Social media is more than memes and selfies; it’s an invaluable asset for salespeople. Done correctly, social selling can generate high-quality leads and improve performance.
Brynne Tillman is a leading expert on social selling and LinkedIn optimization who works with entrepreneurs and sales teams to achieve business success. On this episode of Outside Sales Talk podcast, she will provide valuable tips and strategies for successful social selling.
1. Engage with your audience.
Social media provides salespeople with an invaluable way of connecting and engaging with potential buyers where they congregate – helping avoid the high costs associated with cold leads and cold calls while decreasing quotas and closing rates.
Social selling must be integrated into every company’s sales plan to be truly effective, yet this requires team effort from marketing, human resources and corporate communications staffers alike to realize its full potential.
Engagement with your audience should focus on relevant, engaging content and building trust with them. Take note of the analytics of your business profiles and track which articles or posts resonate most strongly among your followers, whether through likes, comments or shares.
2. Build trust.
Social selling fits perfectly into the way buyers purchase today: informed, empowered and connected consumers use the internet to research products and services; trust recommendations from their peers when selecting services; and are highly responsive to salespeople who connect with them in timely ways – one study even showed that salespeople employing social selling techniques filled their pipelines twice faster and outsold 78% of their peers!
Content that resonates with customers builds trust and positions your brand as an authentic resource, so it is vitally important for businesses to maintain an active social media presence while incorporating social selling as part of their overall sales strategy.
3. Be relevant.
As you build relationships with prospects and customers on social media, be relevant by posting engaging content that supports the values of your brand and meets audience needs.
Share customer testimonials and success stories across your social channels to convince prospective buyers to move further down your sales funnel. Also keep an eye out for any negative customer comments that could serve as warning signals or provide fodder for future sales pitches.
Social selling requires an integrated team effort from everyone within an organization – from marketing to communications to HR – involving them all in the process. That way, your message remains consistent across channels, making it easier for prospects to recognize and trust you.
4. Be authentic.
As a salesperson, it’s imperative that you form an authentic connection with your audience by offering relevant and personalized content via social media platforms such as Facebook.
If your audience is interested in your products, offering helpful tips and advice that relate to them can build credibility and trust amongst their audience.
An effective way of being genuine with your audience is forming personal connections with them on a one-on-one level. For instance, if they ask questions about your products or services and you respond in a timely fashion – making your audience feel heard and valued can lead to more conversions.
5. Be consistent.
Social selling success requires providing value and forming trusting relationships. Instead of bombarding prospects with sales pitches, look out for an appropriate moment to engage and position yourself as an authority with solutions.
Once you’ve established contact with your prospect, make sure to continue building it by sharing relevant content and offering helpful resources. This helps create an atmosphere of likability which could eventually lead to sales.
Sales leaders seeking to optimize the effectiveness of their social selling efforts should begin by systematizing and training their teams on best practices for social selling. Furthermore, implementing a social media management tool like Mailchimp for tracking engagement levels and sales performance would also be useful.
