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What’s Social Selling?
Social Selling is a way to finally put an end to the cold call sales method. Phone calls are not responded to and emails normally end up in spam or trash.
Today, thanks to social networks, there is another way to approach potential customers.
What’s Social Selling?
Social Selling focuses on interacting with potential customers via social networks with the objective of boosting sales.
Twitter and Linkedln are the best platforms for applying Social Selling and capture leads.Social Selling creates branding, builds relationships, helps to get leads, and ultimately, earn new customers.
The main goal of Social Selling is not about increasing sales directly via the internet. It aims its attention at reaching customers in an indirect way and encouraging them to buy your product or service.
Objectives of Social Selling
The objective of Social Selling is to get prospective clients to buy your products. The most important factors for making it happen are:
- Contact your potential customer without using the cold call method.
- Encourage a dialogue instead of a monologue.
- Create daily situations instead of forcing relationships.
- Keep your contacts ‘warm’ with natural conversations and avoid cold emails.
The best social networks for Social Selling
LinkedIn and Twitter are the queens of Social Selling.
LinkedIn is best for networking and building relationships. However, Twitter has many more interactions and mentions.
Social Selling creates branding, builds relationships, helps to get leads, and ultimately, earn new customers.
The main goal of Social Selling is not about increasing sales directly via the internet. It aims its attention at reaching customers in an indirect way and encouraging them to buy your product or service.
Objectives of Social Selling
The objective of Social Selling is to get prospective clients to buy your products. The most important factors for making it happen are:
- Contact your potential customer without using the cold call method.
- Encourage a dialogue instead of a monologue.
- Create daily situations instead of forcing relationships.
- Keep your contacts ‘warm’ with natural conversations and avoid cold emails.
Some tips to increase sales with Social Selling
1. Active listening
The objective is to capture potential clients (leads) through social networks, and to do so, you must know what people are talking about and what their needs are.
2. Optimize your profile
You must have a good profile picture, personalized URLs and use adequate keywords. Remember that this is your cover letter.
3. Build trust
When it comes to buying through a webpage on the internet, users look for reliability, that is, they make sure it’s not a fraud. Some things that will help you to build trust are complying with data protection, quality certification stamps, keeping your website updated and having a page that introduces the team behind the business.
4. Use LinkedIn
It’s crucial for professional relationships and actions. Getting more contacts is important for Social Selling. A profile with plenty of connections provide an image of “reliability and importance”. It helps to build relationships.
5. Share quality content
The more quality your content has, the more visible your profile will be. You will get more engagement, more impressions and therefore, more searches.
6. Be consistent on social networks
Don’t let other profiles on other social networks damage your image. Be careful with all of them where you have a presence.
7. Don’t expect immediate results
An increase of your sales won’t happen overnight. They will grow with a bit of time. Social selling is a mid-term to long-term process.
8. Keep up-to-date
There are updates on your sector every day. Through the internet, you can keep yourself aware of changes, problems and novelties. Get ahead of your competitors.
Social Selling strategies
Identify your ideal customer
Identify your public and create profiles on the social networks where your target is. Benchmark on Twitter or other channels will help you with your analysis.
Create interesting content
Create quality content and share it on your social networks, establish some goals. An editorial plan will help you to reach your objectives.
You must send content on a regular basis, you shouldn’t leave your social networks inactive. The feeling of abandonment can work against your Social Selling strategy.
Apart from your content, you can also publish posts from third parties so, you don’t tire or bore your audience with just your profile.
Program your social network
A good way to develop your Social Selling strategy is by planning your publications and content on social networks.
✅ You can find more information about how to program your social networks here
The 4 pillars of Social Selling
1. Create a professional brand
First of all, you must define your own strategy and the objectives you want to reach. Create a brand for your business.
2. Find the right people
Search for your target public. After designing your strategy, you must locate the people that will help you to reach your objectives.
3. Interact with insights
You must include powerful content in your marketing strategy.
4. Build trusted relationships
You must approach the people you are interested in and create an atmosphere of trust so you can maintain long-lasting relationships.
Benefits
What does Social Selling have to offer your business?
You have already seen that it’s a medium term strategy and that it will help you to establish long-lasting relationships. Having said that, what other benefits can it provide you?
Less time spend on negotiations
A negotiation can take too long. With digital means you can guess if a potential client is interested in your services or product in less time and without having to hold in-person meetings.
Outside the social networks world, patience is part of the selling process. In the digital world, the approach is quicker.
It avoids “cold calls”
Going door to door delivering business cards or constantly making phone calls are no longer common techniques and actually, they don’t work. People get the feeling that they are trying to take them for a ride.
Nowadays, social networks help us to approach people and change the way people shop. It’s a great persuasive method to conquer your audience without invading.
It humanizes your brand
Relationships are build one on one. Users want to talk to real people no machines.
Social Selling will help you with the task of humanizing the sales process. It allows you to reach and get closer to your customers in a natural way, without forcing the conversation.
You can organize visits with multiple customers simultaneously
Social Selling encourages dialogue on social networks and it’s possible to talk with more than one person at the same time. Besides, conversations on this environment don’t carry on too long.
Reasons that explain why it is crucial to use a Social Selling strategy
A Social Selling strategy is built over time.
- According to several studies, we spend more than two hours a day on social networks and a person has 5 social network accounts on average.
- Users connect better with companies that are present on social networks.
- Social networks are booming and users choose social media channels to communicate with brands.
- Nowadays, over 80% of businesses use social networks.
Now it’s your turn, go ahead and prepare your Social Selling strategy and tell us your outcome.
If you want to know more definitions visit our online marketing dictionary