The sales and marketing landscape has shifted in the past decade due to evolving consumer behavior and technology. Marketers are no longer only turning to cold calls. Instead, they are turning to social selling to expand their business. But, what is social selling anyway? Let’s find out.
What Is Social Selling?
As society changed and technology advanced, the world of marketing evolved with it. In this new era, marketers and businesses are leaning into social selling to find their next lead. But what is social selling? What does social selling mean?
Put simply, social selling is a sales technique that utilizes a brand’s social media to connect with potential leads and prospects. The brand develops connections and engages with its leads on these platforms. It’s a powerful tactic to help brands build rapport with their network and reach sales targets.
However, it’s not to be confused with social media marketing or social media advertising. Unlike those practices, social selling nurtures relationships. It encourages conversations instead of sales pitches. What are examples of social selling?
A good illustration would be the act of a brand using its LinkedIn Page, Twitter (or X) Profile, or Facebook Business Page to converse and interact with potential clients. This doesn’t mean the brand bombards people with direct messages or unsolicited Tweets. The interactions in social selling require quality to build trust and loyalty.
What Is the Social Selling Index?
The Social Selling Index Score (SSI) is a metric that measures how impactful a brand’s social selling activities are. It’s more commonly known as the LinkedIn Social Selling Index, as the platform introduced SSI in 2014. The SSI is updated daily and integrates four different components. They gauge whether the brand is:
- Finding the right audience on the platform
- Creating a professional using a well-managed LinkedIn profile
- Providing relevant content that inspires conversations
- Strengthening and forming relationships
What is my SSI score? To find it on LinkedIn, the brand must sign into their account on the platform and head to the Social Selling Index dashboard. This page also provides a report to let brands know how well they’re doing in their specific industry. It also compares their rank to those in their network. The goal is to get an SSI of 100, though the best businesses thus far have reached a score of 75 or higher.
How Does Social Selling Help?
Social selling is a wonderful way of establishing connections and boosting sales. Here are some of the ways it helps online businesses.
1. Generating More Sales Opportunities
It’s no secret: this technique creates more sales opportunities. According to LinkedIn, leaders in social selling generate 45% more opportunities than brands with SSIs. They’re also more likely to reach their quotas, and they outsell competitors that do not use social media.
2. Forming Real Relationships
Gone are the days when businesses simply found prospects through conferences, trade shows, or industry events. People on social media are already actively engaging in conversations. This strategy allows brands to initiate conversations and identify leads by forming real connections. Authenticity can build trust and, over time, leads to customer loyalty.
3. Reaching Target Audiences
Social media offers huge potential for brands as platforms like Facebook and Instagram have large user bases. Furthermore, people on these platforms use social media to find inspiration for things to buy and do. Some even actively seek social media products and use them to learn about brands.
What Platforms Are Best for Social Selling?
There are many social media platforms brands can use. However, a brand’s choice should rely on the target audience and the brand’s chosen approach. If the brand wants more engaging interactions, the best places to go are Instagram and Twitter. They allow brands to respond to questions and are more casual spaces encouraging natural conversations.
Meanwhile, LinkedIn is a great platform for business-to-business (B2B) relationships. It’s a more formal platform where businesses can find and reach out to decision-makers and leaders. Companies can use the platform to directly connect with potential clients and build formal relationships.
Best Practices
What are the best practices brands should follow to reach their audience successfully? Here are some things to keep in mind.
1. Optimize Your Profile
Brands must first optimize their profile before they engage in this practice. After all, you don’t want customers to feel confused about what you’re selling when they visit your profile. Complete the setup, add a profile picture, and include helpful information about the brand and products.
2. Provide Value
Social media users want authenticity. They may not respond as well to hard-selling, sales pitches, or pushy practices. Hence, to reach the audience you wish to, it’s essential to first establish your brand by providing value. Establish yourself as an industry expert and share relevant and valuable content.
3. Listen Strategically
Pay attention to what other people are doing and saying. Listen strategically and monitor what others say about your industry, competitors, and company. Look for requests, pain points, and complaints. These allow you to address people’s problems and offer solutions.
4. Be Authentic
Brands need to be themselves and keep it accurate on social media. They need to personalize their messaging and form connections by starting real conversations. It’s essential to build rapport this way, as social media users can often smell inauthenticity a mile away. This could be damaging to the brand and business.
5. Stay Consistent
Don’t expect it to produce immediate results; don’t let the lack of these results weigh you down. Stay consistent and build relationships over time.
Some contacts may only be ready to purchase after some time has passed. Keep in touch with them. Moreover, follow up on any new leads or those you haven’t heard from.
6. Join Communities
If you’re on LinkedIn or other community-based sites, join groups that follow industry trends. This way, you can stay informed of new trends or challenges your audience may face. It might also be helpful to join popular communities among your prospects.
Apart from this, remember to participate and bring value to the discussion. Engage with the community. Don’t simply market your services or products. Also, don’t give a sales pitch in the comments and annoy other members. This could give the wrong impression.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Social Selling the Inbound Way?
Inbound social selling is, as the name implies, inherently inbound. It’s what social selling normally refers to, as it pulls prospects inbound by nurturing relationships and providing valuable content. The customers come to the brand themselves instead of the brand reaching out to them.
What Is a Social Selling Business?
A social selling business is a business that uses social media channels to engage in social selling. These businesses may rely on this instead of traditional sales strategies like emailing and cold calling. Businesses like these engage with prospects through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (or X).
The Future of Marketing
What is social selling? Now that we know the answer to this question, we must learn how to utilize it well. Use the right social media platform, establish genuine connections, and participate in honest conversations. It takes a while, but it bears fruit.
Do you need help with social selling? Tanner Grey offers industry-leading professional help with digital marketing. Call us today at 844.500.1339 or contact us online to learn more!
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Top Digital Marketing Trends In 2024
- How To Leverage AI Marketing?
- 10 Witty Ways To Ask For A Review From A Customer
