Effective social selling is more than just doing social, it is about forming connections and fostering relationships.
Tim Hughes, CEO of DLA Ignite, talks about the evolution of sales in this digital age and shares practical tips on how to do social selling to gain competitive advantage for B2B or B2C companies.
Tim Hughes is universally recognised as the world leading pioneer and exponents of Social Selling and he is currently ranked Number 1 by Onalytica as the most influential social selling person in the world. He is also Co-Founder and CEO of DLA Ignite and co-author of the bestselling books “Social Selling - Techniques to Influence Buyers and Changemakers” and “Smarketing - How To Achieve Competitive Advantage through blended Sales and Marketing”. Both published by Kogan Page.
What is Social Selling?
“Buy my stuff, it’s great!”
Marketers have been delivering this same message for the last 90 years. Problem is, it’s not working anymore. Nobody believes the message and nobody cares about the product or service.
These days, we all have the power of the internet at our fingertips. If someone tries to sell us something or tell us how great something is or isn’t, we are quick to check out the product or service online and decide for ourselves whether we think it is great. In the times when we are really invested, we ask friends on Facebook, take part in online forums and read reviews to do our own research and make a decision based on the information we have.
Social selling is a reaction to the way that the buying process has changed.
We are all looking for stuff. No matter what we are interested in or what we want to buy, we are always looking. And when someone tries to sell us something we go online and do your research.
As marketers who want to adapt to the change in the buying process, we have to be active on social media. This is where our customers are and they value and respond to content that helps them learn and develop their understanding over cold calls and emails.
Essentially, our job is to take the research to them and use the content to trigger their intention to buy through open and free flowing conversations rather than pushing our product and or agenda.
How does social selling work in eCommerce?
We are all being hit by a thousand different messages every day. As a marketer you can pay for the best copywriting and the best photography, even featuring supermodels, but at the end of the day, you’re just one of the many.
On top of that, nobody likes advertising.
Google ads and Facebook ads offer very quick transactions in that you can capture someone's desire in about 1.3 seconds. However, our customers on those social platforms don’t want to be bothered by salespeople. They just want open, non-salesy conversations.
We tend to think that social selling is about going onto social media and interrupting people to broadcast our own message. It’s not.
Connecting with someone is actually giving them permission to have a conversation with you.
Go to whatever platform your audience is on and start to engage with them. Flatter them and tell them what you like about their content. Use social as a means to create a human connection and get into conversations with people that you want to sell to because it's the conversations that make sales.
Social media isn’t a one dimension screen in which you post content and wait and pray that something magical happens. The purpose of putting content out on social media is to drive conversation.
Three practical ways to start social selling
1. Personal brand
Your personal brand is your shop window, so to speak.
If you are in a sales or marketing capacity, you need to view your social profile as a three dimensional way of getting you business.
Taking LinkedIn as an example, your profile isn’t your resume or CV nor is it a breakdown about your company or your products. Your LinkedIn profile should be about you as a person - your beliefs, your values, your passions and your hobbies. These are the things that create a human connection with people and bring them closer to you.
Keep your summary title short and interesting but definitely not salesy. The more you can engage your people the longer they will take to read your profile and give less time to your competitors.
2. Build network
Networks and the power of networks are often misunderstood. It’s not just about being connected to people on LinkedIn. It’s about the way the network can be used to place your ideas and get people to take those and share them out to people in their network.
Not everyone in your network will be ready to buy but they are ready to refer. In effect, you are selling to your network’s network. The power of the network means that everyone benefits.
3. Share content
Create and share content that inspires, educates and engages people. Relevant content will help new people find you and keep your network warm.
Often eCommerce startups like to try and mirror big corporations. They create websites to make them look big and established like Nike or Sony but their websites end up looking cold and hollow because they have very little content about themselves.
Authenticity and consistency in sharing content and creating human connections will build credibility and trust and in time, result in sales.
Takeaway #1 The purpose of putting content out on social media is to drive conversation.
Takeaway #2 Connecting with someone is giving them permission to have a conversation with you.
Takeaway #3 Your social profile should be about you as a person - your beliefs, your values, your passions and your hobbies.
Connect with Tim Hughes:
Company Website: DLAIgnite.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothyhughessocialselling/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Timothy_Hughes
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/c/TimothyHughes1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TimHughesSocialSelling/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tim_hughes1/
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