In an environment increasingly marked by the use of social networks, no one can escape its influence and power, nor can brands and businesses be oblivious to this trend. Thus, once we are implementing a social media plan, it is convenient to correctly optimize the presence of our brand in them, this is what we call Social Selling.
Specifically, what is Social Selling?
Social selling consists of using social tools to identify and create relationships with potential customers for the sale. The sales department uses the networks to add value to consumers, answering their questions and comments, and sharing content.
In the same way, social selling is suitable for both B2C and B2B brands, since in both cases customers carry out online research before purchasing.
Why should we carry out a Social Selling strategy?
As we have seen, today’s consumer is very informed. Before going to a store or making an online purchase, do a research process on the Internet. Look for prices and opinions.
Therefore, by applying Social Selling you increase the chances that the purchase process is effective since the messages that customers receive through the networks influence the perception they have about your company, thus increasing their trust towards it.
Of course, as long as those messages are coherent and have a logical strategy of recruitment and loyalty.
So, to attract our potential clients, we must become a benchmark in our sector and, for this, our content must be useful and add value to them. Ultimately, they must:
- Answer your questions
- Meet your needs
- Guide them towards their goals
And, thus, differentiate ourselves from our competition.
How to do Social Selling?
Choose the most relevant social networks for your company
A very common mistake of any social selling strategy is launching into all the networks at the same time. But to know how to sell, the first thing you need to do is figure out where your audience is.
To choose the most appropriate social networks for your brand, you have to be very clear about your consumer profile and how it fits in with existing networks. For example, Pinterest is king when it comes to fashion and weddings, LinkedIn is the ideal place to promote B2B services, and Snapchat and Instagram are very popular with teenage audiences.
Twitter: Follow the correct accounts
Twitter tools are of great help when building your network. That’s why I recommend Followerwonk, which allows you to search for Twitter profiles by topics and keywords. Once you have obtained the list of users that interest you, you can follow them directly from Followerwonk with a single click.
Create your dream client list and follow them
Thanks to social selling, your dream clients are at your fingertips. You can make a list of 10-20 companies you would love to collaborate with, find their profiles on LinkedIn and Twitter, and follow them. So you can keep up to date with all their news and interact with them.
LinkedIn: Activate Notifications to Follow Your Leads
To use this social selling strategy, the first thing you need to do is do a search on LinkedIn with the characteristics of your ideal client, for example, Human Resources professionals in the pharmaceutical industry. You’ll see that the results show people who are already connected to you first, which isn’t very useful. To remove them, go to “Relationships” in the left column and click “Second level”.
Now go to the top of the page and click on “Save Search”. Choose a name that clearly identifies what you are looking for and choose how often you want to receive notifications (weekly or monthly). Ready! Now LinkedIn will notify you every time a user of these characteristics joins the network.
LinkedIn: Connect with your potential customers
As you contribute to LinkedIn groups, you will see more users visiting your profile. You can take advantage of this visit to send them an invitation to connect.
When using LinkedIn invites, I recommend that you personalize the message as much as possible to engage the user and allow you to start a conversation.
Contribute to existing conversations about your brand
One of the main keys to social selling is to add value to your potential customers. And to do this, you can start with a very simple first step: listen to what they say about you and respond.
To do this, use the Twitter search function to find conversations related to your company and start interacting with users. You can just “like” and retweet their posts or go one step further by replying to their comments and questions.
Share relevant content
One more way to add value to social selling is content. More than 50% of B2B buyers search for information about products and services on social media. So whatever your sector, you can surely contribute to the conversation by sharing blog posts, videos, and other content.
Of course, make sure they are really relevant: unrelated or overly promotional content will achieve the opposite effect to what you are looking for.