Aside from the possibility of going viral or becoming internet famous, the big reason why virtually everyone initially fell in love with social media, was the opportunity to connect with other human beings one-to-one without an intermediary.

There’s no other way to say this, sometimes you just have to do the manual work. By going on social media sites and running searches for various keywords you can cover conversations that are relevant to you and reveal a potential sales opportunity. You can do this on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Instagram. When you find someone that is engaging in a conversation, or asking questions, that you can provide value to, and that can lead to a sales conversation, that is an opportunity that you should take advantage of.

This is no different than if you were to go to a networking event and overhear someone talking about a pinpoint that your company provides a solution to. You were simply using the magic of technology to identify those conversations amidst the noise.

Social channels can be used to build meaningful relationships with people. This can include peers, competitors, prospects and anyone who shares a common interest. This type of outreach, however, is not easy. To succeed at this aspect of social requires people to take a genuine and empathetic approach to connecting with others. People tend to respond better to being spoken with than talked at. Methods that feel spammy, ingenuine, or intrusive will not gardner any type of results.

Engaging others with personality and value is key to success in one-to-one outreach whether your goals are building brand awareness, generating leads, selling services or services, or offering customer service. If you can offer people something to prove your product’s worth BEFORE you ask for them to buy, it is more likely for a sale to take place later on.