10 Best social selling strategies: How to sell on social media

Learning how to sell on social media is no longer an option, it’s a necessity for any business looking to succeed in today’s digital landscape. 

Billions of people use social media every day. This means, you HAVE an audience just waiting for what you have to offer and some may already be looking!

By using effective social selling strategies, you can turn those likes and shares into real sales. 

In this blog, we’ll dive into the 10 best social selling strategies that you can use to master the art of selling on social media and grow.

Quick Summary 

For a quick summary, here are the best social selling strategies:

1. Reach the right audience 
2. Build an online community 
3. Emphasize storytelling 
4. Educate your audience
5. Practice social listening 
6. Provide value and a solution

In today’s digital marketing climate, there is no one thing that will get results on its own and you should combine all of the below that suits your needs specifically, you can see this video for a step-by-step process if you want to see exactly how selling online will work for you.

How can I sell on social media without being salesy?

1. Ensure your social media presence is trustworthy

Picture this: You come across a fascinating social media post that piques your interest. It’s so intriguing that you can’t help but click on the profile of its origin. However, what you find on their page is disappointing – outdated content, low-quality visuals, and sporadic posting. 

Did you act on their call-to-action? Me neither. In fact, I have not thought about them since until now as I use it as an example!

As in real life, your first impression matters when selling socially. With so many people begging for our attention online, we want to do further research on a product before buying, and the first step is looking at who is selling to us. 

You can make sure your social media presence is trustworthy by having good-quality photos, media, and frequently updated posts – this gives the audience a sense that someone is actually on the other end of the content. 

Pros:

• A trustworthy social media presence can lead to increased engagement and sales.
• Good quality media and consistent posting can establish credibility and authority in your industry.
• A strong online presence can help build relationships and opportunities to sell on social media.

Cons:

• Outdated or low-quality content can erode trust with your audience.
• Sporadic posting can give the impression of unreliability or lack of dedication.
• A poorly managed social media presence can harm your reputation and credibility.

2. Reach the right audience

Social media has practically slammed the door shut and hung up the phone on the need for cold selling or even cold emailing.

As shown in my free training video, social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok can provide you with a large warm audience that may already be searching for your services. And, you can do this organically too. 

When it comes to reaching your desired audience organically on social media, there are several strategies you can use. Firstly, using relevant keywords and hashtags in your posts can help them appear in relevant searches and reach a wider audience. Additionally, engaging with industry-related content by liking, commenting, and sharing posts can help you build relationships with other accounts in your niche and increase your visibility. 

Another factor to consider is your “off-social-media” content i.e, your website – Optimizing your website’s SEO and encouraging interactions with your social media pages can help you build a relevant audience and create a snowball effect over time.

Pros:

• Social media provides access to a large warm audience that may already be interested in your services
• You can reach your desired audience organically through various strategies like using relevant keywords and hashtags, engaging with industry-related content, and optimizing your website’s SEO
• Building relationships with other accounts in your niche can increase your visibility

Cons:

• Takes time to reach the audience

3. Build an online community

Once you have reached your target audience, you want to start building a community with your brand at its center. 

Building an online community is a powerful way to create deeper connections with your audience and cultivate a sense of belonging. By providing value, engaging with your audience, and fostering conversation, you can establish yourself as an authority in your niche and develop a loyal following. This, in turn, can lead to increased brand awareness, trust, and, ultimately, more sales.

For example, let’s say you’re a financial advisor looking to sell your services to seniors. By building an online community (such as a Facebook page) around financial literacy, you can create a space where your audience can connect with like-minded individuals, share their struggles and successes, and seek guidance from you as an expert. 

This positions you as a trusted authority, and your community members will be more likely to consider you when reaching out for help in achieving their financial goals. 

Pros:

• Builds brand awareness and trust with your target audience
• Provides an opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your niche and develop a loyal following
• Facilitates deeper connections and conversations with your audience

Cons:

• Building an online community takes time and effort
• It can be challenging to attract and retain a dedicated following
• It requires consistent engagement and content creation to maintain momentum

4. Emphasize story-telling

The act of understanding alone does not necessarily lead to a purchase; rather, when we feel truly understood, we are more likely to make a buying decision. You can evoke this feeling by using storytelling when socially selling. 

