You may have heard the term “social selling” thrown around somewhere before or perhaps run across it on the internet, but do you know how powerful it can be?  Social selling is a way of establishing a connection with potential connections or clients.  It’s also a great way for sales professionals to build their network.

What is Social Selling

While social selling can often be confused with social media marketing or advertising, social selling is something completely different.  It is a way for you to connect with individuals on social media and build trusted relationships.  For those who have put the effort in, this has completely replaced the need for cold calling.

How Does it Work?

One of the keys to social selling is social listening.  Who is talking about your brand?  Who is talking about your competitors? Or any other relevant keywords to your business?  What are they talking about?  There are loads of tools out there that can help you listen in.  Knowing what people are saying, finding a commonality with the individual AND finding the right opportunity to join the conversation can position you for success.  

Social selling is more than just listening though - it’s engaging with people, building relationships with current and potential connections.  Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter are all platforms that are great for social selling as users’ posts are generally available to the public.  Not sure where to start?  Start with a hashtag - all three platforms use hashtags (yes, even LinkedIn!).  Let’s look at an example:

John is a sales professional for a b2b company looking to make some new connections, so he turns to social media.  Let’s say John’s focal industry is technology so he sits down and lists out some keywords that are related to the industry.  Now that he has a keyword list, he begins to use them as hashtags on social platforms.  Scrolling through those posts using the hashtags, John sees there are a number of individuals who he would like to connect with.  John then begins to like the post, add a value-driven comment to the post, follow the individual and maybe even send a direct message.  Once initial contact has been made, it’s then time to foster the relationship and build trust while selling yourself to them.

Social selling doesn’t always have immediate results.  It can sometimes be the long haul of they may not need your services now, but you want your name to be the first that comes to mind when they do.  And then remaining consistent with your communications on social media to keep you fresh in their minds.

And one of the best things about it (at least for now) is that there aren’t as many sale professionals out there social selling as you’d think!  This means that the competition is limited, and the potential is great. 

Social Selling on Facebook

We’ve discussed social using hashtags to find specific posts/individuals to engage with on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, but what about Facebook?  You may not be able to directly engage with individuals using hashtags on this particular platform, but you can still social sell by engaging with followers to your company page and engaging with other business pages.

Social Media Groups

One of the best places to find people to social sell to is in industry related groups on social media platforms - LinkedIn and Facebook, for example, both have groups that you can request to join.  These groups are not only great for social selling, but also learning tricks of the trade.

Of everything we’ve discussed, I think the keyword has been engaging.  Social selling means engaging with potential connections/clients on social media.  You have to be proactive in finding who you want to connect with and then engaging with their posts (liking, commenting, sharing).  The added bonus to all of this?  By commenting on industry related posts and participating in social groups, you’re setting yourself up as a thought leader for that industry along with social selling to the individual.

Once you’ve built your connections, hop on over to SalesGig and set up your profile to start earning for referrals.  It’s super easy and risk free, so give it a try!

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