Utilizing social media for communication has become a usual thing for many people. Nowadays, more than half of the world’s population utilize it for various purposes. In this regard, the rise of social selling as a business strategy seems to become beneficial and add to marketing efforts.
The primary reasons for using social selling strategies refer to the ability to improve the image and visibility of the brand, listen to the customers, and establish a deeper and longer connection. That way, communication in prospecting becomes less intrusive, putting trust first and opening a gate for selling.
In this post, you will know how to market on social media and what are the principles behind B2B social selling.
What is Social Selling?
First of all, one should understand the definition of social selling. It is about developing relationships on the company’s social media by listening to, communicating, and connecting with prospects. As its goal is to add to the company’s sales, brands grow their network and start a conversation with the prospects.
In its turn, it helps to establish trust and understand the value to be offered by the sales team. The better the marketer engages with the prospects, the higher chances that prospects would pick their brand.
Applying B2B Social Selling: The Basics
Social selling usually works better within the B2B sector. Despite Facebook having significant volumes of users, LinkedIn will be a better place to do it due to its growing business community. The fact that almost 50% of social traffic to B2B websites originates from LinkedIn only supports this notion. Yet, how to do it right?
B2B social selling contemplates that you establish a connection with the audience, offer them something valuable and place yourself as the credible actor. What is the reason behind it? It creates a particular image of your company with a focus on expertise and utility.
For LinkedIn selling, such positioning is crucial. As it is a business community, its users favor professionalism and expertise. Moreover, they know how content marketing and prospecting work. That’s why there is a place only for genuine cases and handy advice.
One of the best ways to market on social media refers to sharing your experience and expertise. For sure, one can use ads. However, the content and expertise offer a chance to establish a deeper connection by giving solutions to the problems. The way how the brand illustrates itself will impact the decision of the audience to proceed with it. Thus, there are certain things to keep in mind:
- Profile establishment. First of all, one should think of the profile for LinkedIn selling. The profile is the face of the company. Thus, it is critical to reflect on its products and clearly describe what you do there. Also, you can add videos and pictures to make it more visually appealing.
- Expertise and content. At the same time, social selling techniques require offering value. For LinkedIn selling, as well as for other social media, nothing has more value than expertise. Thus, cooperate with the content department and share helpful posts, bits of advice, recommendations and guides related to your sphere. Besides, organizing a webinar or a workshop can significantly enhance your LinkedIn presence.
- Engagement with the audience. Interaction with the target audience allows you to create relationships and show why your product is better. In this regard, to be visible on social media, you should start discussions, comment on posts, and join groups. That way, you will show your expertise.
- Do not instantly sell. B2B Social selling contemplates building relationships and offering value first. Thus, do not sell in the first messages. Let the customers see who you are as a brand.
- Connect with more people. Social media prospecting is all about networking and connections. Therefore, to get more prospects, you would need to connect with others. You may write them messages or comment on their works. Besides, there is room for cooperation with experts as well as offering new deals.
How Does it Contribute to Your Marketing?
Social selling strategies can contribute to the different marketing methods one applies. In particular, they can add to the understanding of the customers, raise awareness about the product and improve the image. There are three main areas that social selling techniques can improve.
Adding to networking and cooperation
First of all, as social selling is about relationship building, you are to meet more people. On the one hand, they will know more about your product. On the other hand, you can lay the ground for cooperation with the people from the industry or its niche.
Professional communities are usually closed, and once you get to one of them, you get people’s attention. This way, your social media sales strategy can resort to influencers and opinion leaders. If your product is good enough, they may even promote it.
Expanding research
At the same time, social selling is to add to your research significantly. How? First of all, by listening to the community, you get more insights and better understand the customer’s issues. It is about your buyer’s persona research.
Secondly, it provides more opportunities for lead generation research. LinkedIn selling is about making connections. Making connections helps to get access to pages of other prospects. In its turn, it offers opportunities to find and collect emails. How? For instance, there is a tool that allows extracting emails from LinkedIn. Such software can get information from pages that can be used for targeting and effective email marketing.
Thus, social selling not just helps to sell the product but to gather more information about customers.
Enhancing your image
Lastly, your social media page is what people would observe to get an idea of your business. It is about branding. Having a developed social selling sales strategy would add to your communication plan and strategy.
You can add a LinkedIn icon on the landing page, leave a link under the position you offer, or include it in your business letter. It is easier to show your company page instead of writing about your company. It will save your and the recipient’s time. Moreover, it is about diversifying channels and portraying your values to different groups.
