What is Social Selling and how to make the most of it for yor sales strategy?

Everything we see and hear about the social media word, online marketing and social networks is focused on the creation of quality content, to build a good community around your brand... Well, all this is very important, however, sales process is as much important as well. 

As we have mentioned in previous posts, due to the saturation of information that we suffer as users, as well as the amount of information we have available thanks to the new ways of communication on the Internet (very based on pull, in contrast with conventional advertising push-based), the sales process has been extended more. In the past, we let ourselves been swayed by commercials or people we trust when buying something. Now, everything has changed and we can get information, assess it, check opinions, and finally decide or no to buy. 

But today we are going to put ourselves in the seller`s shoes and not in the user's. The first one should find his/her opportunity to make their products known and influence potential buyers. And so we talk about Social Selling. 

But as we are born salesmen, we can´t just work to make us known, and be liked adding value to our products, that is for sure; We must achieve our potential customers and become them real customers. 

So, besides generating quality content and taking care of our community (and try to make it grow) we will have to know when is the right time to promote the sale. Here are some tips: 

A good way to attract potential customers is to monitor what is said in your sector and brand on social networks. In this way, you will meet the concerns of the users and their needs, and you can generate information that is useful for them. It will be a way to position your brand as an example in the field. 

There are many useful tools to carry out this active listening of information. You can try Buzzsumo, that will show you the most popular messages on the Internet containing the keyword you are searching for; Google Trends, which will show the volume of searches for different key words and phrases. For Twitter, it is very interesting to try Socialbro, which allows you to get to know your audience and segment it according to interests. 

Remember that it is very important to know who you are talking to in order to find the right content, theme, and tone to publish. Otherwise, it will useless. 

Pay attention to the way you communicate. As we have said before, the content is the king, so don't limit yourself just using too advertising and worthless messages. Remember that one of the principles of social networks is the interaction between users. If you take care of your potential customers and make them feel identified with your content, images or videos, it will be easier for them to share it with other possible potential customers with similar likes. You should attract them not stifle them with invasive and repetitive advertising.

Create your own calendar of content and define a routine of publications. Otherwise, you will be transmitting disorder or a unfocused strategy, and this will generate mistrust in your potential audience.
 

The presence of your brand on social networks should be consistent on all profiles. Try to keep the same image and transmit the same brand values. 

Your sales team should have a full profile on Linkedin. This will allow them to analyze and increase the contacts network. 

Do not post the same way on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, Pinterest, but because of this you must learn more about how to publish on each social network and what your brand is going to do there, how it is going to take advantage of it. I is also  interesting for you not to stop training because the digital world changes daily and you can´t  stay behind. 

Be patient. The moment you start to implement your Social Selling strategy, you must assume that results will start to be visible in a couple of months. I.e., if you do well you will increase sales in the medium and long term, never from yesterday to today. 

Obviously, these are some of the tips to take in Social Selling,but we will summarize them in three: get ahead from the potential customer´s needs, offer content of value and keep an active listening on social networks. And slowly but surely.