Does social media sell and how? All about social selling

The “Death of B2B Salesman” report, which was compiled by Forrester, says that salespeople are likely to be replaced by e-commerce solutions in the near future. Those who studied the phenomenon at the time estimated that with 2020, customers in the United States will abandon traditional shopping accompanied by contact with a salesperson and turn to modern solutions. But did their estimates turn out to be correct? In 2022, it is true that a sizable portion of Americans are shopping online, but they have not completely abandoned the traditional trip to the store.

Social selling-what is it and how does it relate to the predictions of the time?

The explanation of the term is nothing complicated, translating it into our language, it is nothing more than building relationships and trust of the target customer group on social media. The predictions that were made at the time were characterized by a great extreme, which strongly emphasized that it would dominate a certain trend in e-commerce. Customers, especially B2B ones, are increasingly informed individuals. A sizable percentage of people therefore decide to purchase an item or service even before any contact with the seller. CEB Global claims that such people account for up to 67% of buying customers.

Social selling, and social media marketing-similarities and differences

Social media marketing is a direction that focuses on increasing brand awareness, promoting a particular product and services. Thus, in order for social media marketing to function properly, content is created that is of great value, and then the goal is to share it in front of users so that it reaches as many people as possible who may be potential customers.

Social selling is the building of relationships with customers, which uses social media to interact directly with them. It is a direction that focuses primarily on positive relationships. It uses other tools and methods of operation, so which ones?

• Social selling relies on creating a relationship between the salesman and the customer. It is important for the salesman to know the principles of customer experience
• Gives confident suggestions
• It answers questions that are often posed by customers.

Emotional selling-a very important element

Even the best products or services require the presence of a person who is an expert in the field, why? Consumers very often have many questions, such a person willingly and reliably answers them, thus creating a dialogue with the customer. Therefore, it is difficult to replace the physical presence of a salesman.

Research shows that as many as 82% of B2B customers are guided by their emotions when shopping. Customers themselves admit that they purchased a product and service because of the content that was published on social media by its seller. Hence the great importance of influencers; it is not uncommon for people to buy something just because a well-known person has put on and tagged the item. linkedin even made the observation that B2B customers are five times more likely to contact a sales rep who portrays a particular business or industry in a different light than the rest. Sales representatives who use social media for their work record much higher sales results.

Effective selling-what does it consist of?

The sales that have the greatest effectiveness are those that do not sell a product or service immediately. It is worth remembering that customers do not like to be sold or offered something by force, but buying is often among their favorite activities. Social selling is therefore a sure way to achieve success.