Social networks play a leading role in today’s economy, thus it is highly recommended for businesses to use them in order to promote their brand and engage their audience.
Deploying a Social Selling strategy means generating new business opportunities through social networks, but in a world where every one of us is exposed to over 4000 messages per day, how to be sure to reach our target audience efficiently? Which social network to prioritize? What are the key practices to use in order to get better engagement on social networks?
Here are our tips and tricks to implement a simple and effective Social Selling strategy:
1. LinkedIn, the leading social network for Social Selling
With 740 millions users worldwide, LinkedIn is the most effective social network for selling. The platform is the main channel for acquiring and securing new customers: it is overflowing with highly qualified contacts.
As the leading B2B social network, LinkedIn allows you to target the right people and build your professional brand with verve.It offers charged services which are considered to be real boosters for businesses, but also a free option for taking your first steps.
In order to increase your visibility and reach the desired audience, Limber recommends these four steps :
- Go for a short and clear description of your activity on both your company and personal profile. Don’t forget to use keywords as well!
- Write striking catchphrases with one or two hashtags in each of your publications.
- Always forward/share your latest articles, videos, infographics, carousels,…
- Take parts in thematic discussions in your field. Reply to users in order to position yourself as an expert.
2. Twitter, to go straight to the point.
Twitter counts up to 310 millions users throughout the globe. It is a significant media and an ideal tool for media monitoring.
Given its strong virality potential and its limited number of characters, Twitter guarantees easy connections and quick conversations. The interactions, in order to achieve a successful sales strategy, can be pursued later on other platforms such as LinkedIn for example !
Here are our advices for you to appear trustworthy in the eyes of your audience and to successfully achieve your sales objectives :
- Make sure your profile is optimized, use a professional picture and opt for a biography that accurately depicts you and how you want your target audience to perceive you.
- Regularly vary your publications and the media you use : photos and videos, for instance, are given more weight by the algorithm than a mere 280 character written tweet.
- Write short tweets and post 2 to 3 per day so that you don’t overflow your followers.
- Retweet what you think is relevant to you, and to your audience.
- Build personalized and engaging relationships with your followers by both speaking and replying to them.
- If you own a blog, share each post you write in a tweet punctuated with the right hashtags to reach the right audience.
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3. Instagram, to showcase your products and services
As the ultimate photo social network, Instagram is similar to a storefront, attracting users, then forging links and creating engagement. However, the sales aspect of it, although in the second plan, is not to be neglected : the platform has become a must on the B2C market. With roughly 1 billion users over the world, Instagram is packed with potential buyers : It is the ideal channel to reach the masses and eases relationships with clients : a large percentage of its users follow at least one company on the platform.
To connect with your audience, Limber suggests these four approaches :
- Instagram is a so-called “contemplative” social network, thus it is crucial to take care of the image you broadcast : Take the time to complete your profile (name, profile picture, website, etc) and only publish content with an excellent image resolution, following a precisely defined editorial line.
- Post different types of content : the platform offers the possibility to post pictures, but also videos up to 10 minutes (igTV), reels (shorter videos), ephemeral stories…
- Maximize the reach of your publications by adding relevant hashtags in each of them.
- Encourage your community to be part of your sales strategy by betting on reposts : your audience shares your message with its own audience, which therefore will be likely to share it later on, and so on. This is a common practice on Instagram, especially when it comes to contests or viral videos.
4. Facebook, to reach all audiences
No need to introduce this one, Facebook with its 17 years of existence, has become the biggest social network of all times. Counting 2.6 billion users worldwide, exploiting the platform in a B2B context is not to be missed!
Indeed, two thirds of its users claim to visit a Facebook Business page at least once a week, it’s an opportunity not to be overlooked.
To develop your Social Selling strategy, we recommend you to think about :
- Post fun and entertaining content to attract and create engagement (likes, comments, shares).
- Find thematic groups in your field to follow.
- Post once a day at most, and three times a week at least.
- Build a relationship based on trust by interacting with your community.
Social Selling can seem difficult and launching a new strategy on a new platform may sound daunting. Following these tips will help you establish your brand reputation and set up a profile ready for success.
Keeping in mind that a message is more credible in the eyes of users the more it is shared (we at Limber call it ”the collective influence”), the question is no longer whether to include social networks into your strategy, but which one to use, and how to make the most of them in order to gain the most engagement. At the same time, with the use of a tool such as Limber, you can easily automate your content publication and amplify its reach through the relay of your collaborators (via Employee Advocacy). Thus, you will be able to build a relationship of trust with an expert audience and reach your business objectives : building loyalty and selling.
To know more about this topic, make sure to download our White Paper, where you will find all the information you need to successfully conduct your Social Selling strategy.
Anais Tajan