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Social Selling

Generate leads using social networks

Social selling is not new, but it is becoming increasingly relevant in the foreseeable future due to the corona crisis and the associated social distancing. Missed trade fairs and events have to be compensated elsewhere and inevitably lead to new ways of generating leads through new strategies. Social selling opens up completely new perspectives for marketing and sales in the social networks. For people who have been little or not at all active in social networks, the hurdle of effective social selling usually seems greater than it actually is.

Companies must act now to acquire leads in a different way, otherwise they risk losing significant revenue in the worst case. We will show you what opportunities social selling offers you and how to position yourself optimally.

CREATE A SOLID FOUNDATION

Choose a platform on which you can effectively address your target group: In the B2B sector, platforms such as Linkedin or Xing are almost always the right choice. Make sure that your profile is attractive and informative. In addition to your education and the stages of your career, also include knowledge, special skills and qualifications.

Since social selling is all about building trust, you should remain honest and build on your actual skills. When looking at your profile, a relationship of trust is already formed even before you interact with other users of the network.

VISIBILITY THROUGH INTERACTION

Social networks thrive on the interaction of their users. Particularly active users remain in the memory of their contacts. With a high frequency of interaction, you also learn to understand the network better and can better interpret the context of the content and participate in what is happening.

Especially if you haven't had much or any contact with social networks before, the hurdle may seem bigger than it actually is to start social selling. Start small and don't rush it. However, in addition to the very basic interactions like liking, commenting and sharing, you should also share exciting posts and drive discussions yourself. Also, become active in groups that pertain to your area of business.

The frequency of interaction on social networks is high, so be active on a regular basis. If you engage with the networks, you can better understand their context and thus participate in what's happening more easily.

USE RANGE

Content is king! But content alone is not enough for successful social selling. Your presence and thus your sales opportunities stand and fall with your contacts: Your audience. This is made up of three groups of people: Employees, customers and interested parties.

Network with your employees, because sharing and commenting on their posts not only creates content that you can use, but is also an expression of corporate cohesion. Encourage employees who are not represented in social networks to become active as well. Connect your team!

Social selling is not only about acquiring new customers, but also about staying in touch with existing customers. Social platforms allow you to stay close to your customers while they decide when to actively consume your content.

Interested parties can or even should become new customers. However, be careful not to elevate "selling" over "social." Overly pushy sales attempts will be quickly exposed. Offer potential customers help and show them how to solve their problems. It's up to you whether you choose your own content for this or rely on the amount of one of your contacts, as long as you find a healthy balance.

SOCIAL ACQUISITION

Over time, you'll get a sense of when one of your contacts is ready to become a customer. You can convert potential customers from the digital space to offline with an invitation to an event, for example.

To turn contacts into customers, you need to integrate social selling into your daily work routine. For example, get into the habit of checking and maintaining your networks as well as your mails right at the start of work. Of course, you can also choose another time to be active. Find a suitable rhythm for yourself!

Besides new contacts interacting with your content, you can also quickly find the right contacts thanks to suitable social networks tools. These social selling tools are not only used to find suitable contacts, but also make it easier for you to organize as well as evaluate them. The most popular social selling tools of two platforms would be:

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Linkedin Sales Navigator:

  • Search and save users and leads

  • Enhancement of own feed by updates of saved users and leads

  • Search results are enhanced with all important information about the user

  • Insight of contact paths

  • Viewing of commonalities

  • InMails contingent (depending on variant 20-50 per month)

  • Team license as a special feature (CRM integration, PointDrive as well as the creation of shared lead lists)

Xing ProBusiness:

  • Search and save users and leads by specific points

  • Enhancement of own feed with a lead radar (news about saved accounts and leads)

  • Search results are enhanced with all important information about the user

  • Insight of contact paths

  • Insight of commonalities

Both tools help you to do effective social selling. Both tools offer the possibility of a free trial month. This way you can familiarize yourself with the functions and get to know the platforms.

TAKE OFF WITH SOCIAL SELLING

Analyze your social selling strategy regularly. Find potential for improvement and continuously optimize your concept, because like any other sales or marketing activity, social selling thrives on constant further development.

The potential offered by social networks is well known today. Of course, social selling is not a miracle cure that works 100% from the very first interaction; patience and perseverance pay off.

To recognize potential new customers as such more quickly and generate leads more effectively, why not use LeadingReports to complement your social selling strategy? With our B2B lead generation software, you can acquire prospects online. Get new leads every day by identifying your website visitors who are recognizable and relatable as a company with more than one employee. Match your contacts from social networks with identified visitors to your website and accelerate your social selling. For more information, visit www.leadingreports.de.

Now is the time to get fit with social platforms so you don't miss out on real sales. GAL Digital has been your contact for more than 15 years on topics related to digitalization. Whether digital marketing, training for your employees or forward-looking software solutions. We offer you a broad portfolio of digital products that bring your company forward-looking. Benefit from our implementation know-how.