Social Selling Best Practices You Can Use on LinkedIn

Social selling is a newer sales method that has taken the sales industry by storm. It is the process of developing relationships with your buyers while you’re selling. You can do it by using various social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. However, one of the most effective ways platforms is LinkedIn. That’s why many have started social selling with LinkedIn and why we decided to share some social selling best practices with you in this article.

As you might know, LinkedIn is known as the “business” platform and is considered a more serious social media platform in the online world. So, it is a great place to find serious buyers and build relationships with them that might lead to potential sales and a long business relationship.

Usually, selling with LinkedIn looks like this:

1. First, you contact a potential buyer via LinkedIn.
2. Second, you set up a call.
3. Third, you give them a demo or an explanation of what you offer.
4. And you’re done. Usually, after the call is done, you’ll have one more sale in your books!

As you can see, social selling with LinkedIn is pretty straightforward. However, there are some social selling best practices that you can use to make the whole process even more productive and effective. Let’s find out what those best practices are!

Posting Frequently

Like with any other social media platform, the more followers you have on LinkedIn, the more sales you’ll make. So, the first item on our social selling best practices list is to post frequently to attract people’s attention and gain new followers.

One way to gain more followers on LinkedIn is by posting relevant content frequently. You can post articles, business-related news, and other types of written content that are related to your business and what you are selling.

If you already have a website with a blog, you can use that to your advantage as well. For example, you can turn articles like “Top 10 social selling best practices” into ten separate LinkedIn posts and publish them throughout the month. Whatever you do, make sure that the content you post is meaningful and gives your LinkedIn followers value or helps them in some way. That way, not only will you gain new followers, but you will also engage your existing ones. Also, you will show your followers that you offer helpful insights and that you know what you are talking about.

So, ensure that you frequently post on LinkedIn - one or more times a day to gain more followers.

Writing an Eye-Catching Headline

Writing an eye-catching headline for your LinkedIn profile can make thousands of people click on your profile and check it out. This is another effective way of attracting new people and piquing their interest in you and your business. And the goal of using social selling best practices is all about getting people interested and engaged.

When you are writing your headline, don’t tell people what job you have or where you work. Instead, make a list of what you do and all the tasks you can tackle. For example, instead of telling people that you work at an AI company, tell them that you deliver new AI technologies to the market. All in all, you’ll need to make your headline as fun as possible while avoiding clickbait at all costs.

So, take your time while writing your headline, make it interesting, and you’ll generate more clicks and, in turn, more followers and potential customers.

Responding Frequently

Responding frequently to messages is one of the most important social selling best practices you can use. Once you contact potential buyers or business partners, you can’t just sit back and think that your job is done. Actually, it’s far from done.

When you start receiving responses, make sure that you stay on top of each response and answer it as quickly as possible. That way, you’ll build a reputation with people that shows them that you are easily reachable and always there when they need you.

And the more engaged you are with your LinkedIn followers, the more word about you will spread. Consequently, more and more people will start coming in.

In shorter terms, make sure you respond to all your messages as quickly as possible.

Interacting on Your Leads’ Posts

Leads are all the individuals and businesses you find on LinkedIn that could be potential customers of yours in the future. You can generate leads through referrals from existing customers or through people directly interacting with your posts.

However, there is another way to turn your leads into loyal customers. Namely, you can interact with their posts by either leaving comments or messaging them regarding something they posted on LinkedIn. By taking an interest in their posts, you’ll grab their attention and direct it toward your LinkedIn profile. Then, they’ll open your profile and see what you do and offer.

So, to recap, you can comment on posts from potential customers to get their attention and make them interested in who you are and what you do.

No Sales Pitches When You’re Social Selling With LinkedIn

Social selling with LinkedIn is all about building relationships with people. You’re not here to close deals and get a commission.

Thus, you’ll need to avoid posting sales pitches at all costs. Instead, you’ll need to focus on providing information about your products and services and telling people how they can help them. You can share your personal experiences with the product or service and share experiences from already existing customers.

So, avoiding sales pitches and speaking from personal experience are two social selling best practices you can use to make your whole sales strategy more effective.

Continuing the Conversation Elsewhere

LinkedIn is there for you to share ideas and initiate communication with other people. However, once you establish a simple back-and-forth with a customer, you should suggest that you continue your conversation elsewhere, like via phone or email.

LinkedIn is not the right place for you to share more important details or business deals. So, ensure that you have another line of communication in place so that you’re ready when the conversation becomes more serious.

Key takeaway - don’t talk about business details on LinkedIn.

Join Groups Related to Social Selling With LinkedIn

You can find many industry-specific groups on LinkedIn. People use those groups to meet and discuss various topics related to their industry and community. So, you can gain great insights into the newest trends in your industry by joining those groups.

Also, you can meet people that work in the same industry as you, and who knows, you might find your next business partner or someone who can connect you to someone else that can mentor you and help you out even more. It’s all about networking on LinkedIn. You can also find people who are connected to your brand and are your brand ambassadors. Check here to know who is a brand ambassador and what they can do for your business.

You can learn a great deal, meet new people, and make partnerships that can change your career and take it to the next level.

So, join groups related to your specific niche to find more potential customers and learn about the industry.

