Social selling may seem like an oxymoron to many marketers. We are told that a good social media marketing strategy is supposed to focus on building a community not being salesy. Well, yes, that is true but it is also true that a business needs to make a profit to survive; so, that is where the idea of social selling comes in. Social selling is about leveraging and connecting with your online community to reach sales goals.

HubSpot defines social selling as:

“Social selling is when salespeople use social media to interact directly with their prospects. Salespeople will provide value by answering prospect questions and offering thoughtful content until the prospect is ready to buy. Using of social media in sales allows salespeople to delight their prospects rather than interrupt their daily lives with cold calls and hard sells, eventually converting them into loyal customers.” – HubSpot Blog 2014

Impact of Social Selling on BUsinesses

The idea of social selling is no longer just a buzzword; rather, this year we will see many businesses turn their focus towards a social selling business model because of the opportunity for revenue growth. Based on an independent study conducted with over 300 sales professionals by Feedback Systems with insight from Sales for Life, PeopleLinx, Sales Readiness Group, VorsightBP and Sandler Training, 61% of companies that have actively been implementing social selling have seen a positive increase in revenue. The most popular platforms that those sales teams are using for social selling are LinkedIn and Twitter. Not surprisingly, LinkedIn is used by 84.1% of social sellers because of its existing professional networking focus.

For more on social selling, check out the infographic below by Sales for Life. This infographic takes a deep dive into the challenges, trends, and needs for a social selling teams this year.

Source: Sales for Life