Ok, let’s talk about selling on social media.
Nope, I’m not talking about those annoying people who send you a sales pitch immediately after you’ve connected with them on LinkedIn (you know who you are).
I’m talking about the process of sales persons becoming brand advocates and using their social networks to blast through the quotas quarter after quarter.
So, first things first, what IS Social Selling?
For the answer to that we’ll turn to LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network – who define social selling as “leveraging your social network to find the right prospects, build trusted relationships, and ultimately, achieve your sales goals”.
And that’s it.
Yes, it is actually a very simple activity. However, the reason not enough people do it is because it is because it can be time consuming and absolutely requires patience – something that’s not often seen in sales.
For the purposes of this video I’m going to focus on LinkedIn, mainly because that’s where social selling mostly happens, in more of a business / professional environment, but that’s not to say social selling is reserved only for B2B sellers and marketers because it is absolutely not!
There are many people who use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and even TikTok to promote their personal brand and sell on social media. The same principles that apply to LinkedIn, apply elsewhere, though the execution might be different.
Back to LinkedIn then and did you know LinkedIn provides a nice little tool called the Social Selling Index (SSI) that helps you track your social selling progress? Well, it does. It measures your activity across four areas, which LinkedIn defines as the four Pillars of social selling:
- Create & Establish Your Professional Brand
Developing a strong professional brand helps you stand out from your peers, showing that you are an active participant in your industry and builds trust among your community. It leads to more inquiries and better responses.
Think about: how your profile looks (profile picture, background photo, your ‘About’ information, etc.) / the type of content you share / your tone of voice on the platform
- Find the Right People / Prospects
This is important, as you can have the greatest brand in the world but if it’s the wrong target audience then it’s going to have very little impact. Find the right people and prospects for your network using LinkedIn’s search tools and criteria – such as role, function or industry.
Think about: who is your ideal customer? Who do you want to engage with you and your content?
- Engage with Insights
Position yourself as a subject matter expert by sharing insightful information to your audience – creating valuable engagement! As LinkedIn states, over 62% of B2B buyers respond to salespersons that connect with relevant insights and opportunities!
Think about: what kind of interaction you’d like with your audience or the people you are trying to connect with / does this comment add value?
- Build Trusted Relationships
Last but not least, remember to build and develop the relationships you have with your network. That means engaging with a comment that is more insightful and offers more value than “great work” or “well done”. Have genuine conversations and focus on the needs of the prospect first, and focus on the selling second.
Think about: what kind of interaction you’d like with your audience or the people you are trying to connect with / does this comment add value?
There’s lots to consider here, but ultimately it will take a lot of trial and error for you to find what works best. I used to post a lot of industry news and thought pieces, and still do, but I actually found that posting updates on my work or behind the scenes shots gets greater engagement from my audience. And remember, your network of contacts connected with you for a reason, they want to hear from YOU – NOT your company. It’s fine to post about your business but add some personality to make it yours.
So, what do you think you could better utilise your LinkedIn profile to sell more? Who is your ideal customer that you want to connect with?
If you’ve got any questions you can connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss!
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