B2B Social Media Marketing: How to Drive Success?

Do you know? Nearly 60% of the world’s population actively uses social media. So, leveraging social media to increase sales is more critical than ever. Additionally, this is the essence of social selling.

It is the process of searching, communicating, and interacting with prospects and customers on selected social networks to sell your products/services naturally and non-intrusively.

Social selling is often used in B2B Social Media Marketing selling and means utilizing social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter to create trusted organic connections with potential and existing customers. While cold calling and emails have yet to go away, building a credible presence on business-related social media platforms is key to sales success today.

Let’s look at some of the ways and most profitable practices for leveraging social selling to improve overall B2B Social Media Marketing sales performance and start with the why.

Why Your Business Should Have a Social Selling Strategy?

As a lead generation strategy, social selling can be beneficial. Your sales team should invest much time and effort into social selling.

The numbers back it up.

Numerous studies and reports prove the effectiveness of social selling:

61% of organizations investing in social selling report revenue growth.

Sales teams that use social selling close 40-50% more new deals than those that don’t. According to LinkedIn, 78% of organizations that use social selling outperform those that don’t. A third of B2B Social Media Marketing salespeople say social selling has improved the number of leads they work with. Prospects exposed to companies listed on LinkedIn are 6x more likely to convert. Social selling works when done right.

Build trust and long-term relationships.

Social selling takes a more nurturing approach than the traditional hard-close approach. It’s about more than just looking for quick wins or relying on a single solution. To be successful in social selling, salespeople need to invest time and energy in actively engaging with target buyers, making meaningful connections, and building credibility.

It’s a process that requires patience, consistency, and a real commitment to building relationships for long-term success. By adopting this approach, sales professionals can build a solid foundation of trust and familiarity that paves the way for productive sales conversations and increased chances of conversion.

You know your customers better.

By combining social listening with facilitating meaningful conversations with customers, your sales team can gain valuable insights into your prospects’ motivations. Social selling index goes beyond selling – it’s a powerful market research technique. Social interaction provides valuable information about a customer’s preferences and interests, even if it doesn’t lead to a sale.

With this knowledge, you can develop future marketing campaigns, innovate new product designs, and enhance product messaging to match customer needs. The symbiotic relationship between social selling and market research assigns your brand to achieve data-driven decisions. Also, build stronger customer relationships, and stay ahead of the competition.

4 Tips to Increase Sales Through Social Media

So far, we’ve proven that selling on social media works. The question is, how do you make it work for your business? Here are four essential social selling tips for increasing sales through social media.

Create Compelling Content for Social Selling

For every aspect of the sales workflow, personalized content (quick tips, experience-backed recommendations, infographics, swirls, surveys, and short videos) is the fuel that moves things forward. Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are great for positioning your brand as a trusted expert in your industry by sharing valuable insights and educational content. Below is a great example of an educational carousel post.

Treat each post as a two-way communication channel – respond promptly to comments, questions, and concerns. Facilitate conversations and engage with people to create meaningful relationships and build trust. You can (and should) share content created by others (in line with your brand) to show your commitment to delivering value.

When planning your social content calendar, ensure each piece fits your sales goals and has a compelling call to action, including visiting your website, downloading a magnet, or signing up for a free trial.

Participate in dedicated stakeholder groups.

Whether improving your profile or posting great content on LinkedIn, turning insights into sales ultimately depends on connecting with the right people.

Consider joining relevant LinkedIn groups that match your industry or target audience. For example, if you sell graphic design software, search for and join a group just for graphic designers.

By joining a niche group, you will reach a community of like-minded professionals more likely to engage with and show interest in your brand. This presents a valuable opportunity to make meaningful connections and expand your network in your desired market.

When participating in group discussions, take the opportunity to contribute valuable ideas. However, avoid using groups exclusively as a platform to promote your products or services.

Unsolicited sales-oriented comments, such as spam calls or emails, frustrate group members. Instead, aim to start a conversation meaningfully or observe and learn from the other person’s perspective. By genuinely participating, you build credibility and build relationships within your community. Remember, genuine interaction is key to positively impacting group discussions. Employing LinkedIn Groups can greatly increase your chances of connecting with individuals with the potential to drive sales and grow your brand.

Share customer success stories.

Social proof posting is essential to social selling – customer testimonials, reviews and ratings, case studies, and more.

When you emphasize the positive experience of satisfied customers and the outcomes your brand helps them achieve, you build trust among potential buyers. These success stories are real testimonials of the value and effectiveness of your product or service.

By showing how customers can achieve their goals or solve their problems with the help of your solution. You can create an ambitious and relatable narrative that resonates with your followers, who may share their product experience. Wait and see attitude. Potential clients can put themselves in the shoes of these successful customers and envision how they could achieve the same success.

Customer success stories encourage engagement because when customers see the stories. They become brand advocates when they share, helping spread the word about your business and its products across their networks. This expands your reach and visibility, leading to more leads and conversions.

Invest in the right tools.

Regarding B2B Social Media Marketing selling, LinkedIn and Twitter have built-in tools. For example, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a suite of tools from LinkedIn that helps salespeople target the right customers and personalize their communications. It offers a Social Selling Index (SSI) dashboard that shows how effective you are at building your brand, finding the right leads, and building professional relationships.

Tools For Social Media Marketing 

Here are some handpicked third-party tools that can help you sell better on social media:

Oktopost:

Oktopost.com is a social media management platform for B2B Social Media marketers. It provides a comprehensive set of features and tools to help companies effectively manage their social media presence, engage with target audiences, and measure the impact of their social media campaigns.

Seismic:

Seismic.com is a social selling platform that makes it easy to activate sellers on social channels and build trust and relationships at scale. The tool empowers sales and marketing professionals with customer engagement through a continuously updated library of trusted, high-quality third-party content. It uses artificial intelligence to curate relevant content for each seller and allows them to share and measure their efforts and tie them to revenue generation.

Vidyard:

Vidyard.com allows you to create and share personalized videos throughout the sales cycle easily. It offers a range of distribution and sharing options. Plus, it allows companies to publish videos on various platforms, embed them on websites, and share them on social media. The platform integrates with popular marketing automation and CRM systems, enabling seamless video integration into existing sales workflows.

Final thoughts

In today’s digital age, social media has revolutionized how businesses communicate with customers. In addition to its role as a platform for engagement and brand awareness, social media has become a powerful tool for increasing sales. The convergence of social media and sales (aka social selling) opens up new ways for companies like yours to reach and influence their target audience.

With billions of active users across various social media platforms, your brand can tap into a wide range of existing and potential customers and reach them more personally and meaningfully. Overall, effective social selling through the strategies above allows your sales team to harness the power of social media to build relationships, build trust, and ultimately generate more sales.