Sales can be a tough gig. You’re constantly hustling to connect with potential customers and close deals, all while trying to stand out from the competition. It’s no wonder that so many salespeople are always looking for new ways to improve their skills.One tool that has been gaining popularity in recent years is social selling. This powerful technique allows you to build relationships with potential customers by engaging with them on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.If you’re not already using social selling in your sales strategy, here are four benefits that might just convince you to give it a try:
Social Selling
Social selling is a term used to describe the process of developing relationships with potential customers through social media platforms.Salespeople can use social media to connect with potential customers, build relationships, and ultimately sell their products or services.
In order to successfully use social selling, you need to be active and engaged in your social media, sharing useful content with your followers and engaging with them in conversations.
What is social selling?
The practice of using social media platforms for sales purposes.
The strategy involves a two-way conversation to build trust and eventually turn leads into sales.
Sharing a sales message from a social media profile that is associated with your company’s brand is not the same as social selling. This is different from an individual user sharing a repurposed message from a company-branded page.
Social selling is the process of building relationships and interacting with potential customers on social media platforms. It’s about creating a personal brand, engaging with relevant content, participating in organic conversations, and sharing timely and relevant information with your network. By doing so, you can build trust and credibility with potential customers, which may eventually lead to sales.
Think of Social Selling As Networking
Think of social selling as a networking event. There are countless opportunities to make new connections and take part in conversations with like-minded individuals. You never know who you might meet or what kinds of business opportunities might come from simply striking up a conversation. So go ahead and mingle!
When you’re engaging in social selling, think of it as an opportunity to join in on an interesting conversation. If you feel like you have something valuable to contribute, jump in!
The approach to social media is no different than anywhere else. If a prospect is sharing something interesting, leave a comment or a reaction.
What are the benefits of social selling?
In a time when businesses need to compete even harder for the attention of customers, social media is just another tool for your organization.
Social media allows businesses to engage with their customers, and this in turn provides valuable insights into how a business can improve its communication.
Some advantages of using social selling are that you can build rapport with your lead, learn what they are most interested in, and use this information to strengthen your relationship.
The opportunity to make money on social media channels is quickly being adopted by sales people who are eager to incorporate social selling into their process.
Before diving into social media, make sure you understand the basics of what it’s about and what your end goal is. Jumping in without understanding the ins and outs can lead to some disastrous results.
Most sales reps currently use a manual process for identifying and qualifying sales opportunities on social media.
This is a backward strategy because you should be connecting with people on social media before trying to sell to them.
It’s called “social” sales because it’s all about connecting with people on social media, like you would do at a tradeshow, dinner party, or at a bar.
What is the result you want to achieve?
First, figure out what result you’re trying to achieve with your social media connections. Do you want them to meet in person? Do you want to connect with only Chief Marketing Officers in Retail? Or do you want to engage in a conversation with a Thought Leader?
Your desired result should be your starting point for developing your complete sales strategy for social media.
How to Identify Prospects
After deciding what you want to accomplish, you can focus on who you’re trying to reach.
First, identify which social media platforms your prospects are using. Then, create keyword and phrase based social filters that are specific enough to catch people talking about the products and services you are selling.
To find more potential clients, you can look for people who have negative views of your competitor’s products. You can also find people who have shown interest in your products. By widening your scope, you increase your odds of finding more clients.
Profile Your Leads
After you’ve cast your wide-net, you’ll need to separate thequalified from the unqualified. Getting a Twitter orFacebook handle is only the first step.
Next, create extended profiles for each of your leads into which you can input as much information as possible. This will enable you to better target and market to your prospects.
Your leads are constantly sharing information on social media, so it’s important to take advantage of this data. Use it to target specific individuals and start conversations. This way, you can get a better idea of what your leads are interested in and how best to approach them.
Analyze Lead Behavior and Patterns
Sales representatives often struggle to gather information on their sales targets. But, if you create a more detailed profile of your buyer, you can better understand their behavior and buying habits. This, of course, makes it easier for you to sell to them.
