Social-selling 101: mastering the art of marketing through LinkedIn Messenger

Did you know that social-selling through LinkedIn could help you see a 45% increase in your sales opportunities? Read on to find out how you too, can social-sell through this amazing platform and hit your sales and marketing targets!

Social-selling through various forms of social media has now become a marketing norm. However, very few people still understand how to do it properly. They seem to think that it is simply spamming people on LinkedIn messenger endlessly to get them to listen to their sales pitch. And that, it is not.

Rather, social-selling refers to the leveraging of your social network to find the right prospects, build strong relationships and boost your sales figures. It is a well-timed process combining social-media marketing and interpersonal skills to create a network of sales opportunities. Alongside creating typical LinkedIn marketing posts for your product on your feed, you reach out to B2C and B2B stakeholders you feel are most likely to buy your product by messaging them.

Thus, how does one social-sell on LinkedIn? Follow these steps and you too can become an ace social-seller.

Step 1: Prospect, prospect, prospect.

There are two ways in which you can do this on LinkedIn:

• Conducting a targeted search for prospects using the search box.
• Tapping into your existing network to gain warm introductions

Social selling is an active process. So your profile needs to be optimized to match. Use keywords that a prospect would use look up your unique offerings; these could be products or services. Since you will be connecting with key decision-makers, do make sure your profile is presentable and credible.

Furthermore, connecting with as many key connections as possible will widen your network and ensure better reach for your marketing posts and campaigns. Using LinkedIn’s Advanced Search function will make your search for more prospects an easier one. Using various combinations of search filters and parameters can help you conduct highly targeted searches that present better-qualified clients for your offerings.

Step 2: Reach out. Make the first contact.   

Upon locating the right prospects and referral partners, you need to initiate the first contact. This starts by you sending a connection request.

Want more people to accept your invites? You probably just need to personalize them a bit more. The text of your connection request is what determines whether your invite is accepted or not.

Here’s a helpful hint: try treating your LinkedIn conversations like a networking event. Opening your message with a name greeting works e.g. “Hi Harry, …”. Given that you only have 300 characters to write your message, make sure to concisely attribute to the following:

• Connections
• Interests
• Their profile
• The content they have shared
• Their company
• Them

Do remember to compliment the person you are engaging, while you’re at it! You don’t want them to click that “ignore” button on your connection request.

Step 3: Engage your contact in dialogue. Build the relationship.

Engage your contact in deeper conversation, so you may develop a closer rapport with them. Dash them a quick welcome message. Offer help and expect nothing in return.

This is important as sending a bunch of sales materials to a contact immediately upon contacting them could put them off from speaking to you further.

Step 4: Move your dialogue offline.

Just sticking to talking on LinkedIn can get one-dimensional after a while. Once you’ve built a good amount of rapport with your LinkedIn contact, moving things to real-life can move things a lot quicker. This is when you should make your sales pitch, if any.

The key takeaway

It is important to remember that sales are a numbers game. This process will not work out perfectly for everyone you meet. Here are a number of reasons why:

• They are not your target market.
• LinkedIn users don’t need what you are offering at the moment.
• They aren’t ready for the solutions you provide them with.
• Your offerings are not their current priority.
• Your messages are not capitative enough. You probably need to rewrite them.

So keep engaging contacts through LinkedIn Messenger and never give up.  Glorious LinkedIn sales success will be yours in no time!

If you are looking to increase your social media presence, then look no further than using our services. Script Consultants is a copywriting and content marketing agency that offers a diverse array of content strategies across mediums, including traditional, digital, and social media. Book a free consultation by emailing us at enquiry@script.com.sg. Also, check out our other blog posts on copywriting here!

Written by: (www.script.com.sg) Edited & Illustrated by: Script Consultants Pte Ltd

Sources:

• https://topdogsocialmedia.com/social-selling-on-linkedin/