Nowadays, social media is becoming more and more important in sales processes but also in those that precede purchasing decisions.

Social Selling, or selling on Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn, is an approach that involves using social networks in sales procedures.

From now on, whether you have an online store or a physical store, you will have to count on the rise of different digital channels. The commercial and marketing techniques of your company will have to adapt to their use.

Before making a purchase in your e-shop or physical store, your potential customers first research your products online. Do not be surprised then if most of your buyers do not sell your items anymore. If they go directly to action, it is because they have already collected all the information they needed.

Social Selling goes beyond simply selling on Facebook or other social media. It is a concept based on the strategies of personal branding, content marketing and digital marketing. To be able to sell online, it will take a real strategy based on the essential pillars of social selling.

Here are some tips for getting started:

Listen and search

Thanks to social networks, you can easily identify your potential prospects. Depending on the network you use, you can take advantage of the different features available to you. Most of the time, the use of this or that network will be defined according to your objectives in terms of prospection.

In a BtoB (business to business) framework, for example, LinkedIn is the most used platform. In addition to offering a broad community of entrepreneurs, business leaders and decision-makers, it allows filtering on countless information. You will be able to see the interests of your prospects, their professional changes and others.

If you want to do a one-to-one survey, a good use of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Whatsapp can bring you success.

Engage your prospects

You have already chosen your prospecting tools "social media marketing". A Facebook page, a Linkedin profile or an Instagram pro account? At this point, it's not enough to only share photos, you need a real optimization of your profile (personal branding) to be perceived as a reliable and credible provider.
All the actions you will take (product sharing, article publications) will push your prospects to visit your profile. The latter must then make a good summary of your personality and / or company. Therefore, each visit of your profile can be considered as an opportunity to start a new discussion (on Linkedin, you are notified whenever a person visits your profile).

To engage prospects, you must first identify your targets based on your clients' profiles and finally get in touch with the different potential customers.

Convert your leads into customers

Now that you have contacted your prospects, you must establish a relationship of trust with them. The goal here is to feed your prospect in his purchase thinking to provide a solution (products or service) that meets his expectations.

The data collected via his profile will allow you to make contact at the best time. In this phase, you can link your Social Selling stock to a CRM or a "marketing automation" tool such as Hubspot or SalesForce.

In conclusion, Social Selling has become unavoidable. It includes the change of strategy of salespeople and the entire company. To reap the benefits, social media sales must be a standard and a good strategy based on KPIs (key performance indicator). With an active web presence, you'll be able to find new contacts, interact with your prospects, sell your products or services, and raise the profile of your business.