What have they been talking about most on social media? What have they been using the most hashtagged?
This next part helps you better understand your segments and targets, so when you make a call, email, or Tweet, you are better prepared to converse with them.
How to Score Your Targets
After identifying the key people, the next step is scoring them.
Scoring your social contacts works just like scoring your email marketing lists. You score them based on demographic information and behaviors that are visible on their social media profiles.
Engage Authentically
When engaging with people, it’s important to be genuine. Social media is all about connecting and building relationships. When reaching out to other experts, it’s crucial to be yourself.
When reaching out to influencers, it’s important to develop a relationship with them first before pitching them.
To scale your engagement, you must nurture your prospects.
When engaging with customers or potential new customers via social media, consider implementing a drip marketing campaign. These campaigns allow you to continue the conversations that you’ve had with individuals or identify them as potential candidates for your product or service.
By delivering targeted, relevant information, you can keep your brand top of mind and continue to build a relationship that will ultimately result in conversion.
It’s crucial to tailor the context of your outreach as much as possible.
You can accomplish both of these goals by either manually or using a social media analytics tool.
Once you’ve identified a qualified lead, you can pass the lead on to one of your outside sales reps.
Sales teams can use the insights gathered throughout the customer journey to have more meaningful conversations and close deals faster. By understanding lead-level analytics, sales teams can identify potential areas of improvement and optimize their strategies accordingly.
Social Selling – Analyze Revenue and Results
By tracking your newly-created sales leads into your CRM system, you can better measure your ROI and success. This will also help you accurately determine both your revenue growth and your results.
This will enable you to accurately measure your return on investment (ROI) from social media.
The Whys And Hows Of Social Selling
While social media is a broadcasting platform, social sales is more like a two way conversation.
Successful sales require more than just sharing your promotions. It requires that you add value to the content you share, as well as that of others.
By getting outside of your own content and going where your audience is, you increase your visibility.
Personalizing your messages on social media won’t necessarily generate more business. People on these platforms want to engage with people or brands that they feel are genuine.
I once worked under someone who only posted on social media about motherhood. She almost never talked about her actual business.
She didn’t use her presence on LinkedIn to sell directly. However, the relationships she built over the years through posting about motherhood led eventually to new business opportunities when those connections saw what she did for a living.
How to Build a Social Selling Strategy
If you have a large number of salespeople on your team, it’s important to develop a strategy for how you’re going to leverage social media. A proper social media strategy will always work in your favor.
It’s important to know how to create one.
What is a social selling strategy?
A social selling strategy is a plan that helps you manage your social selling activities, tools, teams, and systems. By having a strategy in place, you can ensure that your social selling efforts are coordinated and effective.
A Social Selling Strategy is a structured plan that arranges and manages your sales team’s social media activities and tools. Training your sales reps will help in organizing your social activities.
Add social to your sales process by following these simple steps.
A social selling strategy is a plan for using social media to find and connect with potential customers, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales. To get started, you’ll need to set some goals, define your target audience, and determine which platforms they’re most active on. You’ll also need to decide how you want to make the first contact and train your sales team on social selling. Finally, you’ll need to establish some metrics to track your performance and create a feedback system to respond to changing trends.
Social Media Tools and Methods for Social Selling
Are you confused about the difference between ‘social media’ and ‘personal sales’? Do you think that social media is more effective than using traditional methods of building client relationships?
If you’re not using social media to sell, you’re missing out on a big opportunity. It can be worrying to see your competitors selling through social media, but don’t worry – you can do it too!
They understand their target audience’s pain points, which allows them to enhance their brand.
Now, how do you do that? By using social media marketing tools and methods that will help you manage and monitor your performance, as well as improve your sales and revenue.
Social Media Platforms
Let’s quickly take a look at the most popular social media networks that can improve your business’s social media presence.
LinkedIn is the top social selling platform because it generates the most leads. It is well-known for being professional, and it excels in B2B sales.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a way to improve your sales skills, social selling is a great option. This powerful tool can help you connect with potential customers and build relationships that lead to conversions. Give social selling a try today!
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