The Ultimate Guide To Nailing Social Selling On Social Media

Long gone are the days of traditional sales tactics. Cold calling, door-to-door salesmen, and all those other methods we saw on The Office are neither efficient, nor effective any more. These days, it’s all about social selling. So, here is our social selling guide.

When done correctly, social selling can promote customer loyalty, improve your brand’s social credibility, and allow you to reach your sales goals.

Yet, how do you tap into this seemingly magical marketing method?

With the extreme level of information available on social selling, cutting through the clutter to the tactics that really work can seem intimidating. That’s where we come in.

Read on to find out all you need to know to start social selling as a marketing tactic for your business, and do so successfully.

THE BASICS OF SOCIAL SELLING

Put simply, social selling is the act of using digital channels to interact and connect with potential leads and customers.

Also known as digital selling or virtual selling, this marketing method most typically involves using your brand’s channel to find and nurture leads, as well as close sales. What sets social selling apart from more traditional sales tactics, is that it focuses on consumer relationships rather than a hard and fast sale.

Social selling places consumer relationships at its centre by seeking to nurture and generate leads rather than just converting them to sales. By doing so, social selling creates authentic relationships that stand the test of time and establish customer loyalty.

Social selling continues to prove incredibly successful for brands. Businesses that are social selling leaders create 45% more sales than those that have a low SSI. Brands that make social selling a priority are up to 51% more likely to successfully hit their sales quotas.

But, how to start social selling?

HOW TO DO SOCIAL SELLING?

Now that we have covered the basics, it’s time to dive into how to put your best social selling foot forward. Let’s get into it.

Provide value to your customers

The biggest part of social selling is ensuring that the content you share with your audience is of value to them.

Whilst the instinct to simply publish as much content as you possibly can may seem inviting, overloading your audience with content that is of little value to them drives them away. Instead, focus on content that you know will resonate with your followers; even if this slows down your posting schedule.

Sharing valuable content forms a bond with your audience, and communicates that you appreciate their time; rather than viewing them as mere sales statistics, you value the relationship that you share.

Engage in social listening

A key part of social selling is social listening.

This practice allows you to keep track of what your audience is saying about your brand. From the good, to the bad and the ugly, keeping track of how consumers feel about your company and product allows you to adjust your strategy; amp up what is resonating with your audience and dial back what is not.

Beyond simply maximising your returns, social listening also shows your customers that you value their opinions. This furthers customer loyalty and boosts positive associations with your brand. Consumers are far more likely to dedicate time to a brand that listens to them, rather than one that shoves their voices aside.

Keep things authentic

Ensuring that your consumer interactions remain positive and authentic is an essential piece of the social selling puzzle. Disingenuous community management is painfully clear to audiences; users are able to tell almost immediately if a brand’s social media accounts are purely for profit.

To foster authentic community management and genuine consumer interactions, be sure to steer clear of automated liking and commenting tools. Instead, invest time into your followers. Their loyalty is incredibly powerful.

Focus on consistency

Publishing content consistently is an integral part of social selling. By posting consistently – both in terms of the type of content you publish and when you release it – your followers are able to get into a groove. This means that they will keep coming back, as they know exactly what to expect and when to expect it.

A key part of consistent social selling is following up with leads. A fantastic way to do this is via email subscription lists. Through these lists you are able to ensure leads do not move on from your brand, but rather are reminded of why they were interested in you in the first place.

Keep your social media profiles up to scratch

Given that this marketing method occurs on your social media, making sure that your accounts are up to date is incredibly important if you want to sell on social media.

The best way to keep your social media profiles spick and span is by running a social media audit. A social media audit involves running through all your brand’s social media channels and taking note of what has worked. For a complete rundown of how to carry out an audit, read here.

Once you have completed a social media audit, you will have a concrete idea of how to move forwards with your social selling strategy.

Join and participate in communities

A major goal of social selling is to appear authentic and genuine. An effective way to achieve this is to become an active member of your community.

Tools such as Facebook Groups and LinkedIn Groups are sure fire ways to integrate yourself into the community. Participating in community conversation establishes your brand as human-led, and can also be a simple way to practise thought leadership.

Make use of analytics tools

Finally, social selling is all about keeping up with what your audience is responding to. Outside of social listening, be sure to work with the many social media analytics tools that major platforms give you access to. Platforms such as Instagram provide you with extensive information on your content and how people are engaging with it.

By garnering a solid understanding of how your audience interacts with your account, you are able to promote further social media engagement and boost the effectiveness of your social selling strategy overall.

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@ Socially Powerful