Social Selling: What is it and How to Take Advantage of it? Part 1
TeleworkPH
Published: January 22, 2021
The use of social media has been growing exponentially today. For most businesses, a presence on social media is now vital to increasing their sales. Gone are the days where you’ll just pick up the phone, make some cold calls, and easily secure leads. Customers are more versatile and selective nowadays. But you can reach them through almost every channel. However, they’ll most likely spend their time on social media. In fact, according to We Are Social’s research, there are 4.14 billion active social media users worldwide. As a business owner, this poses as a challenge for how will your salespeople get through them in this digital age? The answer is through social selling.
In this article, we’ll take a look at social selling and its advantages in today’s digital-savvy consumer market. We’ll also provide you with some actional tips and tools you can use to achieve and maintain success in social selling. But first, let’s define this new and trendy sales method.
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What is Social Selling?
Social selling is a new sales approach wherein salespeople leverage social media to build brand awareness, find the right prospects, and establish relationships with them. Since social selling strategically puts brand awareness through meaningful content, customers will look directly for your brand. Not the other way around where you’ll just spam customers with your product or service over and over.
The primary goal of social selling is building and maintaining trust. That’s why it’s also more effective as a lead generation strategy, unlike the traditional cold calling method. Also, if you already have an existing social media account for your business, then you’re on the right path to social selling.
Now that we have a basic understanding of social selling, let’s look at why it’s important for your business.
Advantages of Social Selling
Creates Professional Brand Visibility
A reputable social media page will show that you’re proactive and professional in the industry. Since customers only do business with the brands they trust, having a professional social media profile will give you the edge to get more inquiries from prospects. Also, don’t hesitate to encourage your employees to promote your brand on social media. More mentions and exposure can amount to engagement and conversion.
Builds Real Relationships
Social selling not only helps you build real relationships with your customers, but it builds a strong relationship among your team members as well. You can easily build customer trust by focusing on their needs and providing genuine information to address their pain points. While for your team members, social selling encourages them to work with one another to secure leads through different methods.
Boosts Sales and Shortens Sales Period
Ask any sales professional today and they’ll say that cold calling isn’t a very effective method to book leads. In fact, 90% of B2B customers say that they never respond to cold calls. However, these customers are more than present on social media. 76% of them are ready to have a conversation with potential brands on social media. This, in turn, shortens the sales period and greatly reduces the contact time of sales professionals. The wide scope of social media also allows you to potentially boost sales. Finding more ideal clients and customers can drive an increase in sales in the long run.
Drives More Quality Leads
Aside from boosting sales, social selling can also drive more quality leads. Capturing quality leads is easier through social selling since potential customers are already online and looking to do business with a brand. According to eMarketer, lead development is one of the primary ways in which sales professionals maximize the use of social selling tools. And as both your customers and salespeople are on social media, you should position yourself and your salespeople as thought leaders in the industry. Why? Because over 62% of B2B customers connect with salespersons that provide relevant insights. Quality leads will naturally come by providing valuable insights and genuine conversations.
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