You may have recently heard about social selling… but what exactly is it?
Social selling is a marketing strategy that involves the use of social media to increase the engagement level of your business profile; by offering your customers relevant and interactive content, you will lead them to the final purchase step by step.
Social media gives you the chance to make yourself known, so make the most of your customer relationships and improve certain aspects of your branding.
Who knows how many times you happened to see the social profile of your competitor and wonder how they managed to have so many loyal followers. Well, they are simply more social media savvy than you are.
In recent years, social platforms have experienced incredible growth. The most innovative brands have intercepted this trend and started studying advanced techniques to exploit the potential of social media, with the ultimate aim of selling.
In order to best apply social selling, you will have to deviate from the classic seller’s mindset: chasing your customers on social networks, creating ad hoc profiles and filling their inbox with private messages is not the best approach.
- How to do social selling in 5 steps
- The best platforms for social selling
- How to earn thanks to your followers
How to do social selling in 5 steps
Before creating your social selling strategy, you will need to understand which platforms to focus on.
What is your target clientele? Of course, if your audience is 50 years old, you will have to choose a different platform than the one you would use if your target belonged to Generation Z.
After defining the most suitable platforms, create your professional profiles dedicated to your business; remember that they are your business card, so they must be impeccable and respect the rules of the social networks.
- Identifying the target: in a nutshell, the target is made up of the ideal customers of your business, who will be important to identify in order to create valuable content.
Identify buyer personas and draw up a list of characteristics that best represent your ideal customer. - Outlining the contents: at this point you will know who the people you need to address are and the time has come to outline the communications in the best possible way by conveying the message. Which formats do they prefer? What do they expect from you? When they open their social media, what content are they looking for?
- Creating content: this is the most creative and challenging phase of your social selling strategy. Your customers will have to feel represented by your content, but at the same time you’ll have to give a professional and competent image of the brand.
- Interacting with the audience: you won’t simply have to create content. With your business profile, you’ll need to interact with followers in a natural and engaging way. Your customers will feel closer to you and will understand better that there are people identifying themselves with a brand.
- Implementing marketing strategies: once you’ve made a connection between your potential customers and your business, it’s time to think about selling. You won’t have to be intrusive like call centers trying to sell stuff over the phone, but you’ll need to have the ability to show the products to consumers, at the right time and in the right place.
The best platforms for social selling
If you’re still focusing on what we said before, continue reading here.
Any platform can be suitable for social selling if your potential customers are there, but it’s also true that some platforms are more appropriate than others.
The best social selling platforms are:
- LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the social network dedicated to companies and professionals par excellence, thanks to the type of profiles present it can be very useful for increasing your turnover and creating valuable connections.
Do you know that LinkedIn itself has a page called Sales Navigator to see the level of your Social Selling? Thanks to an algorithm, you can identify your Social Selling Index, following four parameters which are: profile optimization, contact network, engagement rate and interactions on the profile. - Instagram
Instagram blends marketing and sales seamlessly and naturally. This necessity has emerged especially in recent years, with the implementation of various tools useful for brands to sell.
As in all platforms, you‘ll need to optimize your profile starting from the bio, the profile image and by entering useful links.
You don’t need millions of followers to reap the first fruits of a good social selling strategy. Interact in comments, create content aimed at going viral and take advantage of the formats preferred by your potential customers. Use the stories to get closer to your audience by humanizing the brand and when you feel more confident you can start using live videos. - TikTok
The world of marketing is constantly evolving and TikTok is the proof of this; if your target belongs to the younger generations, you’ll have to take this interactive and viral social network into consideration.
The potential of this social network is immense, just think about the fact that the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has received over 5 billion views, leading to the sale of thousands of different products. - Facebook
Facebook is considered the mother of all social networks and also the one where you’ll find your customers more easily.
This social network offers you incredible tools to advertise yourself, but don’t rely solely on them… if you optimize your profile to the maximum you could get many results also thanks to organic content.
Constantly update your page, invite your best customers to leave positive reviews on your page: social proof is a very relevant parameter if you sell online.
How to earn thanks to your followers
Are you a blogger or influencer? With the increase in your followers, are you starting to think about how you could get extra income? Here are some ideas for making some money thanks to your community.
You can start partnering with some companies by advertising their products, or earn small amounts with affiliate programs. Have you ever thought about opening an online store and selling on Instagram?
Maybe the idea of opening your own online shop interests you a lot, but you consider it a difficult process to carry out on your own. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you out.
You can earn by opening an ecommerce of fashion products, but you’ll only have to take care of doing what you do best: talking to your followers and promoting the products in your shop. We’ll deal with the rest!
In a nutshell, you’ll be the owner of an e-commerce without the necessary chores: you can say goodbye to bureaucratic problems forever and dedicate yourself only to marketing and promoting your shop, you can customize and choose the products most similar to your style and to your taste in our immense constantly-updated catalog.
Trust those who understand and make your dream of becoming an entrepreneur come true thanks to BDroppy and our decades of experience in selling fashion brands and accessories online.
