Social Selling, and How To Do It Better

Today I came across something that's not very social on social media.

Since we're all homebound, everyone trying hard on their social selling efforts. Be it a product or service or both, I often try my best to reply to every message I receive on LinkedIn as a courtesy to my professional network.

As the pandemic worsens, and businesses become desperate to attract potential clients, I decided to revisit some important tips around for social selling to avoid allowing stalkers a sneak-peek of my profile. Hence, I share the below article that focuses on some of the best social selling practices.

As we all know digital media is currently creating a shift in buyers' behaviour, and businesses are now leveraging social platforms to engage with their prospective customers, to drive revenue and build brand awareness.

Social selling is gaining popularity amongst salespeople to cultivate new relationships. It allows them to better engage with high-quality prospects and nurture sales. Salespeople can use social media platforms to track conversations and touchpoints of their prospects.

We’ve seen many people reaching out to their social networks to find solutions, do research for online vendors, and obtain recommendations and reviews during the COVID-19 lockdown. With social media, the buying process begins before the client contacts a salesperson or sometimes even before you realise there is an escalated need.

In a recent article published by eMarketer, it is estimates that by 2021, more than half (50.3%) of marketers in the US will use LinkedIn for marketing and advertising purposes. Social selling is far better than the terrified cold calling process because it can generate high-quality leads if you approach it in the right way.

Now let’s look at some important best practices that you should be adopting in implementing an effective social selling strategy;

1.    Build your professional profile

Your online profile is as important as your physical appearance. According to statistics accounts with a profile picture are viewed 11 times more than a non-profile picture account. Remember, your profile picture should be professional. Because this image is your first chance to make a winning expression. Don’t use your picture from your school ID if you don’t look the same now. More importantly, be the only person in the picture, which means using a solo photo for your profile.

Make sure you build online credibility with endorsements and recommendations from your connections with whom you have good relationships. They are the proof of your skills and credentials.

2.    Connect with the right people

Who are the right people? If you are looking to build a professional network on LinkedIn, connect with professional people. LinkedIn is not a replacement for your physical meetings. It is a tool to optimise your professional network of people you know already or are about to meet in the near future. Leverage your connections with a professional yet personal note of thanks with a maximum of 2-3 lines and let them know how glad you are to be in their professional network. Over the last few years, I’ve had 92% of my contacts reply to my initial note of thanks. Similarly, send replies to the messages you receive from real people, not from bots. These are fake profiles created by automated software programmes to sending out bulk invitations. These are called LinkedIn bots.

3.    Follow the right prospects

This is where you need to do some homework to understand your target market. Sales is all about people. Nurturing a quality prospect takes time and requires a lot of effort. Analyse the buying trends of your current clients and their profiles and then segment them into specific target groups. Once you evaluate groups with specific characteristics you can identify your ideal customer.

When connecting with potential clients on LinkedIn, do some background checks for details such as their title, company/business, previous work experience, their online activity, articles and endorsements. These will give you an indication of the type of person you are approaching, unless it is a fake profile.

4.    Follow real-time activity, conversations

Understand your prospect's needs through their online activity. Listen to their conversations, their debates and get involved in those conversations. This is an excellent way to obtain real insights of their needs and interests. Listen carefully and strategically to identify prospective clients.

5.    Build your activity

Like and share professional posts from your contacts, and engage in their conversations. Publish articles and posts on current activities. Make sure to use hashtags in your posts for better visibility.

6.    Keep an eye on your competition

LinkedIn can act as a great tool to stay informed about competitors. Activity on platforms like LinkedIn is usually are trustworthy sources of competitor information.

7.    Selling Approach

You should never try to sell on social media.

How can we do it better

Doing business requires a lot of patience. It is very clear that digitisation has made social media a part of the buying process. However, unlike other social platforms LinkedIn is a great way to network, and make more productive and successful connections with professionals around the world.

Usually I accept connections from anybody who appears to be human on LinkedIn. I don’t accept connection requests sent by companies and people without a profile photo or showcasing their physique and muscularity in the profile picture.

Hence, I propose that your approach to LinkedIn should be similar to how you network at a business gathering or a cocktail party. Below are some ethical practices to follow at professional meetups;

• We don’t ask everyone we meet for their personal information at business gatherings.
• We do not speak more than we listen.
• We do not walk into large gatherings and shout “Buy my products and services!”
• Never share information expecting a tangible return.

In broader terms, selling is all about building relationships, creating a sense of trust and providing the right solutions to the right prospect at the right time. The role of a salesperson is very important for the success of a business. To sell effectively, especially in the global market place and when crossing cultural lines, salespeople should possess two very important characteristics, empathy and self-image.

Therefore, before you destroy your own reputation online, try the following tips when using social media;

• Do not start pitching a product or service when someone accepts your request to connect.
• Do not abuse your relationship by asking for favours.
• Don’t ever discuss or request personal information from your professional network.

Make sure to build a relationship and establish trust before you start selling to a stranger you just met online. 

Remember, LinkedIn is only a platform which facilitate your sales process to build an expanded network of quality prospects, so, make use of it wisely.

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