Social Selling consists of using social networks to find potential customers, generate engagement and advance prospects through the different phases of the sales process .
This practice, which is gaining more and more relevance in B2B companies, differs from other marketing formulas in social networks that only seek to generate awareness about the brand. Instead, it seeks to generate sales opportunities based on a value connection with users.
Social Selling is an extremely useful tool for B2B companies that want to increase their sales possibilities. In this article we share all its keys and good practices.
Why is Social Selling important for the sales team?
In a competitive environment like the one that surrounds B2B companies, Social Selling has become an essential tool for generating leads. This is because social networks allow you to interact with prospects at an exact pain point and at the right time.
In turn, this allows the sales representative to improve the effectiveness of their actions and reduce the time it takes to convert a lead into a customer.
Specifically, Social Selling is essential for the B2B sales team for three reasons:
- It is a proven lead generator: Social Selling allows you to create valuable relationships and build trust, two essential aspects in the long sales process faced by the B2B sales team .
- It is effective to achieve high value accounts: It is a perfect strategy to work on Account Based Marketing , focused on the acquisition of large accounts.
- It allows one to take advantage of the experience of the sales team and the reach of corporate social networks: Once the problems that affect the audience are understood, Social Selling has the potential to achieve an exponential reach and a virality that attracts a high number of potential customers.
How can you sell through social networks?
At present, it is very common for social networks to be used to generate sales, this is very often achieved through the so-called “influencers”. These are people who, due to having developed or “specialized” in a specific topic and interacting with the public, have managed to build a community of followers on social networks. Therefore, they can recommend a product or service in their networks and share a link to the provider’s website.
However, this is not the only way that exists to generate sales through social networks, on the contrary, you can create a social account as a company and perform exactly the same function as an influencer by adding a buy button to the publications.
Also Read: Tricks To Avoid Cyberattacks On Social Networks
Good practices in Social Selling
Social Selling relationships cultivated in an appropriate way will be more successful. Thanks to the efforts of the sales team, aligned with the marketing team, your B2B business will be able to position itself as the best solution in the minds of current and potential customers.
To achieve this, we propose some good practices that will help you increase the conversion rate and online sales.
1. Be human
Prospects do not engage with impersonal, bot-managed accounts. Although automatic tools save time, they are not suitable for working on lead nurturing. Furthermore, they can negatively affect brand reputation and customer relationships.
Therefore, show yourself and generate the sensation in your potential customers of connecting with a real person .
2. Practice social listening
Look at the social media profiles of your target audience to find out what they like, their needs and what they want.
In this way, you will be able to create and share valuable content that is really interesting to them and generate engagement.
3. Offer valuable content that helps the user
The objective of Social Selling is to create valuable relationships and generate leads and this cannot be achieved with aggressive sales presentations and publications. Instead of focusing publications on promoting your products and services, offer solutions and valuable content .
4. Create lasting value relationships
The ultimate goal of a Social Selling strategy is to convert leads into customers and retain them.
To do this, the sales team must not only provide valuable content, but also work on the interaction of prospects, recognizing and appreciating their contributions and comments.
Social Selling, the key to improving your online sales
A Social Selling strategy seeks to achieve a sales opportunity by presenting the business as a trustworthy leader within its sector.
The basis is to share valuable content generated from an inbound marketing perspective that provides information to potential customers and offers solutions to their main problems.
Interacting with potential customers through social networks has proven to be more successful in building value relationships between companies and customers . These are some last suggestions for working on Social Selling within a B2B company :
- Create Linkedin profiles for each member of the sales team. With an optimized profile, you will be visible to prospects and seen as an authority on the subject.
- Transmit to the team what are the good practices to follow in their social networks.
- Establish collaboration and alignment of marketing and sales.
- Align opportunity funnels for both teams.
Social Selling on Linkedin
LinkedIn is the social network created to form professional connections. It is where professionals can show their expertise. Sales reps in the social selling business have a Linkedin profile and actively participate in Linkedin groups.
Linkedin helps establish brand credibility and connects the sales team with valuable leads. For B2B companies, Linkedin is the social network to connect with those who make purchasing decisions . The more connections you make, the bigger your network will be. The bigger your network, the more opportunities you will have to find promising leads.
Through engaging with prospects and social listening, the sales team can build an effective database that enables them to convey to the marketing team how to effectively present their products and services and learn how to speed up the lead nurturing process to increase online sales.
Also Read: Benefits Of Social Networks In Companies