When spread across a given organisation, social selling offers a multitude of benefits to corporations and brands. A sales company should always be active on social networks to drive sales and brand awareness. 

Defining Social Selling

By name alone, social selling is the act of marketing on social media. This is the definitive location to interact with clients in the modern world. When the correct approach is made from sales through offering real value, there is a great chance of engagement. To succeed in this arena, a reliance on the ABC method has proven the best solution. In this case, it does not mean always be closing, but rather in creating connections.

Traditional vs. Social Selling

In comparison to traditional selling, social selling has many key pros. While traditional selling includes the purchasing of leads, cold emailing, cold calling, and advertising, very few of these strategies are personalised. This is due to the fact that contacts are often random or outdated. Furthermore, the repetition of a sales script has failed time and again to prove a useful strategy. Instead, social selling provides the opportunity to use professional networks and increase reach. It lets an emphasis be placed on real people who are the target audience. When an approach is made properly, and people are able to begin a conversation from the right angle, there is a greater probability for success.

The five benefits of social selling over traditional selling include:

1. Increased stream(s) of revenue
2. Exponential audience outreach
3. Reduced cycle of sales
4. Increased trust and awareness
5. Thought leadership

How To Begin With Social Selling

The first step includes creating numerous social media accounts on the proper channels. Next, the business and brand must be active in commenting, liking, and sharing content to create a significant presence. Moreover, content being shared needs to add significant value to people, and this has proven most effective when attempting to solve the struggles and pain points of target audiences. Lastly, the measurement of impact for all shared content is critical to understand what does and what does not work.

Employee Advocacy

A well-structured platform for employee advocacy functions as a hub for content. From there, sales representatives are able to browse up-to-date and relevant content by sharing with networks using only a single click. Then, the platform offers detailed analytics to understand and optimise the types of content that resonate best with targeted audiences. Furthermore, when such platforms are spiced up with fun gamification factors, the users will become more excited and motivated to use them.

Look Your Best

The image of a brand or business is just as essential in the digital world as it is in real life. Online, a profile image is the first thing that clients will see. Making a good impression with a professional appearance that makes you look friendly and trustworthy is critical.

Copy that is written in the bio of your image on any platform must accomplish everything from an elevator pitch, greeting, and a handshake would in person. Every word should be written with prospects in mind and in the first person. Finally, be transparent about the sharing of contact info. If there is room, share everything through multiple avenues. That means phone, email, websites, and other social media accounts.

Establish Credibility

A company may have a solid foundation and reputation, but networks help build the brand. With every post on Facebook, comment on LinkedIn, and tweet on Twitter, a business is able to grow its outreach. Furthermore, it serves as a proper record of authenticity and a place to demonstrate understanding of potential clients and industries. This is achieved through sharing relevant articles regarding an industry, adding insight to conversations, and solving any problems that prospects have, all in the name of establishing trust.

Monitor The Most Relevant Conversations To Discover Prospects

The greatest tactic in understanding the needs and desires of prospects is to simply listen to them. In doing so, a business can create customised messaging and offerings with such knowledge. Monitoring relevant conversations related to your brand allows seeing which issues customers are facing. They may vent frustrations regarding your service on social media. Conversely, they could be raving about you but mentioned potential areas that need improvement. You are able to make use of this data to provide solutions and address issues. This enhances fan loyalty and nurtures relationships.

Finally, monitoring social media channels enable you to keep track of relevant conversations that can be used to enhance your existing strategy for social selling. Find out exactly what is being said about competitors or the industry in general.

Engage & Participate In Relevant LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn’s Groups feature provides an excellent source for business-to-business companies. All a brand needs to do is find a group relevant to their niche, submit a request, and begin conversing with members upon acceptance. 

Furthermore, a business can share its expertise and content through engaging with other members or asking relevant questions to construct a relationship. These relationships must be nurtured to eventually evolve into leads. People can be informed of new product launches or recommend services relevant to needs based on conversations.

Groups can be easily searched for with the help of the right keywords. A list of many of the keywords relevant to products, industries, or services should be taken down and subsequently entered into the search window with filters of the right results to only visibly show groups. For instance, if you offer products or services that would help startup businesses, consider entering the keyword “startups” to find relevant groups that your business could potentially participate in.

Social networks are the best place to learn about potential clients, and LinkedIn is best for connecting with other businesses.

All in All

In order to sell effectively on social media, a company must find the right balance of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ selling techniques. By that we mean one shouldn’t rely solely on the personal element to win over a prospective client nor should they resort to pure content marketing in order to do so. A good communicator will understand how important it is to blend both approaches when creating their social media strategy.