Social selling is an approach that relies on social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook in particular) to identify potential prospects, connect with them, and bring them value by distributing qualified information without selling.

The Social selling is not just to create profiles on social networks. It goes further! It’s a process of researching, selecting, listening to and exchanging with potential prospects on social networks to generate opportunities and accelerate the sales cycle.

What Are The Objectives Of Social Selling?

• Detect signals (job offers, search for partners, search for service providers …)
• Promote the expertise of the company and its employees through the production and publication of content.
• Social listening to better understand the needs of the targets.
• Keep watch on posts posted on social networks, and exchange
• Perform interactions on social networks (recommendations, likes, comments, sharing, congratulations …).
• Connect with decision-makers via social networks.

The 4 C Of Social Selling

4 C, the 4 keys to building an effective social selling strategy.

1. Contact: Build your network and address book according to the priority targets and networks on which the targets are present: 74% of the decision-makers are on LinkedIn and 42% on Twitter.
2. Context: Learn to know the prospects (persona), study their needs, the themes that interest them to be able to respond precisely to the expectations of different targets by providing them with appropriate content.
3. Content: Broadcast relevant content on the right social networks, at the right time. 65% of BtoB buyers indicate that content marketing has a significant impact on their purchase.
4. Conversion: Create an exchange, a discussion with the prospect to enter a relationship of trust to convert it into a customer. Offer an exchange by telephone or an appointment to study their needs and provide appropriate solutions.

Why Develop A Social Selling Approach?

Before becoming a customer, your prospect will go through different stages between the moment he finds a need and the one where he makes the decision to buy, this is the purchase journey.

Buyers are now hyperconnected. They spend their time on the web and social networks and are constantly looking for information on products, services or brands that interest them.

They have gone from consumers to consumers. They do not need sellers anymore. They know more about the product they want to buy than the seller himself. When they decide to meet a seller, they already have a great knowledge of the market and products.

In BtoB, 92% of buyers start with a search on Google, and 75% use social networks, including LinkedIn. Professionals seek information and content targeted to their interests and issues.

If you or your brand is not present during the shopping journey of your targets on the internet, you are unlikely to be identified as a potential provider.

Social selling is no longer an option because your company has to adapt to the 3 phases of the buying process by providing more service, more value and developing a relationship with its customers.

 The Prospect Buying Path

• During the discovery phase: the client begins to worry about his problem or need and to take an interest in the idea of solving it. At this point, you must provide information by creating content tailored to the keywords searched on the web.
• During the stage consideration: the customer does not know yet how it will solve their need, but he devoted himself to research products or services that will allow him to solve it. At this stage, the challenge is to help the customer find the right solution and evaluate them.
• During the Decision Phase: At this point, the client has selected the different options available to him. The challenge is to position yourself as an expert to reassure the customer that choosing your product or service is the right solution.

For this, your website and your social networks are a major social selling tool because you can communicate, share content, and interact with your target prospects to promote the sales process.

However without a marketing strategy with a production of quality content, you will have trouble developing your social selling approach to your prospects on social networks.