Social selling: how to use LinkedIn to increase your BtoB sales?

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Thanks to the Internet, your customers can find all the information they need about your products or services. This means that they can decide to buy before even meeting a salesperson. These new consumer habits require companies to adapt. Digital transformation is becoming essential to remain competitive and meet your customers' expectations. This involves developing high-performance digital tools, such as your website , but also adapting your sales pitch and practices. Search engines and social networks have, in fact, transformed the way you approach your customers and communicate with them, including in BtoB. It is in this context that social selling is developing.

What is social selling?
The term "social selling" appeared in 2009 in academic work. It refers to the use of social networks in a commercial prospecting approach . It was the social network LinkedIn that, in 2013, democratized this notion by using it to promote its " Sales solutions " offer . This consists of taking advantage of a user's contacts to transform them into a sales force. This is why social selling is so associated with LinkedIn and BtoB sales in particular.

LinkedIn is the main social network used by professionals and has established itself as a relevant solution to integrate into an inbound marketing strategy. By developing specific tools to meet the needs of salespeople laos telegram data become one of the preferred channels for searching for leads and expanding a BtoB customer portfolio .

The social network allows salespeople to search for prospects, but also to collect a multitude of information about them. You have access to their journey and their interests; you can follow their publications, share them or comment on them. Thanks to this data, you can not only better target your prospects , but above all personalize the message and sales pitch that you send them. Making contact is easier and your potential customers are more sensitive to it than to a generic email.

All of this information can positively impact the customer relationship you are looking to create. So, we explain how to use LinkedIn to implement a successful social selling strategy and increase your B2B sales.

1. Optimize your LinkedIn profile to attract prospects
Optimizing your professional profile on LinkedIn is the first step to attracting prospects. It is important to work on it carefully, because it is one of the first “impressions” that your interlocutor will have of you.

Your LinkedIn profile should embody the brand you represent. It’s not just a resume—you should highlight what your buyers want to know about you and your company. In short, your profile should contain the information you would present on a meeting.

You practice social selling, and your clients practice “ social buying ”. They use search engines and social networks to find service providers. This is why your profile must contain relevant keywords , related to your field of activity and your expertise. Placed in the title of your profile and its summary, you multiply the opportunities to appear in LinkedIn search results.

2. Engage in a “social” relationship with your prospects
Thanks to its search tool, LinkedIn allows you to reach a qualified target, according to the profile and sector of activity of your prospects. To start, you can use your marketing personas . Each of them represents an ideal customer, whose characteristics are those of a target group. You can therefore carry out an initial search based on the criteria that interest you (position held, place of work, field of activity, interests, etc.).

If your prospects accept your invitation to "connect", they join your first circle of relations on LinkedIn. Thanks to this, you have access to all the information concerning them. You can communicate with them via the integrated messaging, comment on their publications or share them. From an acquisition perspective, but also from a loyalty perspective, interacting regularly with your prospects must be an integral part of your