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Social selling is a modern sales strategy that harnesses the power of social media platforms to connect with potential customers, build relationships, and drive sales. It goes beyond traditional selling techniques by leveraging social networks and online communities to engage prospects, establish trust, and ultimately convert them into loyal customers.
In today's digital age, social media platforms have become integral parts of people's lives, providing opportunities for businesses to connect with their target audience personally. Social selling uses social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as powerful tools to identify and engage with prospects.
The key principle of social selling is to focus on building relationships rather than pushing sales pitches. By providing valuable content, sharing industry insights, and participating in conversations, sales professionals can position themselves as trusted advisors and thought leaders in their respective fields. This approach allows them to establish credibility, nurture relationships, and generate leads organically.
Social selling uses social media platforms to build meaningful relationships with potential customers and nurture them to become loyal buyers. It involves using social media networks and tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other social channels to connect with prospects, engage them through personalized content, and foster effective communication.
The social selling process involves four stages: Listen, Connect, Engage, and Measure.
Social selling is an effective way to build trust and engagement with potential customers and turn them into loyal buyers by leveraging the power of social media.
To execute social selling the inbound way, a business should focus on creating and sharing content that provides value to its target audience. This content can be blog posts, infographics, videos, or other resources that educate, inform, and solve a problem for potential customers. This type of content helps to build trust and establish the business as a thought leader in the industry.
Once trust is established, a business can begin to engage with potential customers by listening to their needs and providing personalized solutions. This engagement can occur through social media conversations, private messaging, or email. By offering helpful advice and solutions, a business can increase the likelihood of converting potential customers into loyal brand advocates.
In simple words, social selling in an inbound way is a strategic approach that focuses on building genuine relationships and providing value to potential customers. Businesses can increase brand recognition, credibility, and revenue by leveraging social media networks to share helpful content and engage in conversations.
Some examples of social selling include:
1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: This is a powerful tool for sellers to reach out to potential customers, create targeted lists, and share relevant content.
2. Twitter: Sellers can engage with potential customers by joining relevant conversations, sharing valuable content, and connecting with interested parties.
3. Facebook Groups: Sellers can join and participate in targeted public or private Facebook groups to build relationships and generate leads.
4. Instagram: Visual content on Instagram can help sellers showcase and promote their products or services and engage with potential customers.
5. YouTube: Video content on YouTube can be used for educational or promotional purposes to reach a wider audience and generate leads.
6. Quora: Sellers can answer questions related to their industry on Quora and establish themselves as thought leaders while building relationships with potential customers.
Traditional selling refers to selling goods or services by directly approaching potential customers through various channels such as telephone marketing, door-to-door sales, and physical meetings. It involves a salesperson pitching the product or service to the customer, addressing their needs and concerns, and closing the sale.
On the other hand, social selling is a more modern approach that utilizes social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, to connect with potential customers and build relationships. It involves sharing valuable content, engaging with followers, and creating trust and credibility through online interactions.
The major difference between traditional selling and social selling is the approach. Traditional selling is a one-on-one process that relies heavily on the salesperson's interpersonal skills to close the deal. On the other hand, social selling focuses on building relationships and trust with potential customers before the sales process even begins.
Social selling also allows sales professionals to reach a broader audience, as they can connect with people worldwide without being geographically limited. It's a more cost-effective approach compared to traditional selling, as it involves less travel and other expenses associated with traditional selling methods.
Social Selling Index (SSI) is a metric developed by LinkedIn to measure a company or individual's social selling skills. This index measures your social selling efforts and performance on LinkedIn based on four key components - creating a professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships.
Below is a step-by-step guide to calculating your Social Selling Index:
1. Log in to your LinkedIn account.
2. Go to the LinkedIn Social Selling Index page by visiting https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi.
3. Click the "Get your score" button to get started.
4. LinkedIn will display your SSI score on the dashboard.
5. You can also view the breakdown of your score by clicking on each of the four components — creating a professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships.
The higher your Social Selling Index score is, the more effective you are at using LinkedIn for social selling. By regularly tracking your SSI score, you can identify your strengths and areas for improvement and adjust your approach to better connect with your target audience and drive more sales.
Keep in mind that the LinkedIn SSI score is updated every week. So to see changes in your score, keep using LinkedIn to optimize your social selling efforts.
These are short surveys that can be sent frequently to check what your employees think about an issue quickly. The survey comprises fewer questions (not more than 10) to get the information quickly. These can be administered at regular intervals (monthly/weekly/quarterly).
Having periodic, hour-long meetings for an informal chat with every team member is an excellent way to get a true sense of what’s happening with them. Since it is a safe and private conversation, it helps you get better details about an issue.
eNPS (employee Net Promoter score) is one of the simplest yet effective ways to assess your employee's opinion of your company. It includes one intriguing question that gauges loyalty. An example of eNPS questions include: How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Employees respond to the eNPS survey on a scale of 1-10, where 10 denotes they are ‘highly likely’ to recommend the company and 1 signifies they are ‘highly unlikely’ to recommend it.
