In the 24×7 global village, never assume proposal evaluators will only read what you write for them in a formal bid response. They WILL check you out on social media. So what will they find – in content you know you placed AND whatever else may be said about your business online?

Understand the role of social media in how your proposals and your business may be assessed

Our clients are often surprised when we ask about their social media presence while assessing their proposal activity and quality… and the surprises can be unwelcome when we show them some of the results. How are YOUR people representing your business on sites such as LinkedIn? How is your business being presented, reviewed, mentioned on Twitter or Facebook – not just by your own people but by clients, users, ex-employees too?  Any ideas?  Well it’s worth knowing and definitely worth caring.

Many of our Bid Dynamics team members are experienced in procurement and bid/tender evaluation and actively assist client-side in managing competitive tendering. When you present your bid, expect evaluators to check your web site to see if the key messages are consistent there. Expect them to go and look at your key people on LinkedIn and to check out other social media to see who is saying what about you.

For your business and the individual staff you are listing in org charts or putting forward to lead or support client projects, do check on sites like LinkedIn how they present themselves and their involvement with your company. Also check out their social media profiles more widely: what can a prospective client see easily about you and the people who work for you?

What impression of you and your company is out there in the public domain?  What can you do to use social media to build awareness of your company and your people as well  as creating the best, most professional and consistent profiles for all your people?

We help you with all of this as part of our proposal impact review and can deliver a separate social media impact assessment. This includes advice and guidance on creating and enhancing LinkedIn and Twitter profiles. Our social media experts can show you how to use social media effectively to build your online corporate and team profiles. We identify which social media are most appropriate for your type of business, explore the most popular platforms and their primary users, identify what information is already out there about you and how to improve that where necessary.

Evaluators are watching: making the best impressions through your bids simply isn’t confined to those documents any more.  If social media hasn’t been on your business radar up till now, it should be – and we should be talking…before that next bid goes in…