on Facebook are saying about your industry, your company or any other subject. Salespeople can search hashtags having to do with their prospects' concerns to develop prospect intelligence on what's important to your prospects.

Facebook hashtag

5. Use LinkedIn sponsored updates to reach B2B decision makers

LinkedIn recently rolled out sponsored updates that place your posts in your target audiences LinkedIn timelines. Prior to sponsored updates, LinkedIn ads appeared inconspicuously on the bottom left of your personalization pane. Sponsored updates let you target your posts by geography, industry, job level and function and other demographic cuts. Sponsored updates put your posts front and center in your target audience's timeline. Make sure to drive people to your website with sponsored updates and make sure to have lead capture forms available when they get there.

How To Transform Your Business With Social Media

Summary

Social media is evolving constantly: new social media networks pop up constantly and the big 4 are constantly rolling out new functionality for users. A savvy technology company can enhance its business functionality by taking advantage of the new features. Start by taking advantage of the 5 hacks described above to improve your business operations. How are you using social media in your technology company? Let us know in the comments section below.

Topics: Technology Companies, Social Media

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