Benefits of Social Selling

Both companies and employees can benefit greatly from social selling. Below, you’ll find quite a few benefits you can take advantage of by implementing a successful social selling strategy with the best practices we’ve listed in this article.

1. Using Social Selling Best Practices Can Increase Brand Visibility

If both a company and its employees are active on social media, the possibility of people seeing what the company offers increases significantly. For example, your company has a certain amount of followers on, let’s say, Instagram. Sure, those followers will see what you post. Thus, they’ll be familiar with what you offer.

However, you shouldn’t stop there. If your employees also post company-related content on their profiles, the number of people that will find out about your brand will increase a lot. And those will be people from all walks of life who didn’t even know your company existed.

All in all, social selling is an excellent way to spread the word about your company.

2. It Can Help You Generate Better Leads

High-quality sales leads are among the top reasons why people try to find and use as many social selling best practices as possible. If your employees post about your products and recommend them to friends, you’ll be more likely to make sales because people trust recommendations from their friends.

Also, as we mentioned, your brand visibility will increase. And with that, so will your volume of sales leads.

3. Using Social Selling Best Practices Can Lead To Higher Web Traffic

As more and more people learn about your brand, your website’s traffic is bound to increase. That’s because more and more people will hop over to your site to see what you offer. Also, they’ll want to learn more about you, and they’ll know that they can do so via your website.

4. Higher Sales and Profits

All of the above-mentioned benefits will eventually lead to higher sales. Namely, with increased brand visibility, higher quality leads, and boosted website traffic, you’ll quickly start experiencing more sales. And usually, higher sales lead to higher profits.

So, there’s no doubt that social selling can benefit you greatly. And sure, it might seem like a lot of work. However, the end results are completely worth it. Not only will you make more money, but you’ll also gain more loyal customers while you’re at it.

5. Shorter Sale Cycles

Using the right social selling best practices and implementing them properly can do wonders for your company. Namely, it’ll make your whole sales process much shorter. Also, it’ll allow you to close sales much quicker than before.

You won’t have to spend weeks or even months trying to close a sale. Instead, you’ll be able to generate a lead, contact the potential customer, and get a guaranteed sale in a matter of days! Think of how much you can boost your sales volume by having such a short sales process.

Social Selling Best Practices: Examples of Real-Life Companies That Use Them

Now that you know how social selling can benefit you and which social selling best practices you can use, let’s explore a few real-life companies that already use them to boost their sales. At the end of this section, you’ll notice that all of the companies on the list are extremely successful and well-known, so there must be something there, right?

Nordstrom

Nordstrom is a company that joined the social selling wave very early. It was one of the first companies to see its value and make it a part of its sales strategy.

The company started with social selling back in 2013 by posting its products on Pinterest. Now, 10 years later, its Pinterest account has 5 million followers and over 10 million viewers a month. So, with social selling, Nordstrom managed to expand its brand visibility. Also, now, whenever the company posts something new on Pinterest, it’ll know that a few million people will see it and know about it.

Coca-Cola

We’ve all seen at least one of Coca-Cola’s ads on TV. We’ve also seen the Coca-Cola bottles that have people’s names written on the label. Also, most of us have both a bottle like that at least once in our lives.

And even though the names-on-the-label campaign isn’t solely based on social media, it is one of the most successful examples of how a company can use social media best practices to boost sales. But why is this even considered a social selling best practice?

Well, the way Coca-Cola marketed these bottles was that buyers should go to their local store, find a bottle with their name, and brag about it on social media. Also, the company frequently shared stories and posts that it was tagged in by people who managed to find a bottle with their name.

All in all, this was an ingenious way to boost sales and boost the brand’s engagement on social media through the roof. But that wasn’t all.

Once Coca-Cola realized how much people liked the whole name-on-the-label shtick, it opened an eCommerce store where people could order bottles with specific names. Also, it created a site where you can create a virtual bottle and share it on social media.

Starbucks

Like Nordstrom, Starbucks also started social selling a long time ago. Namely, the company has been running a Facebook eCommerce store for 10 years now. Also, by using social selling best practices to its advantage, it has run many different successful social campaigns over the years.

We can’t go over all the social selling campaigns that Starbucks has made. However, we’ll share one of them that we feel is the perfect representation of how you should use social media and social selling to your advantage.

Maybe you remember, maybe you don’t, but there was a time when people were obsessed with the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. This drink took the Internet by storm. People from all over wanted to show their social media followers that they’ve tried the drink or that they drink it daily. And what did Starbucks do?

It capitalized on this frenzy further by creating a special Facebook group called the Leaf Rakers Society. People went crazy over this and joined the group in the thousands. It pushed the pumpkin spice craze even further, boosting the company’s sales to new heights.

As you can see, using social selling best practices properly is a game-changer. It can boost your sales. It can increase your profits. Also, it can turn you into a globally-recognized company over night!

Last Words on Social Selling Best Practices

Social selling with LinkedIn can open many doors for you and your business. There’s a reason why so many businesses, individuals, recruiters, and others use it and swear by it.

It is a great platform filled with people looking for the next big business idea and eager to meet new people and establish new partnerships. And by following the social selling best practices we’ve provided in this article, you’ll get your LinkedIn profile off the ground and flourishing in no time.

So, don’t waste any more time and join the hot trend as soon as possible! We are sure that you won’t regret it.