Building trust in social selling: making your brand more human
The terrain of modern sales has undergone a significant transformation. Salespeople are no longer seen merely as vendors of goods or services; instead, through the power of social selling, they can become trusted advisors to their prospects and customers. Social media provides a stage for sales teams to connect with their audience, sharing valuable insights and solutions tailored to their needs.
However, merely utilizing social media doesn't automatically grant a salesperson the status of a trusted advisor. They must first earn their audience's trust. And how is this achieved? By making their brand feel more human in the digital realm.
Social selling transcends the traditional method of aggressively marketing products or services to potential buyers. It enables sales professionals to position themselves as advisors genuinely interested in resolving their clients' issues. The strategic content deployment supports this paradigm shift, which is vital for cultivating relationships and building trust.
In social selling, content reigns supreme.
Content is pivotal in enabling your team to be seen as advisors and building trust within their network. Distributing content that showcases thought leadership, personal expertise, and opinions on industry trends or solutions plays a crucial part in this process.
Yet, the approach isn't to overwhelm prospects with company-centric messages. It's more about disseminating knowledge and expertise. By tackling customer challenges and offering insightful solutions, sales representatives can emerge as respected experts in their domain, gaining their audience's trust and esteem.
What prevents sales teams from emerging as thought leaders?
While social selling offers numerous advantages, practitioners often face hurdles in deploying successful strategies. One prevalent obstacle is executing scalable branding efforts for B2B companies without excessive spending. The potential of organic sharing as a solution remains underutilized, resulting in lost chances to enhance brand visibility and trust.
Additionally, the type of content vital for social selling diverges from conventional brand-centric posts. It originates from individuals rather than the corporate brand, demanding distinct strategic approaches and execution methods. Sales experts need to tailor their content to align with their professional personas while remaining within the bounds of brand standards and achieving scalability. Striking a balance between personalization and maintaining brand coherence is a formidable task for many companies aiming to leverage the benefits of social selling fully.
Personalization is key.
Businesses frequently emphasize distributing content and running campaigns via official corporate channels or paid advertising. These methods are undeniably crucial for achieving widespread exposure and enhancing brand visibility. Yet, relying solely on these conventional marketing techniques fails to capitalize on the significant opportunities that organic reach via social sellers' networks presents.
Organic reach involves gaining content visibility without financial expenditure and utilizing personal social media profiles and networks. While corporate channels are crucial for broadcasting brand-centric messages, social sellers have the power to broaden the scope of these campaigns within their personal networks. By circulating pertinent and compelling content to their contacts, social sellers can propel marketing efforts beyond the limitations of corporate avenues.
This natural method of content distribution has multiple benefits. It enables a deeper, more genuine interaction with the audience, as content shared by individuals often comes across as more credible and engaging than corporate communications, fostering enhanced engagement and interaction. Additionally, leveraging the networks of social sellers opens doors to specific markets and target demographics that might remain unreachable via standard marketing strategies.
Furthermore, enhancing a brand's visibility and credibility through the organic spread of content via social sellers' networks can be incredibly effective. When employees or affiliates, recognized as industry authorities or thought leaders, share content, it tends to have a more substantial impact. This can lead to better brand recognition, a stronger reputation, and improved conversion rates.
Although corporate channels and paid promotions are vital to any digital marketing plan, the unique advantages of organic reach through social selling should not be underestimated. Encouraging employees to act as brand promoters and content sharers enables businesses to explore new engagement channels, build authentic audience relationships, and drive overall growth.
Expand your influence!
Don't overlook the significance of your content's reach. The combined reach of individual sellers frequently outstrips that of the company's LinkedIn page, highlighting the untapped potential of using employees as brand ambassadors in your social selling campaigns.
LinkedIn reports that employee-generated content garners eight times the engagement and is shared 25 times more often than when posted through company accounts. This statistic emphasizes the powerful effect of enabling sales professionals to spread brand messages via their networks. By tapping into the broad reach of individual sellers, you can boost brand visibility and cultivate genuine interactions with a larger audience, ultimately enhancing business growth and sales performance.
Boost your company's credibility and enhance its reputation.
Leveraging the collective influence of social sellers and the trust they establish within their networks can significantly enhance a B2B company or brand's credibility and standing. Edelman's research reveals that 63% of consumers trust information from a company's employees more than from its CEO, highlighting the critical impact individual employees have on brand image.
Furthermore, LinkedIn's State of Sales report notes that 92% of B2B buyers are more inclined to interact with sales professionals recognized as industry thought leaders. This underlines the significance of utilizing social sellers to build credibility and forge significant relationships with prospective customers. By encouraging sales teams to position themselves as reliable advisors and thought leaders in their fields, companies can humanize their brands and achieve success in the digital marketplace.
Foster connections through social selling.
We've established that social selling is pivotal in developing connections with customers and potential clients by promoting engagement and interaction. This is achieved by sharing relevant content and active involvement in sector-specific discussions. To put this into perspective, some statistics on LinkedIn show that social sellers are 51% more likely to meet their sales targets, demonstrating the effectiveness of social engagement in enhancing sales performance.
Additionally, a study by Demand Gen Report indicates that 76% of buyers are more inclined to interact with sales professionals who offer industry-specific insights and knowledge, underscoring the value of content dissemination and engagement in creating substantial relationships. Utilizing social media platforms to connect with their audience and impart valuable insights enables sales professionals to develop a connection, establish trust, and propel their business forward.
Meet the specific needs of your buyers.
Social selling enables sales teams to provide personalized and pertinent interactions, addressing each prospect's distinct requirements and thereby boosting engagement and facilitating sales. Sales for Life's research reveals that 82% of buyers are open to meetings with salespeople who approach them with content tailored to their interests. Utilizing insights and analytics from social media, sales professionals can obtain crucial information about their prospects' behaviors and preferences, allowing them to create messages and content that truly speak to their audience. This tailored strategy strengthens relationships and improves the chances of making successful sales.
Marketers, collaborate with your sales team!
For social selling to operate effectively at a broad scale, marketers are vital in supplying sales teams with a curated assortment of content relevant to their audiences, all accessible through a centralized content platform. This curated content serves as the groundwork for engaging potential customers and fostering relationships on social media.
Yet, merely distributing standard content isn't sufficient for fostering deep connections. Sales professionals require the resources and knowledge to adapt this content to meet their target audience's specific interests and needs. While artificial intelligence (AI) can streamline some aspects of content personalization, the human touch is crucial for ensuring the content's authenticity and relevance.
Marketers empower sales teams to personalize content within the boundaries of brand standards, striking a balance between uniformity and individualization. This strategy preserves brand integrity and allows customization to establish trust and credibility with prospects and clients. This approach amplifies the impact of social selling efforts by ensuring that interactions are genuine and tailored to the audience.
Focus on being authentic, transparent, and engaging.
Building trust is crucial for companies aiming to humanize their brand and establish credibility in their online engagements. Emphasizing authenticity, transparency, and deep engagement allows businesses to create real connections with their audience and position themselves as trusted advisors instead of just vendors.
This approach involves disseminating valuable insights, tailoring solutions to individual needs, and showing an understanding of potential and current clients' concerns. Through consistent, sincere interactions, companies can build confidence in their brand, leading to lasting relationships founded on trust and reciprocal respect.
Achieving this requires a solid partnership between marketing and sales teams. Are you prepared to advance towards achieving success in social selling?