How Social Media Can Boost Sales

For solution providers, vendor partners have also stepped up to help with social selling strategies within their channels. Wiederkehr said Trace3 has taken advantage of Cisco's Marketing Velocity program, which offers best marketing practices to partners. And Trace3 also helps customers with their social selling strategies as a free service to customers. "We're trying to help them get out there," Wiederkehr told ITBestOfBreed.

Want to know more about social selling? Here are links to three resources around the web:

HOOTSUITE: What social selling is and how to do it right

Christina Newberry also outlines three reasons why your business should care about using social media to sell.

MARKETING LAND: 9 ways to sell on social media

Columnist Jordan Kasteler offers a rundown of several sites, with some helpful "how tos."

SELLING POWER: How to leverage your LinkedIn connections for more sales

Author and sales management expert David Mattson calls LinkedIn "one of the best ways to warm up your cold calling."