B2B MARKETING
What is social selling,
and why does your business need it?
WRITTEN BY JACK BARRON | DECEMBER 1, 2020 | 6 MIN
Social media is an increasingly common part of everyone’s lives – that means businesses looking to better hone their customer service, experience, and prospects should look to utilise it as a part of their marketing strategy.
Social selling is something gaining considerable traction with many businesses, as it offers both you as a business and your customers genuine utility. So, what is social selling and why should you care?
What is Social Selling?
First things first – social selling is NOT social media marketing, and it’s NOT social media advertising. Social selling is the process of using social media to establish, connect with, and better understand your sales prospects. It’s using an ever-present tool to nurture your relationships with both prospective and existing customers – with the objective to be the first business they think of when it’s time to buy.
You might already be doing it, even if you don’t realise it. If your business has a social media presence you are already in the process of building your community and using social selling. Now you have the capacity to make it work for you.
Why Should You Care?
There are many reasons you should be considering better implementing social selling into your sales structure, but the primary reason is that it works. That means if you’re not using social selling tactics you’re leaving potential prospects, sales, and brand recognition on the table.
With that in mind, here are three very simple but compelling reasons to start implementing social selling:
Build lasting relationships – Few people like to engage with a business that has no “face”. Social selling allows you to minimise unproductive cold calling, by listening in to the discussion at large and introducing yourself to prospects at the times they’re most receptive.
Be receptive to social buying – Your customers are using social buying techniques to find the businesses they want to engage with. Social selling is not about finding the leads who have never heard of you, it’s about finding the customers who are already primed to buy from you.
The competition is already doing it – Social selling is an established element of social media sales strategies, and not incorporating it into your own is giving your competition an advantage by default. Not using social selling will only give your business needless challenges.
How do you do social selling the right way?
So, now you know what social selling actually is and what it can do to benefit you. How do you make sure you’re doing it properly?
1. Be present
There are many tools to automate the process of liking, sharing, and in some cases even generating posts, but if you want to establish that all-important human connection you need a human to do it. Engage with your social media and the people who are engaging with you.
That isn’t to say you can’t benefit from automating parts of the process. For example, tools that schedule your content are a great way to ensure you remain consistent with your message…as long as it’s a human that has written the content in first place.
2. Always listen
Your prospects and leads are sharing vital information with you all the time, you just have to be able to hear it. They’re telling you what they want, need, and require from a business. Keep your ears open to feedback, not only about yourself but your competitors and industry as a whole. Listen out for common pain points, stumbling blocks in the buying process, and frustrations that customers have with their service – then provide the solutions.
3. Offer value
When it comes down to it, what are you actually offering your customers? Boil down your core business value into simple bite-size chunks and laser focus on making sure they are as compelling as possible. The goal of social selling is not to constantly pitch, it’s to present yourself as a valuable and authoritative presence in your field. This is what ensures customers begin to think of your business automatically when they want to make a purchase.
4. Meaningful relationships
Converting a lead or a prospect into a sale is a success, but true success comes when you have a repeat loyal customer. The first sale is just one step in your journey together. Those lasting and meaningful connections are not only what encourages repeat business, but also what fuels word of mouth promotion.
Start using the tools you have
Social selling is an essential part of your social media sales approach, and now you know the basics on how you can start reaping its rewards.
The good news is that the tools you need to do social selling are largely free. The process of course takes time, but nothing worth having comes without cost. When you’ve had your first win or are sold on the idea, then you can invest in tools that help you streamline the process and scale your efforts.
Have a question? Need some advice? Don’t worry, we don’t bite…or hard sell. We’re all about developing relationships and helping people out wherever we can. Just give us a shout!
Jack Barron, Director
Jack is passionate about marketing and helping small to medium-sized businesses thrive. As Director of Invoke Media, he is responsible for overseeing the planning and implementation of every campaign, getting stuck into the execution of successful at every opportunity.
