Where will you find an audience of over 4 billion potential customers at the tip of your fingers?

The answer, indubitably, is: social media platforms.

It’s absolutely astounding that today you can connect with half the world’s population through social media networks! Gone are the days when you had to knock on each door to make your sales pitch. You, my friend, have the luxury of comfortably sitting back as the magic of social media connects you with the right prospects without stepping out of the door. 

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Name a single major brand that doesn’t have a social media presence. Not one comes to mind, right? Even small businesses have thronged social media channels to generate brand awareness and connect with their target audience.

But social selling is not a silver bullet. If you want to bring in the dough, you need to put in the work. What you need is a social selling strategy. Now! 

Let’s talk strategy

Do you think builders construct houses without a blueprint? 

Or, do generals go into battle without a battle strategy?

So, why would you go into the sales field without a winning social selling strategy? 

The simple answer is that you won’t have to! Take a look at our article on sales strategy 101 to help your sales team prospect better. 

The best social media strategy is to have one in the first place and the right strategy can get you qualified leads and hot deals! Here are some tips and tricks to create a social selling strategy to help get your A-game on.

Let’s get you started on your path to social selling success.

1. Nurture relationships, not sales

As sales reps, your job title says that you are in the business of selling. But you know that there’s more to the job. You are in the profession of building long-term relationships. 

Rome was not built in a day. And neither are relationships. 

An effective social media marketing strategy should swear by nurturing relationships for the long haul rather than just selling products/services. You are dealing with real people, so talk to them as you would in any other social setting. 

Create value for your target audience by consistently sharing and posting high-quality content. You are one of many sales reps connecting with your prospects through social media. So, you must try to create content that makes you stand out. Use your social media account to listen, understand, talk, and address your existing and potential customers’ pain points. 

2. Serve and create value

Do you want your target audience to see the value of your personal brand? Well, for that you will have to value them first. 

As a sales rep, your relationship with existing customers and potential clients is a two-way street. Social media users are bombarded with all sorts of information. So, how can you ensure that they engage with your content?

Simple. By posting content that is valuable and relevant to your target audience. Social media marketing thrives on sharing value-driven social media content that prospects and customers are searching for. 

Use your Facebook page to post a video on how to use your product, your LinkedIn account to share your success stories, or your Instagram account to share a reel on the product’s manufacturing process. 

Adapt your social media content to the formats of the different platforms. The types of content you share can significantly increase the engagement rate of your social media accounts. Give the audience content they find valuable and serve them in some way. 

3. Research your target audience

Want to know a social media marketing strategy that ALWAYS works? 

Research. 

Get to know your potential customers. And build on your knowledge of existing customers. 

In any relationship, two people need to get to know each other. Why should your relationship as a sales rep be any different with your prospects or customers? Researching your audience and creating a customer persona is the starting point for any successful social media marketing strategy.

The best social media sellers are the ones who leverage their social media presence to understand their audience. But why? It helps them personalize their outreach across different platforms and plan the social media content you put out for them. 

So, research your prospects through their profiles, organization pages, business websites and platforms, and more industry-specific channels. Look for mutual connections to build rapport, find what kind of content your prospects are engaging with, and use this to fine-tune your social selling strategy.

4. Actively engage in social listening

If only we knew what others were thinking about us. Oh, who wouldn’t want to be a psychic! But now, with social media, a new world has dawned and the books have been left wide open.

Social media platforms have made it possible for users to voice their thoughts and opinions. Tune into their conversations about your brand, products, and services. You will stumble upon a gold mine of information. 

But are you confused about what information you should be mining? Let us help you out.

• Read the comments sections on the content you shared. 
• Read the reviews audiences write about your products/services. 
• Leverage social media metrics to analyze if your social media campaign has increased brand awareness.
• Check for brand mentions by TikTok or Instagram influencers. 
• Read through the chats of your LinkedIn groups to listen in and participate in the chatter. 
• See if your company’s hashtags are part of trending conversations.

Social listening is an effective social media management technique if you know how to optimize it for your benefit. 

5. Optimize social media profiles

Most of us update our social media profile pictures regularly. Why shouldn’t the same go for your brand’s social media account? 

Update the new and discard the old. Have a crisp profile but give all the relevant information. Any good social media management guru will tell you that your social media account is more than a digital resume. It should have a personality that reflects the brand’s values and mission. 

Don’t confuse them. Make it easy for your audience to know your business. Update your social media accounts including your company logo, address, contact information, offers, product/service information, etc. And do keep your design and content in sync across all channels to deliver an exceptional omnichannel experience.

Put your best foot forward. And let your social media profile represent the business and become a channel to humanize it. 

