Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or on Myspace), you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘Social Selling’ bandied about for a while now, but what is Social Selling? Put simply, Social Selling is when social media is used to engage with prospects individually, in the hope of encouraging them to progress in their buyer journey. It has become an essential way of building and maintaining relationships in modern marketing and it’s really not hard to see why!
Social Selling stands apart from Social Marketing in that it uses one-to-one messaging, instead of sending a single message to a large audience, each message is tailored to the receiver. With the right tone and value, buyers can be influenced by what they see on Social Media and the experience they have with it.
This relatively new form of communication has grown increasingly popular as prospects have become wise to the usual tricks of the trade. Social Selling isn’t as disruptive as cold calling or off-the-cuff office visits and this less intrusive approach is welcomed by prospects with open arms. Using Social Selling effectively, it is easy to evaluate your target’s tone, and quickly determine their position and responsibilities. As the internet has developed into a more vocal place, prospect information is now often given up for free, assuming you know where to look. Once this data has been collected, it can be used to effectively contact target accounts.
By getting to know prospects through social media before first contact (casual Star Trek reference), communications can be increasingly personalised, soft and relevant for each individual. With a soft engagement approach, you can develop your relationship with a target and nurture them along their buyer journey until they are ready to buy, without pressuring the buyer, or worse, scaring them off completely!
Transitioning to Social Selling can seem like a daunting task for any salesperson. However, the great thing about Social Selling is that it can be built around any individual, as much or a little as you wish. It is flexible, and so it can be built around both your own capabilities, and the needs of your prospect. With such valuable data available in the wilderness for absolutely nothing, it’d be a crime to let it go to waste. There’s no reason you shouldn’t take your first step to Social Selling today!