Social selling is a powerful way to grow your business through meaningful relationships. It cuts through hard pitching and cold calls, allowing you to build community trust and generate more predictable leads and revenue. A well-planned social selling strategy can benefit businesses of any size!

Are you intrigued by the potential of social selling? Then, let’s delve deeper into what it is and how it can work for your business.

What is Social Selling?

Social selling is when salespeople leverage social media platforms and online communities to connect with potential customers, build relationships, and close sales.

With the rise of social media, social selling has become an increasingly popular tactic for sales teams to generate new leads and build long-lasting relationships with customers. In this blog post, we will explore six techniques to help you master the art of social selling.

Six Techniques to Master Social Selling

In this section, we discuss six techniques you can use to practice social selling in your company and maximize your profits. From tools for finding social leads to strategies for engaging with customers, this guide will help you make the most of social selling and grow your business.

1. Leverage Social Media to Find Fresh Leads

The first step to successful social selling is finding potential customers. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are great starting places. However, finding the right people to connect with can be a challenge.

One way to overcome this challenge is by using tools like ZoomInfo directories to browse through their database of sales leads. You can also explore LinkedIn to find anyone’s email address. These tools can help you identify and connect with potential customers who fit your product or service well.

Case Study:

A great example of how real companies use social media to find fresh leads is the case of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). This Platform-as-a-Service company’s marketing team wanted to use social selling to generate more leads for its new enterprise solutions. So they used LinkedIn Marketing Solutions to launch a three-phase marketing campaign.

They started by using LinkedIn’s powerful targeting capabilities to identify CXOs (chief experience officers) and key decision-makers to target. They then used LinkedIn’s Sponsored Content feature to promote thought-leadership pieces to those potential customers, along with additional social selling strategies.

Results:

Upon completing their 10-month marketing campaign, the team generated a 21% increase in mentions for the HPE brand and 399 net-new relationships from target accounts.

2. Join & Engage in Online Communities

Joining and engaging in online communities relevant to your industry is another effective way to build relationships and develop a reputation as a thought leader on social media. You can find these communities on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit.

Start by sharing helpful tips and insights that demonstrate your industry expertise. Also, look for opportunities to engage with community members by commenting on their posts or answering questions.

Case Study:

A recent example of how joining and engaging in online communities can be effective comes from Beyond Meat. Their social team wanted to cultivate conversation about plant-based meat products and drive brand engagement. To do that, their CEO and founder led a Promoted AMA on Reddit, which achieved outstanding results.

Results:

Beyond Meat’s CEO received over 1.4k comments, an 80% upvote rate, and various Reddit awards during the AMA.

3. Build a Strong Online Presence

In addition to engaging in online communities, building a strong online presence is essential. Create social profiles consistent with your brand identity and current social media trends. A strong presence also includes high-quality images, clear and concise messaging, links to your website, and other relevant content. Once you’ve built a great online presence, don’t leave it and let it be – use social media best practices for managing your online presence to maximize social selling results.

Case Study:

One example of a company with a strong online presence is Glossier. Glossier is a skincare and makeup brand with a massive following on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter. They’ve done this by creating visually stunning content and engaging with their followers in a fun and conversational way.

Results:

Their robust social presence has helped Glossier build a community of loyal fans eager to buy their products.

4. Create Compelling Social Content

Creating compelling content is critical in social selling. Your content should provide value to your target audience and demonstrate your expertise. You can create different types of content, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and more. Ensure your content is shareable, and use social media to promote your audience.

Case Study:

An excellent example of how to create compelling content comes from the company Buffer. Buffer is a social media management platform that helps businesses schedule and publish content on social media networks. They’ve built a massive following by creating helpful blog posts, videos, and podcasts.

Results:

This flow of engaging content has helped Buffer become a thought leader and drive more traffic to their website.

5. Follow Up with Leads

Once you’ve secured a lead, it’s essential to follow up with them promptly. Send a personalized email thanking them for their time and reiterating the value of your product or service. Then, keep the conversation going by providing helpful information and answering any questions they may have.

Case Study:

One great example of how to follow up with leads comes from the automation software company Appian. Appian is an automation platform that helps developers build enterprise software applications. By combining a paid lead generation campaign across Facebook and LinkedIn with a lead enrichment system, the team at Appian was able to follow up more aggressively on their most valuable social leads and spend less time on less qualified leads.

Results:

This overall marketing campaign resulted in a 72% reduction in their cost per acquisition (CPA) and an 852% increase in leads.

6. Turn Negative Comments into Positive Marketing

Social media can be a double-edged sword, and negative comments can be especially damaging to your brand. However, negative comments can also be an opportunity to showcase your customer service skills and turn a negative social media situation into a positive one.

Respond to negative comments promptly and professionally, and offer a solution to the problem. This positive public outreach can demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction and turn detractors into advocates.

Case Study:

An awesome example of how to turn negative social media comments into positive marketing comes from the fast-food restaurant chain Wendy’s. Wendy’s is known for its witty social media presence. They’ve turned negative statements into positive marketing by responding to them with humor and irreverence.

Results:

Their fun, positive humor has helped Wendy’s build a massive following on social media and become a cultural phenomenon.

Unleash Your Company’s Revenue with Social Selling

Social selling is an effective way for salespeople to generate fresh leads, build relationships, and close sales. By creating compelling content and building a strong online presence, your business can leverage social media platforms and online communities to find new customers and improve your marketing ROI. Following up with leads and handling negative comments are critical aspects of social selling.

Master these techniques, and you can drive more revenue online!