Social selling, a real lever for sales performance
In 2020, 92% of the best salespeople were using a social selling strategy (La Poste Solution Business). This revealing figure shows the extent to which the rise of the Internet and social networks has transformed sales management.
Traditional tools are no longer relevant, and customers and sales reps alike are turning to social networks to build lasting business relationships. But this digital sales technique is not simply a matter of creating profiles on social networks.
Social selling is a genuine process of research, selection and listening. When it's mastered properly, it represents a real lever for sales performance.
So what is social selling? What are the advantages and benefits for your company? And how can you succeed with your social selling strategy on LinkedIn? Find out in this article.
What is social selling?
Social selling: definition
Social selling is a sales technique that involves using social networks to initiate initial contact with the aim of generating leads and converting them into customers.
👉 It's a strategy used mainly by B2B organisations, but it can be used by all business sectors and company structures.
Social selling is one of the many so-called " digital selling" methods, based on digital technology to improve sales. And it works! 84% of B2B CEOs use social networks in their purchasing decisions (B2B marketers) .
💡 However, social selling does not replace traditional sales and marketing techniques:
- emailing
- newsletters
- telephone prospecting, etc.
It is an additional means of communication that enables you to :
- shorten your sales cycles and therefore speed up conversion ;
- build a close relationship with your prospect
- position yourself as an expert and improve your brand image;
- gain access to relevant information about your leads, etc.
Key figures for social selling
- In 2020, 19.8% of BtoB decision-makers made a purchase following a request on social networks (La Poste Solution Business) ;
- 78% of companies that use social selling outperform their competitors (Forbes);
- 64% of sales teams using social selling achieve their quotas (La Poste Solution Business);
- Sales people who use social selling are 51% more likely to achieve their sales targets (La Poste Solution Business).
Why use social selling?
Detecting opportunities
Social selling considerably improves the detection of sales opportunities. In fact, 37.4% of managers have bought a product or service following the discovery of content published on social networks.
Social media are becoming veritable product catalogues, where you can use relevant content to present your offering in an attractive and engaging way.
👉 In this way, you can position yourself as an expert in your field and establish a relationship of trust with web users even before the first contact is made.
What's more, social networks give you access to a number of tools and indicators that help you improve your sales actions and thus encourage the detection of new opportunities. These include
- creating alerts
- monitoring your news feed
- creating discussion groups
- tracking who has seen your profile,
- the number of views of your content, etc.
Creating relationships based on trust
Commercial relations, and more specifically prospecting, are often impersonal and bland. The same pitch is repeated, the same means of communication are used... customers get bored (and so do you!).
90% of senior decision-makers say they never answer impromptu calls
Copernic
Social media improve your marketing strategy by enabling you to:
- create personalised messages that are more effective,
- build a more human commercial relationship
- position yourself as an advisor and not just a salesperson.
Align yourself with the competition
Social selling is a recognised sales technique used by many companies. If you don't use it, you run the risk of being overtaken by the competition and losing potential customers.
So, if you haven't yet adopted a social selling strategy, here are 4 essential tips for optimising your social selling strategy on LinkedIn!
Build your personal branding
Many companies still think that personal branding is only for B2C companies. But this is not the case. On the contrary, it can be a real competitive advantage.
In fact, personal branding represents all the marketing actions that your company will implement with the aim of arousing emotion in customers. The aim is to build a genuine brand identity, including :
- logo
- graphic charter
- editorial line,
- values conveyed by the company, etc.
👉 This will help you stand out from the competition and create a link between your company and your customers. But that's not all. Your social selling strategy will be even more relevant because your expertise and positioning in the market will be even more credible and stronger. This will tend to increase customer confidence.
4 tips for a successful LinkedIn social selling strategy
LinkedIn is the most widely used professional social network in the world. It's an obvious choice for social selling, particularly in the B2B sector.
50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn as a resource to make purchasing decisions
LinkedIn is therefore essential when it comes to social selling. Here are our 4 tips for getting started with your social selling strategy on LinkedIn!
Use strategic intelligence to identify leads
There are countless people and potential customers on LinkedIn. Obviously, you're not targeting the entire network, so it's essential to determine as precisely as possible which people are part of your core target.
👉 Tip: Creating a buyer persona will enable you to know exactly what your customers' needs, expectations, obstacles and buying motivations are.
By segmenting and getting to know your target better, you'll be able to create content that's more tailored to them and therefore more impactful. This will maximise your chances of reaching the right people and converting your leads. It's a win-win situation.
Personalise your messages
This stage is essential. It represents the very essence of social selling. Personalisation and empathy are two essential elements of a good sales strategy on LinkedIn.
Think about personalising your messages and contacts according to the person's character trait (if you know enough about them), their sector of activity... If it's an invitation, write one or two short sentences to encourage the person to accept.
Personalisation and empathy should nevertheless be the two key elements of all your sales stages:
- BtoB sales prospecting (invitation and first contact),
- during the sale,
- follow-ups,
- after the sale (birthdays, surveys, etc.)
Be active on LinkedIn
It's vital that you publish and communicate regularly on your LinkedIn social network. It's not enough to be regular with your customers; you also need to be more general:
- share content on a regular basis (at least once a week, if possible): this feeds your professional page and gives concrete expression to your status as an expert. This can include: white papers, articles, customer reviews, etc. ;
- " like" and/or "share" certain posts so that you are visible all the time on your prospects' and customers' news feeds;
- take care with the visual side of your profile : update your information if necessary, present good quality photos, create attractive visuals in line with your graphic charter.
Make inbound marketing part of your strategy
Inbound marketing is a marketing method that consists of attracting potential customers and prospects to you rather than going out to find them. Contrary to appearances, social selling and inbound marketing are quite complementary.
In 2019, 93% of companies that adopted inbound marketing had a real positive impact on their conversion rate
ideagency
Your LinkedIn profile and your publications are your shop window. They should make interested users want to come to you or your site. What's more, both methods base their foundations on empathy and personalisation.
👉 This distinction allows you not to be too intrusive and to give your prospects space (unlike traditional business practices based on repetition and ultra-replication).
Article translated from French