If you have yet to use social selling to your advantage this year, it’s not too late to get started. Below, we take a look at 4 reasons why introducing it into your sales plan should be a top priority for the remainder of 2017 and beyond.
It Has Been Proven to Work
Everywhere you look online, you will find testimonials from sales people and companies detailing how social selling has helped them to obtain leads and close deals faster than they had ever thought possible. While it is still a new sales technique, it goes without saying that it has been proven to provide results if done with determination and know-how!
It Costs Less than Most Other Sales Techniques
Cold calling and pay per click advertising can cost a lot of money in the long run. Social selling, on the other hand, needn’t cost the business a thing! It is possible to make use of paid tools online to enhance the quality of your approach to social selling, but it isn’t necessary… and there are plenty of ways to make it work without spending a dime.
It Will (Probably) Put You Ahead of Your Competitors
As mentioned, social selling is a new sales technique and one that only a few business sales teams have embraced thus far. This means that by using it to your advantage, you will remain one step ahead of your competitors and reach potential customers a lot faster than they will likely be able to.
It Allows You to Reach Prospective Customers Early in the Buying Cycle
Once a potential customer makes the decision to buy, it might be too late to do anything to convince them to buy from you as opposed to from your competition. With social selling, the potential customer is likely only at the stage where he or she knows that there is a problem that needs solving – a problem that your company can solve with your product or service! There is plenty of time to still make a lasting impression and push for a conversion.
Are you keen on social selling techniques and strategies to enhance your reputation and help you prospect for new leads? Socialsellingeducation.com offers a range of instructor training, social selling workshops and consulting services that can be customised for your business. Contact us for more information today.
- Who are you targeting with your Instagram story content?
- Why are you sharing?
- What type of content will resonate with your followers and keep them engaged (while helping you to accomplish your “why”)?
- How can Instagram stories help you accomplish your goals on the platform?
- Tell a more complete story and share a different perspective or angle than your other content.
- Offer a peek behind the scenes when you’re working on something and want to share a glimpse, but don’t necessarily want people to be able to see it forever. This is great if you’re on set for a photo shoot, at a site visit for an event, working on a client project, or gathering tools and supplies for something new you’re working on. Whatever your day-to-day looks like, start thinking of how you can think outside the box a little to share more of your brand with your followers and take them along on the journey.
- Use it as a teaching platform
by providing “how-to’s” and insights, but also through sharing your own process and how you do things. Not only will this likely teach your followers something and give them some new tips and tricks to put to use, but it will also build your own reputation as an expert and an educator, which can easily work to your advantage.
Consider hosting weekly (or regular) segments or “shows” with planned topics or content. Something that people can expect and look forward to, while also holding you accountable and giving you some structure in your content creation schedule. - Add your voice to your Instagram content
— literally. This gives people even more personal access to you and allows them to see a different side of who you are and it puts a face to the brand.
Admittedly, I’m not great at this, and have yet to really add this piece into my own Instagram story strategy. I’ll be the first to admit that though I know that this can be a great way to use the platform, it’s also a scary one if you’re not used to being on camera — or even recording your voice.
I also think there’s something to be said for editing yourself and making sure you’re actually providing value in some way. You don’t need to narrate every little thing you do throughout the day, and you’re more likely to lose people along the way if you overdo it. Keep it fun, quick and engaging. - Offer a “day in the life” perspective”. We tend to be voyeuristic by nature, and any opportunity to get a deeper look at how someone is spending their time, what tools they use or a peek at their favorite coffee shop or workspace is often welcomed with curiosity and interest. So try taking your followers along on your daily journey every now and then, challenging yourself to capture it in new ways or provide glimpses at the details through your eyes.
- Answer questions and ask for feedback. Start a conversation, involve your followers and take your community along for the journey, include them in your decision-making process while also gathering customer insights and perspective.
- Share more of your brand story. Think through how you can really focus on telling your brand story through your content and portray the personality and lifestyle aspect of your brand. This is all about building a relationship with your followers and letting them get to know you a little better.
As a digital marketing agency, we have always said that the most
important thing you can do is come up with a coherent and well
orchestrated strategy. This strategy will obviously adapt as you go,
taking into account the ongoing analysis, measuring and testing, but
before you start it is critical to have goals. You cannot measure
success without goals.
Of course we will meet up with you whether it be physically or virtually
and discuss these goals. It is very important to us that we find out as
much about the business as possible in order to see if we can help
streamline and make improvements elsewhere in addition to reaching the
goals you wish to achieve.
In order to devise a comprehensive and ambitious digital marketing
strategy for your business, we normally start by performing a full
analysis on your existing web presence. The next step is to then run the
same analysis on three or four of your competitors' sites. This will
provide you with an excellent snap shot of where your web properties are
falling down in relation to theirs and you can then systematically
address those issues one by one using a range of tactics we can employ
at the drop of a hat.
We call this a competitive analysis and this is the first step to digital marketing success. To get started you can contact us on 0845 345 2592 or contact us here for your free digital marketing consultation