Social Selling: A Virtual Way
Social selling. You’ve definitely heard of it now, but you may not be completely sure what it entails and you must have wondered is it similar to that of social media marketing?
For instance, social sales is about establishing 1-to-1 relationships with a single person (or a very small group of future prospects), with sales being a long-term target. Social networking marketing, on the other hand, focuses on 1-to-many contact,
Express the aim of increasing the reach of your message in order to find an even wider audience, and that’s the fundamental difference in size.
By definition:
Social selling is a modern sales strategy that enables salespeople and small businesses to laser-target their prospecting and to build relationships across established connections.
Social selling is a method of discovering and communicating with your future buyers via social media.
Whether you have a Facebook Business Page, LinkedIn profile, or a proper professional Twitter account, you’re still engaging in the fundamentals of social selling, even if you’ve never really used the word to describe your online habits, or you’ve wondered too much about what social selling really implies.
There are 4 aspects of this and they are:
1. Knowing how and where to find your prospects
2. Having them interested in a thoughtful way
3. Communicating and establishing ties with the customer and,
4. Reinforcing their trust in you through a great personal brand.
Why Social Selling is Important
The modern method of B2B sales involves using social media networks to attract new prospects, educating them about how your company will help them develop their business, and cultivating them through content, whilst the old sales paradigm used to be about cold calling, sales demonstrations and qualifying leads.
And what acts as a cherry on top with this modern method?
Yes, you guessed it. It’s social media.
Research by IDC has found that;
- 91% of B2B buyers are now active and involved in social media
- 84% of senior executives use social media to support purchase decisions
- 75% of B2B buyers are significantly influenced by social media.
Ways to get started with social selling
1. Select the most appropriate social network:
The next huge social network is easy to get swept up in, but the only participants of social selling are sales people who are involved on the same site as their future clients. This is the basis for growth in social sale. This is why sales people on Pinterest succeed in fashion and why B2B sales reps create LinkedIn leads and twitter follows.
2. Follow the right users:
Build a wish list of 10–20 dream enterprises that are active and start following them today on social media. Share, retweet and participate wherever possible in their status updates. For a lot longer, it may not be a delusion!
3. Join and participate in LinkedIn groups:
According to LinkedIn expert Wayne Breitbarth, only 16% of all LinkedIn users have joined 100 groups. Check for a subject with your experience to find a party. Note, you’re not trying to mingle here with sales staff, but selling their stuff is their work. Sharing experience and skills with prospective clients is what you want to do.
If a small business owner is your dream client, then look for groups connected to small businesses.
4. Connect on LinkedIn with prospective customers:
You will find that more individuals will access your profile as you start to contribute to communities. Give them an invitation to interact anytime someone sees your profile.
5. Contribute to current debates concerning your brand:
Look for a keyword and then click through the feed and start communicating with users by merely retweeting or “liking” their posts or responding to feedback and questions they pose.
Conclusion
There’s no question about it; social sales will make you sell more. These 5 social selling tips can allow you to identify and communicate with prospects on LinkedIn and Twitter, the sites where decision makers can be found, but when you make it your primary objective to provide value to prospects and create connections, the best outcomes from social selling arrive.
