Social selling is a great way to gather more leads and increase sales. But how does it work and what are the ways to make it more effective? Sales Prospecting can be a daunting process. Most of the sales reps are looking for ways to generate leads and convert them into customers. Outbound prospecting such as cold calls and emails are most frequently used to gain new customers. These are effective ways to reach the potential audience and work great for the companies who use them correctly. However, are these enough?
For a long time, sales reps have used cold calling as a primary method to gather new leads. Unfortunately, there has been a history of annoyed customers who do not like receiving these sales calls and are inclined to hang up. In an age where people prefer texts over phone calls, chances of reaching potential prospects through cold calls are thinner than ever before. Similarly, emails are more likely to end up in the spam folder rather than making an impact. If people don’t know you, they are less likely to engage.
This is where social selling comes into play. Social selling involves social media to reach, engage and connect with potential prospects and to build valuable relationships with them. It is a way to introduce yourself to the audience and build credibility. Most of the B2B companies are on social media, however very few of them use it effectively. Here are some of the ways in which you can use social selling to get better results:
Setting up your profile
It is important to get your audience familiar with you. Putting the right information on social media about the company is vital. Let the audience know about the vision and values of the company. Using relevant images will also make a good impression. The information you put on various social media platforms should be consistent. Giving information about the work culture or the employees can help build credibility.
Using the right platforms
Identify where you are most likely to find the majority of your target audience. This can help you focus on the right social media platforms and it becomes easy to connect with the ideal customer. Majority of people use Facebook. Facebook is great for businesses to promote themselves and connect with their audience. It is the most used social media platform. It is a safe option to first have a profile set up on Facebook and then any platform that you think is right for your business. Facebook can help online retailers find demographic information on their audience. Businesses can find out information like age, gender, location and language of the people who like their page. Similar insights can also be found out on Instagram. For B2B companies the ideal platform would be LinkedIn, as they can get in touch with many professionals and C level executives.
Social Listening
Following your potential leads on social media is a great way to get started. For example, adding prospects on LinkedIn can help you engage with them and getting to know their specific needs. Similarly, following them on Twitter and Facebook can help in starting a dialogue. Through these platforms you can know what your leads are talking about; what kind of articles they are liking or sharing; who they are following; what are their interests. Reading forums, comments can help you understand what the current topics are and what people think about them. Along with listening also comes responding. If your prospects have any queries about your business be sure to respond in a timely manner.
Posting the right content
Blogs are a great way to engage the audience. Writing or sharing blogs can keep your audience interested. They might visit your profile or website for more informative content. You can subscribe to the blogs related to your business and share these articles on your social media channels. Posting relevant and professional images can be useful.
Reaching out
When your lead is familiar with you, reaching out through social media can be a good way to start a conversation. You can like any content they share on social media or even comment on it. You can also leave a link to your website with relevant information for them to check out. This is a good way to interact with them before you give them a call.
Warm call/emails
Solicited emails and calls are an effective way to keep your leads attention. When they know you through these social media channels and have interacted with you in some way, they will take you seriously. Hence, it is best to contact them when they are already familiar with you. This is a good way to get a positive response from them.
Conclusion
Social selling will help you increase your leads. Most importantly it will help you provide value to them. Used with a combination of other sales prospecting methods, social selling can help you build positive and valuable relationships with your potential customers. It can seem a tedious process if you are new to social media and it definitely requires more time compared to just picking up the phone and calling a number. However, the results are long-term and can help you know your customers better.
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