Facing pushback from the marketing team on social selling tactics. How will you overcome their resistance?

Siempre se ha dicho que en los equipos de empresas existe tensión entre Marketing y Ventas; esto se debe a la falta de liderazgo, un líder que realice la conciliación entre ambos para que de verdad trabajen en equipo y comprendan que no es cosa de competir sobre quien atrae más clientes, sino ver la mejor forma de trabajar de la mano para atraer leads cualificados por medios del Inbound y Outbound.

The first step is to educate them. They have to understand how social selling helps drive leads. The second step is to show how social selling can support marketing. For example, testing your marketing messaging on socials can give valuable feedback on how your ICP really responds to you.

Mislignment between marketing and sales is often common, and since the emergence of Social Media in both areas, the misalignment has only got worse, mainly because marketing has one goal, and sales has another. So, it is very important to come to one page. And it starts with understanding each-other. I think it is not just understanding marketing concerns, it is also about sharing goals, and expectations to each-other. And offering help to them, while seeking some help from them too. And if sales takes the first step, they might keep things more proactive.

Start by having an open conversation with the marketing team to understand their specific concerns about social selling tactics. This will help you address their reservations directly, whether they relate to messaging, brand alignment, or resource allocation, and demonstrate that you value their input.

?? "In the realm of social selling, understanding is the first step to success." To effectively address marketing team concerns, consider these strategies: - Foster Open Dialogue: Create a safe space for discussions where marketing can voice their fears without judgment. - Highlight Synergy: Emphasize how social selling complements marketing efforts, enhancing brand consistency rather than diluting it. Remember, collaboration is the key to unlocking powerful strategies—let's turn resistance into growth!

You can’t expect a decision makers who scrolls LinkedIn a few times a year to understand the platforms benefit from a social selling standpoint. So the key is to educate on why a certain platform is being targeted: A great way to present this is by showing how others (competitors) in your industry are utilizing a specific social media: Is it product awareness? Is it customer testimonials? Is it industry wide education? Then, it’s connecting the dots on why certain content or strategies are working (current social trends, audience reach, etc), and what kind of success others are finding because of it (i.e. engagement is way up, increased revenue, etc).

La mejor fórmula es educar y mostrar a través de ejemplos concretos a marketing como a través de un paso a paso, como el Social Selling es factible atraer leads de calidad. Marketing es fundamental para la estrategia de Social Seliing ya que puede aportar con contenido de valor para los colaboradores y estos compartan en el muro para impactar con su marca personal y de la empresa .

Education is crucial for bridging the gap between traditional marketing and social selling. - Leverage Data-Driven Insights: Use analytics to showcase how social selling can drive measurable results, aligning with marketing KPIs. - Create Interactive Learning Experiences: Engage your team with hands-on workshops that allow them to practice social selling techniques in real-time. By fostering a culture of continuous learning, you empower your marketing team to embrace social selling as a vital component of their strategy. Remember, "The only way to do great work is to love what you do." – Steve Jobs ??

Educating them about social selling will help, while they may also have their own perceptions about it. Which makes it a little sensitive situation. What sales team can do is - offer help in the form of educating the marketing team about buyer's thought process. Because sales team is spending entire day dealing with buyers, they directly know it from them about what they want and what they think of this brand. This part of education exchange is very critical and many many teams miss it here.

Provide the marketing team with data and case studies that show the effectiveness of social selling and how it complements traditional marketing efforts. By educating them on the benefits and potential ROI, you can align both teams toward a unified strategy that leverages the strengths of each approach.

Nothing persuades like success stories. I have presented examples of competitor's social marketing efforts to the marketing team. The dual benefit is that it offers a true success story while demonstrating how a competitor may be gaining an advantage.

?? "In the world of social selling, collaboration is the key to unlocking growth." Aligning social selling with marketing objectives not only enhances brand visibility but also creates a feedback loop of insights that can refine both strategies. By integrating social selling into marketing campaigns, you can leverage real-time customer interactions to inform content and outreach efforts, ensuring that your messaging resonates deeply. Tip 1: Foster regular communication between sales and marketing teams to share insights and strategies for cohesive campaigns. Tip 2: Utilize social listening tools to gather customer feedback and adapt marketing strategies accordingly. Embrace this synergy, and watch your leads multiply! You got this!

Marketing has one disadvantage, and that is, some of their KPIs are not very tangible to track. Eg: Brand awareness. But, both the teams contribute to revenue. If the metrics are tied down to revenue, and realistic KPIs are defined and distributed, then, it is easier to align the objectives for both.

Highlight the fact that a big part of a successful social selling program is to have the marketing team fully aligned and provide support with producing content and campaign which sellers can use when engaging with customers and prospects. Many social sellers are part of an employee advocacy program which is usually driven by marketing and pivotal to social selling success.

Keep receipts. If your team doesn't understand the value of engaging on social, sharing screenshots or call recordings goes a long way.

Highlight the specific benefits that social selling can offer to the marketing team. Explain how social sellers can extend the reach of marketing content, provide real-time customer insights, and offer feedback from the frontlines of prospect engagement. Presenting data or examples of success stories can make these benefits more tangible and appealing to marketing.

Highlight the advantages of social selling, such as increased lead generation and improved customer engagement. Sharing success stories from other teams or organizations can illustrate how these tactics lead to tangible outcomes.

Instead of treating social selling as a standalone effort, propose an integrated approach where both marketing and sales work together. Collaborate on content creation, messaging, and audience segmentation, so the social selling tactics align with the brand voice and strategy. Integration ensures consistency and allows the teams to leverage each other’s strengths for maximum impact.

Social selling is a great way to amplify marketing campaigns. Work with your marketing team to enable sales team so they know how to effectively use your corporate messaging and share it with your prospects. Make it as EASY as possible, and get in the habit of providing assets to your sales team regularly that they can effortlessly include in their outreach process.

To overcome any lingering doubts, establish clear KPIs and metrics to measure the success of social selling efforts. Track engagement, leads generated, and conversions attributed to social selling, and regularly share the data with the marketing team. Demonstrating measurable results helps validate the effectiveness of the strategy and reinforces the value of continued collaboration.