Social Selling or How To Use Social Networks To Sell More

Have you tried applying social selling to capture leads and increase your sales? If your answer is no, you probably don’t know the possibilities offered by social networks to increase brand awareness and presence. Perhaps you also have no idea of ​​the enormous potential to promote and sell products and services.

In reality, social media is far from being a fad. Its number of users is constantly growing. Today, they are the most frequent means of interaction between people, thanks, among other things, to the capacity of mobile connections. Starting from this initial purpose, many companies soon took advantage of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay in communication with their customers and target audience.

You can also apply social selling to enhance your brand, get closer to your buyer personas, and increase sales! Below, we offer you relevant recommendations to do it efficiently.

What Is Social Selling?

Social selling is a procedure based on social networks to establish business relationships and sell goods and services. This technique takes advantage of the interactive nature of the RRSS to establish and maintain communication with current and potential clients. In this way, companies make known the knowledge and experience they have in their business area. But they also track who shows interest in the offer through their commercials.

Company salespeople went door-to-door during the past century, offering products and services not usually bought in supermarkets or stores. They were seldom welcome and had to lug around a product sample or a stack of explanatory brochures in their briefcase. In a few minutes, they had to deliver their pitch before the potential client rejected their offer and sometimes slammed the door in their faces.

With the advent of the telephone, visiting was replaced by calls supported by a phone book or list. A technique that is still valid today. Later, when we already had the Internet, we saw our email boxes invaded by offers and advertisements that we had not requested: the classic spam.

What Is The Difference Between Social Networks?

Users are in communication mode when they enter these social media and seem more willing to see what brands share. If they are interested, the feedback is immediate, and they open the opportunity to interact with the company. Indeed, the availability of visual and audiovisual content facilitates the attraction of potential customers and motivates access to links to search for more information.

From that moment, as we said, the commercials can communicate with the interested party through the same platform to follow up and finalize the sale. They can even participate in social conversation to offer solutions related to their offer to problems raised in the interactions. Thus the “cold door” from house to house, the calls hanging from the telemarketing, and the spam emails became history.

To give us an idea of ​​the scope of social networks in the field of business, some surveys provide data such as the following:

• 91% of purchase decision-makers in B2B companies are active and involved in social networks, and these channels influence 75%.
• 84% of senior executives use social media to support their purchasing decisions.

Build Relationships Through Social Selling

Social selling offers the opportunity to build relationships: the basic strategy of a successful sales professional. This technique is not satisfied with access to customer data. It is also about getting to know the prospects to the extent that interaction through social networks allows it.

As we will see later, LinkedIn transcended its initial condition as a channel for job searches and has become the professional network of reference for businesses. But not all companies should look for their clients in a network for professionals like this one. Depending on the profile of your buyer persona, you can make social sales on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or WhatsApp. Although the latter is a messaging application, it has become just another social media environment and has outstanding features for the purpose at hand.

Define Your Buyer Persona And Select The Appropriate Networks

First of all, it is essential to establish an accurate description of your buyer persona or an example of your ideal buyer. Apart from being necessary for any marketing and sales strategy, a complete profile of your client will allow you to know which social networks they interact with.

For example, if your buyer persona is a manager and business decision-maker, LinkedIn is the best option since part of their orientation is towards networking and B2B business. But it is also feasible to join specific WhatsApp groups.

In the case of a women’s clothing ecommerce, through Instagram and Pinterest, you can target women identified with different clothing styles.

Take Advantage of The Versatility of Social Selling.

A characteristic of social selling is the necessary application of two inbound marketing techniques in its processes: social media marketing and content marketing. Consequently, generating and sharing content, monitoring followers’ reactions, practicing social listening, and participating in conversations are necessary actions.

Usually, commercials used in this practice can act as community managers to follow up on the brand’s publications. Similarly, to respond to the interaction of customers and potential customers.

Share Quality Content

It is recommended that the material you post is not overtly promotional about sharing content. Regardless of your sales goals, your articles, videos, infographics, and podcasts should answer specific questions and issues from your buyer personas. Through these, you can demonstrate the knowledge and experience of your company in matters related to your business model. Otherwise, the potential client could perceive your content as invasive marketing.

On the other hand, it is essential to take care of the production of the material through impeccable writing and balanced designs, and vision care. In the case of podcasts and videos, it is essential to ensure the quality of the images, recordings, and editing.

Consider Omnichannel Marketing in Your Social Selling Strategy.

The user experience makes a difference in a market saturated with standardized products. A customer can interact with your brand through online and offline channels until completing the buyer journey with a purchase, which generates satisfaction. And therefore, the intention is to repeat the experience.

Empathy And Emotional Intelligence

And while we’re talking about engaging in conversation and practicing social listening, it’s vital to exercise empathy and emotional intelligence. Remember that you are publicly dealing with people who have very different ways of thinking and acting. In this sense, you will come across complaints, negative comments, and even malicious questions of any nature during any interaction.

Understanding the point of view of your interlocutor without necessarily agreeing is a starting point to positively interacting with him. While changing habitual emotional responses to harmful stimuli, allow your answers to be geared towards solving the follower’s problem or doubt.