Why Social Sales Should Be Factored in Your Sales Strategy

• 91% of B2B buyers are now active and involved in social media
• 84% of senior executives use social media to support purchase decisions
• 75% of B2B buyers are significantly influenced by social media

Do we have your attention yet?

Social selling will undoubtedly help you sell more. Research by IDC has found that to be true. We have seen it with our clients data. In fact one client has a massive lead and now late stage deal that came from a simple LinkedIn post. 

It works. Why not try?

While most companies’ sales practices are different, all share a common goal — growth. All follow some variation of the same processes: getting to know your customers, discovering their pain points and finding ways to help the prospect achieve their own goals just to name a few. 

Around 3.5 billion people now use social media, nearly half the global population. If you’re a seller and you’re wondering if you should be active on social media, this number alone should speak to you.

What many salespeople don’t realize is that social media is an easy way to get to know your customer or strike up a conversation with them. Communication is the foundation of building a strong relationship, so why skip the social media channels when doing so? 

“Social Sales”, or social selling is the term used when salespeople utilize social media to find and engage with new prospects. Salespeople should use social media to provide value to prospects by sharing content throughout the buying process – from awareness to consideration, until a prospect is ready to buy.

Social selling could be the ticket to growth, but there are many factors to consider when making sure you do it right:

1. Choose the most relevant social network. Where do your decision makers live? That’s where you want to be.
2. Follow the right people/companies. Create a wish list of prospective companies that are active on social media and start following them today. Engage with them as much as possible. You always want to ensure that your brand is highly visible to a relevant audience. 
3. Know your audience. Be where they are. Join and participate in groups.
4. Share user-generated content. This is content that the prospect can connect to. Before buying something, prospects do research to ensure the brand and product are trustworthy. Customer reviews or case studies are a few examples of how you can ease the anxiety of a prospect about investing in a product or brand they’re not familiar with. 
5. Share educational content. Deliver bite-sized, yet valuable content. This content should be engaging to your audience and compelling enough to entice them to want to learn more.
6. Post regularly. Always on content is key. According to LinkedIn, 10 pieces of content are consumed before a purchasing decision is made. 

While the old sales model used to be about cold calling, sales demos and qualifying leads, the new way of sales means using social media networks to reach new prospects. Social selling has become one of the most effective sales techniques and experts increasingly give more importance to their strategies because, applying it in a precise manner, reinforces the entire sales process.

We have our top four tips on HOW TO use social for sales below:

1. Determine a specific strategy and focus your messaging around that strategy. 
2. Be consistent.
3. Show your target why you matter to them.
4. Manage and analyze results.

Hungry for more tips on closing deals? Reach out to our team today to book a meeting!