What Is Social Selling And Why You Should Know About It

What are we talking about if we say Social Selling? If not, make yourself comfortable and read this mini-guide that talks about it because you, a small business owner, should know about it! The reason? It makes you money. In 2019, by now, everyone but everyone is advertising on the web. And for this reason, the classic methods (pop-ups, annoying banners, absurd calls to action) are starting to work no longer.

In the overloaded minds of all of us, there is no longer any place for messages that do not interest us; for this reason, we directly ignore them. Now we skip (that is, we forget) even the advertisements of big companies; we may recognize the brand and move on. From this point of view, social selling activity becomes a revolutionary weapon of customer conquest.

Social Selling Works, Traditional Digital Marketing A Little Less

Commercial messages in newsletters, pay-per-click advertising, and sponsored ads no longer attract hot leads (and, therefore, sales) as they once did. Today consumers don’t click on the first search result spit out by Google or on that advertisement that appears to them insistently on any site they browse. Instead, they are active hunters of information and prefer a direct testimony of the functioning of a product/, the goodness of service, and so on.

Therefore, they look for human testimonials of what they want to buy, and they do it precisely because, thanks to social networks, getting in touch with anyone in the world today is easier than ever. From the seller’s point of view, it seems apparent that it would be entirely in his interest to be that authoritative person who answers the questions of his potential customer.

The small business owner will have to step out of the trader’s shoes and step into those of the consumer, friend, or neighbor who recommends valuable content, useful links, strategies, and not just products or services from his own company with neutral words.

In this way, he will transform from being a simple salesman to an authoritative person with whom one enjoys conversing. Social Selling is based on this principle, and social networks are the ideal place to gain the trust of your customers, forging a very human and non-commercial relationship.

What Is Social Selling And Why You, A Small Business Owner, Really Need It

Social platforms are the container to observe our customers or potential customers. Here you will be able to investigate their tastes, habits, and desires to propose your product/service correctly after starting a relationship with them.

Social Selling, therefore, is the strategy with which sellers use social networks to achieve pre-established commercial objectives, concentrating their efforts not only on advertising their product or service but directly on the tastes and desires of potential customers, focusing on relational and emotional involvement.

In other words, using Social Selling techniques means finding people or other companies on social media who express the need for what you do and then transforming them, without forcing them, into customers. Therefore the first thing to do to implement a good Social Selling strategy is to listen.

That means patiently observing, reading, and noticing links, group memberships, and shared content. And if you’re good, you’ll be able to enter conversations, starting to get seen as a standard user, a sincere friend, even before being a company.

One cannot be under the illusion that the sale ends on social networks: the ultimate goal will be to win enough of the potential customer’s trust to move the conversation to other means (such as e-mail or the telephone, decidedly more personal) or even organize a live meeting.

Now, do you understand why using Social Selling can be a winning move for small entrepreneurs? Now you must understand HOW to build a relationship with your potential customers to achieve a sale. Don’t worry, and it’s much easier than it looks.

How To Do Social Selling Effectively

Improve Your Social Profiles

No, it’s not the banality fair. Know that many companies still need help with social networks. We hope you are not among them (but if you need to, click here ). An outdated profile that clearly needs to learn the contemporary dynamics of the various social networks could destroy all your credibility.

So pay attention to the photos you insert and the static ones in your profile and diary, keep up with the language and idioms, and keep yourself updated on the world of memes: you never know that with just one of these, you will be able to win over some customers!

Use Interactions Wisely

Do you know the thumbs up that is now the unofficial logo of Facebook? Well, that’s a way to interact with people’s social content. Don’t just like it, but be generous with comments and shares. Follow people who have “interests that interest you” and are, therefore, part of your target, tag them in content that you think they might like, and participate in conversations to be attentive to what is happening in your community.

Join Groups And Follow Popular Pages

Following popular pages today is a bit like joining a group (which is less fashionable now) since everyone interested in a particular topic will gather there to talk, exchange opinions and make connections. Remember that this is where potential customers talk about tastes, desires, ambitions, and needs.

You must also be there to capture this essential information; you may also discover terms and expressions for which people refer to specific products/services. In short, a brilliant and very cheap way to conduct a market survey.

Be Responsive

The world of social media is fast, and you need to know how to seize the moment. For this, it is good to activate notifications to immediately reply to posts, comments, private messages, etc. If you have a medium-large company, you could dedicate a figure to do just that (do you know those called Social Media Managers ?); if you’re a small business owner, chances are you can manage your pages yourself. Remember that time and the ability to interact are significant to become a point of reference for your audience.

Spy On Your Competitors

Social media is also a great way to spy and monitor your competitors without getting noticed. With a private profile rather than a corporate one, start following pages that deal with the same sector in which you move. Here you will be able to see who interacts with the posts and, therefore, potential customers to steal from the competitor, but also how both parties are moving to study their behavior.