What do you do if you're a beginner in Social Selling and need to know the essential tools and technologies?

As a beginner in Social Selling, here are essential tools and technologies to consider: - Social Media Management Platforms: Utilise tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social to schedule posts, manage multiple social media accounts, and track engagement metrics effectively. - Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: Implement a CRM system such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho CRM to organise and manage customer data, track interactions, and streamline sales processes. - Social Listening Tools: Use platforms like Brandwatch, Mention, or Talkwalker to monitor conversations and mentions of your brand, competitors, and industry keywords on social media, helping you identify opportunities and respond to customer feedback promptly.

CRM systems are indispensable in managing and organizing your customer interactions effectively. For beginners, diving into CRM functionalities can significantly enhance your social selling tactics. Start by getting comfortable with basic features like managing contacts, visualizing your sales pipeline, and automating routine tasks. These capabilities ensure you maintain a comprehensive view of your interactions, enabling timely follow-ups and audience segmentation for more personalized campaigns. Embracing CRM tools early on in your social selling journey ensures that you capitalize on every opportunity, keeping your pipeline fluid and your engagements fruitful.

I have been involved and using Social Selling since before this hyped Moniker was used. Too many misunderstand what it is and have simply moved email sales noise to Linkedin noise and claim to be 'social selling'. There are some fundamentals ; - use the platforms where your prospects are - use social to research their org and the individuals - look for points in common, relationships you can leverage and facts useful to engagement - connect, follow, engage with content Social Selling is not an immediate quick fix for a shortage of leads and is not an activity more a process. I always recommend check out Tim Hughes book 'Social Selling' and Follow Dan Disney for good practise and content.

It is important for beginners and experienced professionals to understand that Social Listening is not limited to monitoring online conversations related to your brand, industry, competitors, and specific keywords. It is highly essential to understand what your customers are sharing or saying about a specific challenge, problem, and pain on social platforms. It goes beyond merely tracking brand mentions; it aims to understand the context, sentiment, and patterns behind the conversations that also involve your target audience. Choose Relevant Keywords for social listening. Use Social Listening Tools. As these tools provide actionable insights and help you make data-driven decisions. For example, Zoho Social, Brandwatch, etc.

One of the most valuable investments I made when starting my new role at Dreamdata was to follow the personas in my space on LinkedIn. I paid attention to their posts, to the other people they engaged with, and also to the content they engaged with such as podcasts. This really helped me start to understand their world and will make you into a much better salesperson.

Like any conversation (IRL or digital) we must listen to hear and understand before we react. Unfortunately, social media listening tools are often the playground and toys of marketers and not sales. That being said, saved advanced searches on LinkedIn, google alerts and sales navigator will go a long way when it comes to social listening. Another important thing to note is that you must be willing to act on this information which I find salespeople do

It used to be that you could use content to "attract and retain the attention of your prospects". These days content is not an inbound play. CONTENT IS AN OUTBOUND PLAY Content serves as proof of who you are, what you know, and what you believe. As you reach out to connect with others, before connecting with you they will look at who you are, and that includes what you've posted. Use content as social proof that you are more than just another seller. Show that you are an informed resource. Prove that you are a trusted seller.

Content might be king but context is queen and as important. Sharing for the sake of sharing will get you nowhere. After you have listened and understood what is being said, then your content sharing kicks in.

Don't be fooled by vanity metrics of your content. Reach and engagements will not pay your bills. Conversions will and that is the kpi to follow in your analytics.

Personally, I find it to be difficult to manage the time to post consistently, but the main lesson is to understand you don't need to post every day. I got into the habit of creating a stack of post titles to write about all at once along with a brief note about what event or story prompted the idea. If you do the hard work all at once and write a ton of posts when you are in a creative mode, you can then drip that content out over a longer period of time. The key is to agree with yourself on how often you will post, and document the dates and times in a spreadsheet or alike.

THIS is it - a perfect summary of the absolutely key success factor for social selling results. There are tips and techniques, there are tools and theories, but the overarching thing that determines success/failure in this space is whether you are you able to use social media to scale the number of people who know you and feel comfortable interacting with you. In the old days you would possible have done this through business breakfasts & lunches. Now you have an almost infinite number of people at the lunch but you need to show up, be courteous, listen when others speak and be engaging and professional wen you speak. The skills are basically the same skills that they have always been and failing to recognise this is what many get wrong.

People often see social selling as the same as direct selling, but it is not. Social selling is more like branding. If you follow the connections who are relevant to you and nurture the relationship without pitch slapping then you will succeed. Think about it - when you take time to post, it means a lot when others engage, comment, share, etc. It is the same for your prospects. Spend time to build the relationship, and they will come to you themselves most of the time. If not, it's much easier to approach them if it's not cold.

I find automation of social posting to be a brilliant development, especially here on LinkedIn. The ability to write and schedule a post for a specific time and day really helps me. I personally find it difficult to do small repetitive tasks like posting on a daily basis, and would sooner do a bunch all at once when I am in the mood. I don't use too much more automation apart from this, but that is because most tools are breaking LinkedIn guidelines so I don't use them.

Hey, door-to-door sales was the first tool and technology. Let's start there. In this era, it's easy to waste time trying to master every new tool or technology. And guess what? That's impossible! However, you have to choose a tool, social network, or technology that can help you with certain tasks. Be authentic in the human connection process and take the time to read, listen, and understand your prospects' and customers' needs... be present. Consider carefully how you invest your time in learning every single tool. The reality is, you don't need to.