6. Leverage the value of social proof 

It’s not bragging if you can back it up. Delight your existing customers and potential clients with success stories and testimonials. Social proof can go a long way in establishing the credibility of a business. 

Any business will publicize its products or services. Haven’t we all come across advertisements and promotions claiming their product/service is #1 or better than the best? People have come to take these sales gimmicks with a grain of salt.  

But they can’t turn a blind eye to shared testimonials of existing customers or the success stories of the business. It gives you bragging rights without it coming across as bragging. 

Humbly brag by,

• sharing case studies that create a positive association with your business; 
• reposting positive comments or reviews that you come across through social listening.

The power of social proof is immense. So use your social platforms to recount these stories and build a positive brand image. 

7. Get referrals

A friend of a friend is a friend, isn’t it? Use your mutual connections to your advantage. Seek referrals from existing customers. A potential customer will likely trust you more if a mutual contact introduces you to them. 

How to get referrals, you ask?

• Head on over to your LinkedIn page and start networking. 
• Ask those lower on the ladder to help you reach the big shots and the decision-makers. 
• Go through the list of followers or connections you share with prospective customers. 
• Maybe even repost and tag your connections in your social media posts. It will help draw the eyes of their followers and connections. 

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Use your social networks to grow your network and get new customers. 

8. Create a content calendar

Has it ever happened that you have not shared content on your social media accounts for a couple of months and not realized it? In the process, you might have lost some of your followers, and the engagement rate drops.

It happens to the best. Time can get away from us when we are busy. Manage your schedule better and maintain consistency with your content with the help of a content calendar. 

A content calendar is handy in social media management. Maintaining a schedule, topics, and workflows helps social media managers follow a structured plan of action. You can use one of the many content calendar templates available on the internet. Select one that meets your needs.

A well-structured content schedule ensures that you interact with your audience regularly, which helps build relationships, develop a personal brand, and generate brand awareness and image. 

9. Multi-channel content sharing

Want to make a professional connection or share an infographic? Head over to LinkedIn. Want to share an entertaining video or reel? Here come Facebook and Instagram. 

Today, you have different platforms that serve distinct purposes, cater to a specific audience, and host different types of content. A good marketing plan will involve a multi-channel social selling strategy.

Social sellers find and connect with their audience across all social media channels. If you don’t want to be left behind, find out the social platforms your target audience engages with and start sharing content on them. Don’t limit yourself to one channel because your potential and existing customers won’t. 

Once you start the conversation, take these social media connections offline. Get on a call with them to understand their pain points and how you can offer a solution to them. 

10. Use social media tools

A chef will agonize over picking the right knife. 

A painter will obsess over finding the right paint brush or chisel. 

A software developer will spend hours researching the right programming tool. 

As any professional will tell you, with the right tool in hand, you can achieve perfection. 

Salespeople need their tools too. Social media tools should be a necessary part of your toolkit (read: social media strategy). Are some parts of your job as a social seller draining your energy or boring you to death? Leave the monotonous work to the technology. Automate your tasks using social media tools. Here’s what you can do.

• Schedule your social media updates using scheduling tools. 
• Use SEO and SEM tools to shoot your engagement rate through the roof. 
• Optimize the aesthetic value of your content through social media tools. 
• Use analytical tools and metrics to measure your social media performance. 
• Set up notifications that alert you to monitor brand mentions. 

Social media tools can help you save precious time and effort. So make your life easy and give it a go. 

Lastly, be patient

Patience is a virtue. After all, good things come to those who wait. 

Don’t get us wrong. You have to work as you wait. 

You reap what you sow, right? But the work doesn’t stop just at sowing. You nurture the plant well after it’s been sown to harvest the produce. 

The same goes for social selling. Your social selling strategy should account for the waiting period because everything does not become viral instantly. It’s not even necessary that your social media content will go viral. 

The only thing to be mindful of is that the content should be relevant, valuable, high-quality, and consistent. Now be patient and let your audience flock towards you. 

Now that you have the best social selling tips and tricks up your sleeve, you can guide your sales team to meteoric success. But do you want to make sales life even more comfortable? 

‍Let Wingman take you under its wings.

‍Don’t want to play Russian roulette with your next social selling strategy? 

With Wingman as your wingman, you won’t have to. Witness our sales intelligence platform at work as it helps you and your sales team draw aces every single time. At Wingman, we strive to be (and might we add successfully so) a one-stop shop for all intelligence that will take you from a sales amateur to a wunderkind. Let us help you with our real-time marketing insights. Find out what content is grabbing eyeballs so your social media content can take center stage. You don’t have to take our word for it. Read our customer testimonials and take a test drive by booking a demo today!