Social Selling is the process of leveraging social media platforms to find, connect with, understand, and nurture sales prospects.
It involves using social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to engage with potential customers, build relationships, and drive sales.
Unlike traditional sales methods, social selling focuses on building trust and providing value through content and interactions rather than direct, aggressive selling tactics.1
Visual Representation:
Key Components of Social Selling
- Professional Profile: Create a polished and professional social media profile. This includes a professional photo, a compelling headline, and a detailed summary highlighting your expertise. Showcasing achievements and recommendations builds trust and credibility.
- Sharing Valuable Insights: Regularly share high-quality content relevant to your industry. This includes original blog posts, articles, infographics, and videos that address common problems and offer solutions. Curating and sharing insightful content from reputable sources also positions you as knowledgeable and resourceful.
- Target the Right Audience: Use social media tools to identify and connect with potential leads who match your ideal customer profile. Building targeted lists of prospects and engaging with their content keeps you relevant to your potential leads.
- Building Trust & Engagement: Engage with your audience through meaningful interactions. Comment on, like, and share their posts. Offer insights, answer questions, and provide helpful information to build trust and foster relationships.
- Personalization: Send personalized messages referencing your prospects’ specific needs and interests. Tailor content to be relevant to their industry or role, which increases the likelihood of a positive response.2
Purpose
The main goal of social selling is to create solid and trustful relationships with potential customers using social media.
It helps salespeople become seen as experts and helpful resources in their field.
This method increases brand awareness and helps salespeople understand customers’ needs, allowing for more personalized and effective sales approaches.3
Usage
Social selling is commonly used by:
- Salespeople: Individual sales people use social media to find potential customers, build relationships, and close sales.
- Sales Teams: Groups of salespeople within a company work together, sharing tips and strategies to find and nurture leads.
- Marketers: Marketing professionals create and share content that attracts potential customers, helping the sales team connect with the right audience.
- Business Owners and Entrepreneurs: Small business owners use social selling to build their brand and reach more customers.
- Customer Success Teams: These teams stay connected with existing customers on social media to address their needs and encourage repeat business.
- Industry Experts and Influencers: Thought leaders and influencers share their knowledge and build trust, helping to drive interest in a company’s products or services.4
Example:
Consider a sales professional who specializes in software solutions for businesses.
Using social selling, they regularly post articles and tips on LinkedIn about optimizing business processes through technology.
They also engage in conversations, answer questions, and share case studies relevant to their industry.
These activities attract potential clients’ attention and establish them as the go-to experts in their field, leading to increased inquiries and sales.
Related Terms
References:
1. Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, November 13). Social selling. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_selling
2. Moore, J. N., Raymond, M. A., & Hopkins, C. D. (2015). Social selling: A comparison of social media usage across process stage, markets, and sales job functions. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 23(1), 1-20. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10696679.2015.980163
3. Social selling: What is Social Selling & Why is it important?: Linkedin sales solutions. View more business solutions. (n.d.). https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/social-selling
4. Hughes, T. (2022). Social Selling: Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers. United Kingdom: Kogan Page. https://www.amazon.com/Social-Selling-Techniques-Influence-Changemakers/dp/1398607320/
