How to Find Prospects on Twitter

August 4, 2015

Yes, some people troll around Twitter and complain all the time.

Yes, some people Tweet stupid things like pictures of what they had for lunch (which could actually be beneficial if you run a food related company or restaurant).

But Twitter can also be a great tool to help you find prospects.

People that are actively using Twitter for more professional related things, and if you’re B2B, are sharing articles relevant to their industry. They’re asking questions about different issues they might have, and they’re having community discussions with other people like them (more of your prospects).

People that are using Twitter from a personal perspective are talking about things they love, hate, or are looking for. Which make them prime prospects if you are a direct to consumer business.

So how can you take advantage of all of the conversations that people are having with Twitter (even if some of them are just talking to themselves!)? It’s actually pretty easy.

Here are a few easy ways that you can find prospects on Twitter to gain real business value out of the social media platform.

3 Ways To Find Prospects On Twitter

1. Search articles shared that are relevant to your services and reach out
2. Monitor people complaining about your competitors and reply
3. Listen for questions you have answers to in blog posts (or write new blog posts) and reply to questions with a link to your answer

Find Prospects On Twitter By Searching Links

A very common use of Twitter is to share links to articles that you like. People often read something, or write something themselves, and then Tweet out the link because they found it valuable or think that they’re followers will find it valuable.

So how can you use this behavior to your advantage?

Well if people are sharing an article that talks about a problem that you solve, then they likely have that problem.

First things first, find an article that talks about problems that you solve. Finding a popular one can be done by Googling your problem, then if they don’t have social share buttons with a share count, copy the URL and put it into BuzzSumo to see total shares for that link. Or if you just commonly read articles in your industry, you should have an idea for some good ones to piggyback off of.

Next, you go to Twitter’s Search and paste in the link for the article about your customers’ problem. This will now return a list of people who have shared that link.

Voila! Prospects!

Now you can reply back to to their Tweet or find their contact info to reach out to them elsewhere and start a conversation. At this point, you’ve found your prospects on Twitter, the sales portion is up to you.

Listen On Twitter For People Complaining About Your Competitors

As you already know, people love complaining on Twitter. A lot of companies are even offering customer support on Twitter now, which opens up that conversation even more. Now people are complaining out loud, and trying to complain to the customer support Twitter account.

The same way that you searched Twitter for a link, you can search for people that are mentioning your competitors. But instead of searching just for your competitor’s name, you can use Advanced Twitter Search and add in some negative words.

When you search for this, you’ll get a list of people that are currently unhappy with their current product/service provider that you can replace and save their day!

These are prospects that are currently experiencing a trigger event that could cause them to find a new company to buy from. How perfect is that for your prospecting? Talk about a hot lead!

Provide Valuable Answers To Engage Prospects On Twitter

While people are going through their decision making process, they could be posting questions about what they are having problems with, or possibly complaining about a problem you solve but they don’t know what the solution is yet.

This is another case where social listening can help us find prospects.

What are some trigger events (besides hating your competitor) that your ideal customers go through that lead them to need your product or service?

What kind of questions do they ask themselves, their friends, Google?

Search Twitter for those keywords and questions and you’ll have a list of prospects right in front of you. Now before you get to crazy and bombard them with a hard sell, how should you reply to someone who’s just in the awareness stage of their decision making? They’re not ready to whip out the credit card just yet (depending on the price point and size of your solution).

Here is where you start a real relationship with a prospect that will become a happy customer, and more importantly, an advocate for your brand. They’re obviously active on social media, so getting on their good side can have tremendous potential for your word of mouth.

This is what you do…

Make a list of your most frequently asked questions. Talk to your sales reps and your customer service reps to see what the customers are saying and what words they are personally using. You speak a different language as an industry professional than your customers do.

Then write a blog post (or make a 2 minute video if you’re not the writing type) and publish it on your website. Do this for every FAQ that your customers have.

Now, go back and search Twitter for people using those keywords and asking those questions. Reply back to them with a few words of advice and a link to your full blog post with their answer.

This is how you provide value to prospects and make them want to do business with you. It also primes them to be a better customer because you’re educating them ahead of time.

Go Find Your Prospects On Twitter!

Now that you’re armed with these 3 simple tactics, you can find prospects for your sales team right now.

*Not every tactic will work perfectly for every business. Use some creativity and find a way to make it work for you. If you find something you think should be added, Tweet me! @TresnicMedia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Todd Giannattasio is the Chief Hustler at Tresnic Media, where he leads up a team of marketers to help U.S. clients establish and grow their online presence so they can attract and convert more customers.