Social selling is a modern way to engage and sell to customers online through social media. It goes beyond just posting about a product online. Instead, it is led by salespeople who create conversations and build communities. They do this by providing personalised and helpful advice on social media platforms to carefully identified sales leads.
Companies are increasing their focus on social selling, and it is growing as part of the overall sales and marketing mix. After all, selling in this way makes good business sense. According to the Digital 2021: Global Overview Report, more than half the people on Earth now actively use social media.
Social selling improves sales performance
Our Global Growth Evangelist at Salesforce, Tiffani Bova, has been keeping an eye on the uptake of social selling around the world. She recommends that companies use social selling as their default way to connect and engage with customers.
Tom Abbott is a Sales Optimisation Expert and Keynote Speaker for SOCO/Sales Training in Singapore. He recently shared his thoughts on social selling for the ASEAN 50 Pro Sales Tips for 2021 e-book.
“There has never been a better time to be working in sales. Ever since the onset of the social media revolution, buyers are able to connect with brands at any hour of the day or night. At this very moment, your future customers are online, learning about you and your competitors,” says Tom.
“Adopting social media in selling increases the scope of your influence by making it possible to cast a wider net. You can reach an unlimited number of prospects from all over the world and present them with reasons for choosing to approach your company.”
How to succeed with social selling
Social selling may be a modern way to sell, but its success relies on classic sales principles:
Build trust
Tahsin Alam, Regional Vice President, Indonesia & Philippines at Salesforce, says you need to be perceived as a trusted partner. Building a consistent professional brand for yourself online over time and listening to your customers is a reliable way to establish trust.
Be relevant
The products or services that you are looking to sell need to be relevant to the people you are targeting. Developing a personalised approach, tailored to each customer around why the product or service would be beneficial is an effective way to go. This can even be done at scale, by finding specific customer niches in the market that products might meet the needs of and using a similar approach between customers.
Be helpful
More than a nice thing to do, it is also an effective way to build familiarity and rapport. Sales leads are more likely to engage with your messages if you have interacted with them to provide advice or helpful content.
Know your customer
Social media is a treasure trove of customer data. It helps to identify pain points, customer use cases, and uncover new opportunities. With the right tools, you can find the right people and the right moment for your social sales approach.
Make it easy to share their experience
If you provide a great experience, your customers are more likely to tell others about it. This flows back to you in the form of new leads through word-of-mouth endorsement. Selling through social media removes the barriers by keeping customers in an environment that is already perfect for sharing their experiences.
Bonus social selling tip: get a complete view of customers
Social selling works best when salespeople work with the broader sales, marketing, and service teams. It’s not as effective when you operate in isolation.
The more complete a profile you have of your customers, the more effective your approach can be. You can continue the conversation and better meet your customer’s needs when you know what every part of your business is saying to them.
More and more companies are adapting how they operate as part of their digital transformation journeys. You can stay on top of the latest sales strategies, like social selling, by hearing from thought leaders from the Salesforce community.
For more sales and social selling tips, download your copy of the ASEAN 50 Pro Sales Tips for 2021 e-book today.
