How do you know if your social selling is working?

2 big mistakes people make in social selling are: 1. Spending all their time creating tons of content without having defined their end goal. Your goal is your GPS. Just like you can't reach your destination, if you have not put in the precise address, you can not reach your goals, if you have not defined them in detail and shared them with your team. 2nd biggest mistake: Trying to reach multiple goals at the same time. Is it doable? Yes! But it comes at the expense of not reaching the potential of the other goal - except if you can allocate a big budget. You are so much better off focusing on one goal #1 or the coming few months then focusing on Goal #2.

Get in the right mindset: “Social Selling is about building rapport, providing real value, developing trust and credibility by being a resource... Understanding that the sales will come when the time is right.” "Detach from what the prospect is worth to you, and attach to what you are worth to the prospect." "Slow down your outreach to speed up your outcome." "Rather than telling your buyers how you can help them, simply help them." "Lead to your solution, not with your solution." Next, know your buyer "Social listening may be the best way to understand your buyers and their customers before reaching out." "Share content your buyers want to consume, not just what you want them to know." "Understand your customers' customers"

Social Selling on LinkedIn is my driving force. It's important to consult it regularly, compare it with the previous time, evaluate it, and work on our strengths and weaknesses. It's a very effective analysis tool, and help for prospection as we can reinforce our strengths and adjust our weaknesses. Social selling on Linkedin has 4 elements that measure our social selling efforts. If we discover through one of these elements that our weak point is how to find the right people, it's recommended that we take an interest in what Linkedin has to offer, to work on improving our weak points. In short, I can't do without this tool which, I repeat, is my driving force and my mentor :)

Ninja tip: Pick KPI's that are directly related to your end goal such as number of Leads, especially if you are working with agencies. Views and Likes can be tricky KPI's, because unfortunately some agencies will use unethical ways to generate Views on your social media posts or website traffic. As a result it will look like your posts are liked by tons of people, but people, who have no desire to buy your products/services. So it won't impact your bottom line. If you are serious about Social Selling, feel free to reach out to learn my propriety system that has been generating very high-quality Leads for my clients since years.

Picking KPIs can be especially tricky when you have a long sales cycle. How do you know, when a client reaches out to you, about the many posts they’ve seen but never reacted to, the newsletters they receive but don’t open, the times they’ve heard your name but just remembered it…? I had someone that I’ve known for years reach out a few months ago and mention my posts and mention my newsletter, and only them became a client. It’s easier when you are a hunter vs a farmer because you can track specific things and put them in your CRM, and of course you should. For me, I think of action words that someone takes as a sign of success: viewed, commented, clicked, downloaded, clapped, asked, engaged. For clients or may be the same or not.

Be clear what you're measuring and why with social selling. - Program KPIs can give you early insight if a program is on the right track e.g. SSI, followers, engagements, reach, #people onboarded, training hours, training completion - Impact KPIs are more strategic and offer insight into the impact your program is having by identifying patterns e.g. deal size increase, deal cycle decrease, increase in inbound enquiries

Research and find the best social media analytics tools for you that will help you gain insights into the performance of your social selling campaigns. These tools can provide valuable data on reach, impressions, click-through rates, website traffic, and other relevant metrics.

Remember, behind every data point, there is a person. By understanding and empathizing with their needs, continuously learning from our successes and failures, and adapting to changing dynamics, we can optimize and improve our social selling efforts, ultimately fostering deeper connections and driving sustainable business growth.

Don't always assume social selling is just for sales. Your marketing team need to engage in this process too. For example: - Collaborate on intent and insights around accounts and lead lists - Support sales organic nurturing with paid adverts - Engage marketing to create content to support nurturing efforts - Analyse data to ensure the content is being used optimally

We are in the relationship-building business. Not every customer is ready to buy immediately. Some take a week, a month, even longer (i.e., government, large enterprise sales, the list goes on). The more that you are able to connect, build an audience with your ICP helps you become more of a trusted advisor and establish crediability.

Assess the impact of social selling on your brand's visibility and awareness. Monitor mentions, brand searches, and online conversations about your company or products. An increase in positive brand sentiment and online buzz indicates that your social selling efforts are helping to build brand recognition and credibility.