Have you heard about how effective social selling is on LinkedIn?
Perhaps you’ve been struggling to get results on LinkedIn or spending too much time with too little of an ROI?
You don’t need to spend hours every day on LinkedIn to be successful at social selling. If you follow a daily routine that only includes those tasks which further your goals, you can quickly and easily generate new leads and build relationships with potential prospects in as little as 30 minutes a day.
A social selling campaign should position you as a credible expert in your field, bring you closer to your target market and move more conversations offline, aka the place where sales actually happen.
There are three prerequisites before starting your social selling campaign:
- A complete, professional and search optimized LinkedIn profile
- A minimum of 3-5 recommendations on your profile
- Join up to 50 LinkedIn groups that your target audience will belong to
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1. Post a Status Update Once a Day
Provide value by sharing quality content every day with your connections. This should be something that will be of value that will help your target market. Doing this regularly will keep you top of mind, plus your posts will become visible to 2nd degree connections and beyond once your network begins engage with them.
2. Search LinkedIn Groups For New Prospects To Connect With
Join LinkedIn Groups that are likely to contain your target audience and actively seek out new connections while reviewing the members of the group. Research the company and individual before you reach out to ensure you create a compelling connection request that’s relevant to their needs.
3. Leverage Your Network For Warm Introductions
Look at 2nd level connections you want to connect with and see which of your 1st level connections can make an introduction. Third party credibility is extremely effective and can give you a significant edge with potential prospects. Leverage it as much as possible.
4. Create Dialogue With All New Connections
Don’t be a stranger. Always reach out to new connections with a personal message after connecting with them. I call this the welcome message and it’s best to keep it pretty simple. Here’s an example of one I’ve used before:
Whatever you do, don’t go in for the pitch on the first message. There’s an old and relevant saying: “Slow down the sale to speed it up.”
5. Schedule Follow Up Reminders
Use LinkedIn’s built-in follow up reminder system so you never forget to follow up again. Set reminders after each message you send to a prospect and watch your conversions increase. Don’t believe me? This is part of a secret 8% of sales people know that helps them get 80% of all sales.
6. Engage In LinkedIn Groups Once a Week (Minimum)
Interact with new people and conversations through LinkedIn Groups to expand your network with targeted prospects. Take some time to answer questions, engage with conversations started by others and share when you have something of value to add to the group.
7. Engage With Content Your Prospects Are Sharing
Scroll through your home feed for opportunities to thoughtfully engage with your connections. See what they are sharing or saying (what is important to your prospects) and engage with their posts in a thoughtful and helpful way. This helps you stay top of mind and become subject matter expert.
8. Follow The Companies of Your Clients & Prospects
Stay current with news involving your clients and prospects to keep in touch with their ongoing needs. Use Newsle to see which of your contacts are being buzzed about in the media and congratulate them where appropriate.
9. Look For Strategic Partners To Connect With
Don’t just connect with prospects; look for people that have potential to form strategic alliances with. These should be people who market to the same people you do, but aren’t your competition. You can refer each other and collaborate to bring added value to both your clients and prospects.
Pro Tip: While size is not everything, there are benefits to having a larger network of contacts on LinkedIn. In particular, you are only visible to people in your 1st, 2nd, and 3rddegree networks or those you share a group with. Having a larger network means more people will be able to find you and you’ll be able to find more people.
10. Publish on LinkedIn Publisher
Publishing original content once per week will increase your exposure, credibility and thought leadership within your industry.
Depending on your writing skills, target market and available time, publishing a post once a week (or even once a month) can add great value to your social selling efforts. This is only advised if you feel confident in your writing skills as poor content will do more damage than good when attached to your name.
Pro Tip: If you are struggling to find topics to write about or lack confidence in your abilities, you can find great infographics that would be valuable to your target market and write a simple post to accompany it. If it suits your target audience, feel free to use the infographic in this post in a LinkedIn Publisher post.
Consistency Is The Key Ingredient
The key factor in any successful social selling campaign is consistency. The same can be said for all forms of digital marketing as well. The reason McDonald’s has been successful with 98% of its restaurants is because you can order a Big Mac in Tokyo and Toronto and you’re going to get a predictable experience.
Being predictable might seem like a negative until you realize that people will come back to you over and over when they know they will continue to get value. That’s the reputation social media marketing and social selling campaigns aim to create.
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Sarah is an aspiring copywriter with an obsession for SEO, Passionate for exploring the new marketing tactics and enjoys reading fiction and contemporary.