Why social selling is important and how to social sell
“Social selling” is a strategy that connects and engages directly with your target sales prospects via social media platforms. It is a popular method of developing meaningful relationships with prospective customers and has largely replaced the practise of cold calling. It does not, however, use any hard-selling or direct-selling techniques to provide its services.
Our approach to sales has evolved over time. It’s all about developing strong and trustworthy relationships with your customers. Using social media for e-commerce shopping cart solutions conveys that you are an expert and authoritative figure in your field. It puts you ahead of your competitors, who are still using traditional sales techniques.
Social selling makes use of social media to reach the right prospects, raise brand awareness, and build relationships with potential customers. This sales strategy keeps you at the forefront of your potential customers’ minds, making you the first brand that comes to mind when they’re ready to buy a product.
Sales teams, marketers, entrepreneurs, and anyone with an online business want to know how to sell on social media. Few people understand how to use social media to generate revenue for their business, despite the fact that it is an important channel for building a relationship with the consumer.
The benefits of selling products on social media:
The goal of social sharing is to share the right content with the right prospects at the right time. By sharing your content with their connections, your sales team can provide exponential access to key decision-makers and influencers. When salespeople comment, like, or share content, they not only join the conversation, but they also increase their own credibility. They demonstrate an active interest in what their buyers are discussing.
Your sales team is already occupied with prospecting, developing proposals, and closing deals. Let’s face it: adding another activity like sharing your content will be difficult. However, the proven benefits make the effort worthwhile. Social selling benefits not only the company, but also the employees.
“Social Selling” helps in:
- Enhanced brand visibility.
- Sales cycles have been shortened.
- More and more decision-makers see content.
- Improved buyer-seller relationship and rapport Building your thought, leadership and unique features
How to Social Sell:
1. Create a social strategy unique to your target audience.
The key point here is that not every social network will be a good fit. Is your primary customer in the recruiting or education industries? an adolescent? A mother looking for a recipe? Perhaps your customer is a knowledgeable thought leader or a technology early adopter. Each of these descriptions corresponds to a specific social networking platform – LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter, in that order – and can help you decide which is best for your company. Choose wisely, begin listening to problems you can solve, and offer useful advice. Earning trust is the first step.
2. Create the appropriate content at the appropriate volume.
An effective social strategy necessitates content. The more unique and engaging, the better. (Always include a visual.) Depending on who your customer is, you’ll need to strike a balance in terms of how frequently and in what formats you post. Don’t underestimate the power of reposting or tweeting third-party content. The goal is to engage with your customers; create a personal account, engage in conversations, and become acquainted with the community’s norms and expectations.
3. Create a network
There are no two ways about it: you must do the grunt work of actually building your network. The best advice here is to set daily, weekly, and monthly goals so that you can commit to a pace of engagement right away. Look for people who are talking about your industry or using related keywords on social media. Then start re-tweeting them, responding to their questions, or sharing something they say that interests you. By participating in their conversations, you build up your prospects and add value to their network.
4. Reconnect it to the Business
None of the above matters unless there is an increase in sales, which comes from eventually serving up purposeful calls to action to both customers and non-customers. This is a critical point. Because of the nature of social media, it is not always your customers, but rather their friends, who can wield the most influence. If your friends like what you’re saying, they can do some of your selling for you. When it comes to social selling, relationships are far more important than leads. People share a lot of information, and if you take the time to listen to what they have to say, you will be in the best position to have meaningful conversations with the right people and offer “just the thing” they want or need at the right time.
5. Your top competitors are already social selling.
Staying competitive requires the use of social selling, i.e., ecommerce shopping cart solutions. Other brands are present on popular social media platforms, interacting with potential customers. As per a Statista report in 2020, “an estimated 25% of e-commerce enterprises worldwide planned selling on social media in 2020.”