Using storytelling in your social media content can help you sell socially to your audience by painting a picture of their problems and how your products or services can solve them. 

Creating a narrative around your brand can evoke emotions, build trust, and drive sales. For example, instead of pitching your product’s benefits, tell a story of how they have solved a relatable problem for a client. 

Through storytelling, you can make your brand more human and appeal to your audience’s emotions, translating into increased engagement and sales. 

Pros:

• Storytelling can create an emotional connection with your audience, leading to increased engagement and trust
• It can help to paint a picture of your audience’s problems and demonstrate how your products or services can solve them
• Storytelling can make your brand more relatable and human, which can lead to increased brand loyalty

Cons:

• Crafting compelling stories can be time-consuming and require a lot of creativity

5. Use Video

Video is the window we all look for, offering a sneak peek behind the curtain into the world of a brand. And with the rise of social media, video has become a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their audience and sell socially.

By incorporating video into your social media strategy, you can showcase your products and services in a way that resonates with your audience. Video offers a dynamic and engaging way to tell your brand’s story, demonstrate your expertise, and establish a personal connection with your viewers. There are also many AI video tools out there to help you edit if this is not your strong suit. 

As discussed in my free training video, video content has been shown to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales. 

Most social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, favor video over other content. Their algorithms are more likely to push this style of content, so when you utilize video in your social media strategy, you are more likely to be trusted and seen. 

Pros:

• Video content provides a dynamic and engaging way to showcase products and services, tell a brand’s story, demonstrate expertise, and establish a personal connection with viewers.
• Social media algorithms favor video content, making it more likely to be pushed and seen by a wider audience.
• Video has been shown to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and ultimately drive sales.

Cons:

• Producing high-quality video content can be time-consuming and expensive.
• Poorly produced or uninteresting videos can actually harm a brand’s reputation and decrease engagement.

6. Don’t sleep on social media trends

Keeping up with social media trends is critical to staying relevant in today’s fast-paced digital world. 

It’s not enough to post content on social media and hope for the best. To succeed in selling on social media, you need to pay attention to the latest trends and adapt your strategy accordingly.

By staying on top of social media trends, you can identify new opportunities for engagement and growth and potential threats to your brand’s reputation.

Additionally, with new social media platforms emerging, staying informed and exploring them to see if they can help you reach a new audience and expand your social selling efforts is essential.

Pros:

• Staying up-to-date with social media trends can help you remain relevant and effectively engage with your target audience.
• Being aware of the latest social media trends can help you identify new opportunities to grow your social media following and reach new customers.
• Exploring new social media platforms can provide additional opportunities to sell your products or services and expand your reach.

Cons:

• Following trends too closely can lead to losing sight of your brand’s unique value proposition and messaging.
• Constantly adapting to new trends can be challenging and may require significant trial and error before you see results.

7. Educate your audience 

By sharing your expertise and knowledge about your niche, you can establish yourself as a thought leader and build trust with your audience.

Educational content also allows you to showcase the benefits and value of your products or services subtly. Instead of directly pitching your offerings, you can demonstrate how they can solve your audience’s problems or meet their needs through informative content. 

This can lead to increased engagement, brand awareness, and sales.

Pros:

• Creating educational content establishes you as an expert in your field.
• Educational content can attract a wider audience, including those who may not have been initially interested in your product or service but are seeking information or solutions to a problem.
• Educational content has a longer lifespan than promotional content, as it can continue to provide value and drive traffic to your website or social media accounts over time.

Cons:

• Creating educational content can be time-consuming and require a significant investment of resources, particularly if you want to produce high-quality, in-depth content.
• Educational content may not directly lead to immediate sales, as it is focused on providing value and building relationships with your audience rather than direct promotion.
• Educational content can attract competitors and potentially contribute to market saturation, making it more challenging to stand out and attract attention from your audience.

8. Get involved with your audience

Engagement with your audience is key to successful social selling – we live in the era of peer-to-peer engagement and personalization.  

By creating meaningful connections with your audience, you can establish trust and position yourself as an authority in your niche.

Respond to comments, answer questions, and participate in conversations related to your industry. This shows your audience that you care about their opinions and are invested in their success.

