How social selling can increase your ROI
As the new year has begun, businesses have started to enact new goals. This means it's that time of year when companies review last year's Return on Investment and create a plan based on it. What investment brought the expected outcome? What needs to be cut? And is social selling worth the hype?
Let's look at the ROI of social selling and how your company can make the most of a professional and successful social media appearance.
What is social selling exactly?
Social selling involves strategically utilizing social media platforms to connect, engage, and establish relationships with potential customers. This approach goes beyond traditional sales methods by leveraging online networks to understand and address prospects' needs.
But there is more to it! In social selling, salespeople actively participate in social media to influence their buyers' decision-making process. The sellers use their social networks to interact with prospects and share relevant content, building relationships and trust.
Companies can harness the power of social selling by creating a program that mobilizes their reach while promoting an authentic experience and personality to their brand.
Whether the objective is to cultivate trust and authority, explore new business opportunities, or initiate fresh sales conversations, social selling is effective when executed correctly.
Let's look at some social selling numbers:
Social selling has become a staple of many B2B brands' digital market strategy. That, however, doesn't mean that every industry implements it. While tech and IT companies are familiar with and have taken the lead in social selling, other sectors are still behind.
Industries such as manufacturing, banking, insurance, and government still see lower adoption rates. While some of these sectors must play within given restrictions, there are still many opportunities for social selling and influencing opinions despite these regulations.
Surprisingly, less than 10% of sales professionals regularly share content, a proxy for active social selling, which barely increases your reach compared to a full-blown social selling program.
More fascinating than that is the researched demographics of salespeople participating in social selling, which has shown that, across all industries, the US is more active in the programs than Europe.
Social selling and your ROI
The concept and practices of social selling aren't new anymore. Despite this, numerous companies maintain a level of skepticism, particularly when budget discussions are part of the planning process. Social selling can get pricey, which can get nerve-wracking for executives trying not to waste money.
That's why setting expectations for your ROI is essential when contemplating integrating social selling into your marketing strategy. Motivating business decisions are driven by achieving a satisfactory ROI, and the realm of social selling is no exception. But how do you structure your expectations? Check out our tips and pointers below.
Define Clear Objectives: Clearly outline your goals to provide a transparent and focused direction for your social selling program.
Target the Right Audience: Identify and engage with your target audience on social media platforms where they are most active. Clearly define the criteria for sales reps when researching prospects on social media.
Empower Your Sales Team: Provide comprehensive training to your sales team, emphasizing the significance of personal branding and thought leadership. Grant them permission and equip them with the necessary tools to enhance their personal branding. Empower them to establish themselves as industry thought leaders by sharing both original and third-party content with authority.
Encourage Consistent Engagement: Foster regular interaction on social media, encouraging your team to share relevant content, engage with prospects, and build meaningful connections. Simplify this process for them, as their online persona directly reflects your company, making this step critical to the success of your social selling program.
Leverage Analytics: Regularly analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as engagement rates, lead generation, and conversions. Use these insights to refine and optimize your social selling strategy.
Align with Overall Marketing Strategy: Ensure your social selling efforts align with your broader marketing strategy, creating a cohesive and integrated approach to maximize impact.
Continuous Improvement: Stay agile and adapt your strategy based on performance metrics and changes in the social media landscape. Regularly reassess and refine your approach to enhance effectiveness continually.
An organized social selling program sets you up for success.
After examining the crucial components of a successful social selling approach, you should see how evident planning, training, and consistency play pivotal roles. With nearly half of the world's population actively present on social media, your business can harness this vast potential only if your sales team possesses the skills to engage with online audiences effectively. Therefore, dedicate time and effort to familiarize them with these strategies.
To optimize the presentation of offerings, expand outreach, and enhance revenue streams, your salespeople must actively interact with prospects across platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and others. This becomes especially vital in saturated markets with similar products and services. The objective is for your sales representatives to establish personal connections with customers and sustain these relationships throughout every stage of the sales funnel. While this process demands more effort than closing a one-time deal, the investment in cultivating ongoing relationships can yield numerous leads for your company.
Measure social selling success. Learn from an expert:
Success hinges on your objectives, and social selling follows the same principle. This section provides general starters and guidelines applicable to most social selling programs. Milan Ruzicka, co-founder of our sponsor, ReadyForSocial, dedicates his expertise to crafting top-notch analytics for clients within the social selling sphere.
In a Straight to Business interview, he imparts insights for effective social selling programs. Begin with clear objectives designed for measurable results, such as projecting leadership and initiating conversations. Ruzicka advocates for tracking outcomes and provides a benchmark for realistic numbers when establishing expectations for your program, suggesting an aim for 40-60% participation in your sales force if you have an active user base.
He underscores the importance of adjusting the program for optimal and relevant engagement, gauged through metrics like likes, comments, shares, and clicks leading to your website. Ultimately, the primary focus of any social selling program should be the creation of engaging content that resonates with the audience. Relevant engagement is cultivated from your target audience. At ReadyForSocial, Ruzicka follows the rule of thumb that two or more interactions per post are pivotal to achieving success.
Four ways to track relevant engagement
Measuring engagement from your target audience, which is crucial for successful sales, necessitates tracking their interactions with your company. There are four effective methods to assess this engagement:
CRM integration: Establishing a robust connection between the main social network, LinkedIn, and your company through CRM integration is a solid and scalable solution. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is recognized as a suitable system for this integration.
Human review: This hands-on approach involves either a staff member or a third-party agency reviewing the content. It includes identifying individuals from target accounts and providing valuable insights through a qualitative analysis of posts.
Surveys: Gathering insights from your sales team through surveys can offer valuable information about the reactions observed from target accounts. While survey results are approximations, they prove useful, especially when initiating your social selling program and aiming to demonstrate initial results.
Landing page traffic: Since content often directs users to your landing page, tracking incoming traffic and accurately authenticating it is another effective method. This procedure helps evaluate the effectiveness of your social selling efforts in generating new traffic and initiating the customer journey on your digital property.
Establishing your ROI expectations:
Are you beginning your business journey in social selling or compiling data for more comprehensive ROI documentation? Kickstart the process by tracking familiar Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as content metrics, engagement levels, and increased conversations. As your expertise grows, incorporate additional data to evaluate how social selling aligns with your broader marketing strategies.
In any aspect of life, the outcomes are influenced by the effort you invest. For sustained success, having an expert on your team deciphering data becomes invaluable. Their analysis and understanding of the synergy between social selling and ROI unveil opportunities for program enhancement.
If you're still navigating the initial steps of social selling, keep an eye out for our upcoming blog article next week. It will delve into how social selling can propel you toward your goals in 2024 and beyond.
Images by Sasin Tipchai, William Dais, and by 652234 from Pixabay