7 Strategy to Create a Social Selling
Social selling is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the process of selling through social media. This arm of sales is particularly useful for the relationship-building element of the sales process, from researching prospects and connecting online, to sharing and engaging with prospects’ and leads’ posts to build trust and awareness.
It’s also brilliant when it comes to brand advocacy: happy customers have a platform to attract more leads for you. A global study found that 83% of respondents trust the recommendations of friends and family, making this the most credible form of advertising.
LinkedIn and Twitter are the most useful social networks for B2B social selling, while Facebook dominates in the B2C realm.
How to Create a Social Selling Strategy:
Arm Yourself with the Best Tools
LinkedIn Sales Navigator - offers a comprehensive level of customer data for you to dig into. According to LinkedIn, users of this tool enjoy an average 5% higher win rate. They all reap a 35% larger deal size, 34% of opportunities sourced, and 61% of revenue influenced.
HootSuite - the premier tool for those selling through Twitter. HootSuite allows you to schedule your activity, which is perfect for saving time during campaigns. It also provides a super helpful analytics dashboard so you can see how all this engagement is boosting your profile.
Find Out Where Your Audience Hangs Out Online
Before you start, find out where your prospects are hanging out online. This will help you work out how much time and effort to put into each platform.
LinkedIn and Twitter are extremely popular platforms for B2B selling, but you may work in an industry where Pinterest or even Facebook is the most popular online hangout.
This can be achieved through social listening, anecdotal evidence (where do you and your colleagues spend most time online?) and bought data.
Create your Social Selling Profiles – and Make Them Organic
Make sure they’re professional and include keywords, but also attention-grabbing and, most importantly, highly authentic. Remember, you’re crafting your personal brand here. For effective social selling, it’s vital that you come across like a real human rather than a bot.
Connect with Influencers and Join Groups
Join groups and begin sharing industry content, as well as liking and commenting on relevant posts. Follow and connect with any big influencers within your industry. By liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts, you’ll start to appear on the news feeds of prospects you never even knew existed. Show some personality and be rewarded with higher levels of engagement and stronger online relationships.
Decide How Much Time You’ll Spend Engaging Per Day
Engagement is key to social selling. But sometimes it can feel like a chore. Set aside a specific amount of time each day for liking, sharing, and commenting on posts.
Use social selling tools to streamline this process, but spend time on the platforms themselves too for added authenticity. And be consistent!
Use A/B Testing to Find Out What Works for Your Audience
A/B testing is the go-to method when it comes to testing how well your content is performing. It’s simple, but it can teach you a lot about how to adapt content to boost results.
For example, try using similar versions of the same promoted post, changing details such as the creative, the messaging, or the call to action.
Consider How You’ll Take Your Interactions Off Social
Remember the purpose of your social selling: to get in front of your prospects. Having nurtured your prospects via social and targeted content, your next goal should be to book a meeting.
To make the user journey smoother, this can be done over the platform’s direct messenger service.
Lead scoring is a super useful tool to establish when your leads are ready to be pitched to.
How Can We Help
Do you need help developing a comprehensive LinkedIn lead generation strategy for your business? We offer strategic planning, training, and execution support for companies wanting to take their digital lead generation to the next level. If you are interested in learning more, sign up for a complimentary initial consultation/discovery meeting. Schedule yours today, and let’s see if we can help.