The benefits of this are not just charitable – by actively engaging with your audience, you can gain valuable insights into their pain points and needs. This information can be used to tailor your social selling strategy and create more targeted content and offers that resonate with your audience.

As I mentioned in my free masterclass, you can leverage social media to get predictable appointments, and engaging with your audience is a must.

Pros:

• Increased engagement builds trust and credibility, leading to more sales and loyal customers
• Audience engagement can help you tailor your products or services to meet their needs
• Community building leads to increased brand awareness and referrals

Cons:

• Engaging with your audience can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.
• Negative feedback or criticism can damage your brand’s reputation.
• Over-reliance on engagement can lead to neglecting other aspects of social selling.

9. Practice social listening

Social listening is a powerful tool for businesses looking to sell socially on social media platforms. 

By monitoring and analyzing conversations about your brand, industry, and competitors, you can gain valuable insights into your audience’s needs and preferences. You can identify pain points, address customer complaints, and provide personalized solutions. 

It’s essential to provide value and solve a problem for your audience. This is where social listening comes in handy, allowing you to gather data and insights to inform your content strategy and help you create valuable, educational content that resonates with your audience.

Pros:

• Helps businesses understand their audience’s needs and preferences.
• Allows for personalized solutions to customer complaints and pain points.
• Helps inform content strategy and creation of valuable, educational content.

Cons:

• Social listening can be time-consuming (are you seeing a trend here?) and requires dedicated resources to do it effectively. 

10. Provide value and a solution

When selling on social media, shifting your mindset from sales-focused to customer-focused will bring your ideal end result to fruition.

Instead of thinking about how to sell your product or service, think about how you can genuinely solve a problem for your community and provide value in every interaction with your brand.

The key is to build trust and credibility with your audience by being authentic, transparent and focused on their needs. By focusing on the customer experience and adding value at every touchpoint, you can create a loyal community of customers who will buy from you and refer others to your brand.

Remember, it’s not about the hard sell but building relationships and solving problems. See my free training video for more on providing value and using social media to sell.

In Conclusion

Mastering social selling is essential for businesses looking to stay competitive in today’s digital landscape. 

Using the 10 social selling strategies outlined above, you can build a strong brand presence on social media, connect with your target audience, and ultimately drive sales.

From creating engaging content to practicing social listening, each of these strategies play a crucial role in creating a successful social selling strategy. 

Remember, once you finally see the picture in your mind, all of this will fall in line and become intuitive – be sure to watch my free masterclass if you are more of a visual learner or want to examine further how you can leverage social media to its maximum capacity. 

FAQs

What is social selling? 

Social selling is all about using social media to build relationships with potential customers and sell products or services. It involves leveraging social media channels to identify, engage, and connect with prospects and customers, to build trust, establish credibility, and nurture relationships over time.

To succeed at social selling, sales professionals must focus on providing value, sharing educational content, and engaging in two-way conversations with their audience. This helps build strong relationships, establish credibility, and ultimately lead to more sales opportunities.

Overall, when selling on social media, adopting social selling is a very important way of selling as opposed to cold pitching. 

Can you sell on social media without paid ads?

Absolutely! Selling on social media without paid ads is possible using a social selling technique. You can build a strong brand presence, create engaging content, and establish relationships with your audience to generate sales organically.

By providing value to your followers, you can build a loyal audience that trusts your brand and is more likely to purchase from you. Social media is an excellent platform to offer exclusive deals, share user-generated content, and provide excellent customer service. With a social selling technique, you can leverage these strategies to increase your sales without relying on paid advertising.

What is the best social media platform for selling? 

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The best social media platform for selling depends on the nature of your business, target audience, and overall marketing strategy. Each social media platform has unique features, strengths, and limitations, which may make it more or less suitable for certain types of businesses.

That said, some social media platforms are more commonly used for selling than others. For example, Facebook and Instagram are popular platforms for e-commerce businesses, as they offer robust advertising options and a large user base. Conversely, LinkedIn is a powerful platform for B2B sales, as it allows businesses to connect with decision-makers and build relationships with potential customers.

Ultimately, the best social media platform for selling will depend on your business needs and goals. It is important to consider your target audience, the type of products or services you offer, and each platform’s unique features and capabilities when deciding where to focus your social media efforts.