„Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t.“

 2021, Seth Godin, US-American author and entrepreneur

Social selling

What is social selling? A definition according to Hootsuite: 

“Social selling is the art of using social media networks to find, contact, understand and nurture prospects. This modern method allows you to build significant relationships with prospects that keep you and your brand top of mind.”

https://blog.hootsuite.com/de/social-selling-richtig-machen/

It is also interesting to see here what social selling is not.

According to Hootsuite, “It’s not about bombarding strangers with unsolicited tweets and private messages – that’s spam.
It’s about building relationships and using social listening strategically to join a conversation at just the right moment and offer yourself as a solution to a current problem.” (End of quote)

From my years of practice, here are some more important premises, additions and misconceptions:

• Without a good foundation in the form of an online marketing strategy, a good website and presence of the company on the appropriate social media platforms, social selling makes no sense. These platforms must also be used intelligently according to an editorial plan and must also be monitored.
• It goes without saying that as many employees as possible are present on LinkedIn, XING and, if applicable, other social media platforms and ideally also network with customers. They can also spread relevant news via their networks. However, overly platitudinous or aggressive product promotion should be avoided at all costs.
• Social selling does not only consist of the LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Facebook. Depending on the industry, other social media channels may be added.
  Tip: Check out where your customers are hanging out.

• And no, B2B companies also benefit from social selling and social media. Facebook and Instagram have long since ceased to be purely B2C platforms.
  However, addressing customers here is already very private and should be well considered. Advertising on social media platforms is worth considering depending on the product/company.

Copyright © 2022 Dipl. Betriebswirt (FH) Georg Dörner – All rights reserved.