Terms

Social Selling

Social selling is the practice of using social media platforms to find, connect with, and nurture relationships with potential customers. Instead of relying on direct sales pitches, this strategy focuses on listening to audience conversations and establishing value to build trust. The ultimate goal is to become a go-to resource, making your brand the natural choice when a prospect is ready to make a purchase.

Benefits of Social Selling

Social selling helps sales teams build stronger, more authentic relationships with prospects. By engaging in genuine conversations, you can understand customer needs on a deeper level. This approach builds trust and establishes your brand as a valuable resource, making you the natural choice when a purchase decision is made.

This strategy allows for laser-focused prospecting, connecting you with the people most likely to buy. Sales reps who use social selling consistently outperform their peers who rely on traditional outreach. It drives activity across the entire sales funnel, from lead generation to closing deals, ultimately boosting revenue.

Strategies for Effective Social Selling

Effective social selling hinges on building authentic relationships rather than pushing a hard sell. It involves a strategic blend of listening, engaging, and providing value to your target audience. By positioning yourself as a trusted advisor, you can guide prospects through their buying journey.

  • Listening: Monitor conversations to understand customer needs and identify sales opportunities.
  • Engaging: Participate in relevant groups and discussions to build organic connections and credibility.
  • Content: Share valuable, educational content to establish yourself as a thought leader.
  • Nurturing: Focus on building long-term relationships by providing consistent value and support.

Social Selling vs. Social Commerce

While both leverage social media for sales, social selling and social commerce serve distinct strategic purposes.

  • Social Selling: This strategy focuses on building long-term relationships to nurture leads, making it ideal for complex B2B sales cycles common in enterprise and mid-market companies. It establishes trust over time but requires a significant investment in relationship management and may not yield immediate returns.
  • Social Commerce: This approach prioritizes immediate, direct transactions within social platforms, shortening the sales cycle. It is better suited for B2C products or services with a lower consideration threshold, capitalizing on impulse buys rather than fostering deep customer relationships.

Tools and Platforms for Social Selling

The right technology stack is crucial for scaling social selling efforts effectively. These tools help automate repetitive tasks, provide valuable insights into customer behavior, and streamline the entire process from prospecting to closing deals.

  • Platforms: Social networks like LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook are the primary arenas for engagement.
  • Listening: Specialized tools monitor keywords and brand mentions to uncover sales opportunities and track sentiment.
  • CRMs: Customer Relationship Management systems integrate social data to provide a holistic view of each prospect.
  • Engagement: Dashboards help manage content, schedule posts, and engage with multiple prospects efficiently.
  • Analytics: Dedicated tools track key metrics, measure campaign ROI, and provide data to refine your strategy.

Measuring Success in Social Selling

Measuring the success of social selling requires looking beyond direct sales figures. It involves tracking metrics that reflect relationship quality and influence over time. Key performance indicators help quantify the impact of your efforts on the sales pipeline.

  • Index: LinkedIn's Social Selling Index (SSI) measures your effectiveness at building your professional brand and relationships.
  • Engagement: Monitor metrics like likes, comments, and shares to see how your content resonates with prospects.
  • Pipeline: Track the number of qualified leads and new opportunities generated through your social selling efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions about Social Selling

How is social selling different from social media marketing?

Social selling focuses on one-on-one relationship building with specific prospects to drive sales conversations. Social media marketing, on the other hand, broadcasts messages to a wider audience to generate brand awareness and leads at a broader scale.

How much time should I dedicate to social selling?

Consistency is more important than duration. Dedicate 20-30 minutes daily to engage with your network, share valuable content, and listen to industry conversations. This focused, regular effort builds momentum and establishes your presence effectively.

Do I need a large following to be successful?

No, the quality of your network is far more important than its size. Focus on building genuine connections with a targeted group of relevant prospects and industry leaders. Meaningful engagement with a smaller audience yields better results.

Other terms

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Signaling

Signaling is using credible actions to convey information about quality or intent to a less-informed party, effectively building trust.

Signaling

Sales Enablement Platform

A sales enablement platform centralizes content, training, and analytics to help sales teams engage buyers and effectively close deals.

Sales Enablement Platform

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.

Demand Generation

Account-Based Advertising

Account-based advertising is a hyper-focused B2B strategy that targets key accounts with personalized ads across multiple channels.

Account-Based Advertising

Upsell

Upselling is a sales tactic encouraging customers to purchase a higher-end version of a product or related add-ons to boost revenue.

Upsell

Customer Retention Rate

Customer Retention Rate (CRR) is the metric that measures the percentage of customers a company has kept over a specific period of time.

Customer Retention Rate

Sales Forecast Accuracy

Sales forecast accuracy is a key metric that compares your predicted sales revenue against the actual sales revenue you ultimately achieve.

Sales Forecast Accuracy

CI/CD

CI/CD, or Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery, automates software builds, tests, and deployments for faster, more reliable releases.

CI/CD

Sales Territory

A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.

Sales Territory

Progressive Web Apps

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that look and feel like native mobile apps, offering features like offline access and push notifications.

Progressive Web Apps

Digital Rights Management

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is technology that controls access to copyrighted digital content, restricting its use, modification, and distribution.

Digital Rights Management

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.

Customer Data Platform (CDP)

CRM Data

CRM data is the information businesses use to manage customer relationships. It covers contact details, purchase history, and communication logs.

CRM Data

Voice Broadcasting

Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.

Voice Broadcasting

OAuth

OAuth is an open standard for access delegation. It lets you grant apps access to your data on other services without sharing your password.

OAuth

Revenue Forecasting

Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.

Revenue Forecasting

Trigger Marketing

Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.

Trigger Marketing

Lead Scrape

Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.

Lead Scrape

BAB Formula

Learn about BAB formula, including implementing BAB in sales strategies, crafting an effective BAB pitch, & comparing BAB with other sales frameworks.

BAB Formula

Marketing Qualified Account

A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is a target company that has shown significant engagement, indicating it's ready for the sales team to pursue.

Marketing Qualified Account

Messaging Strategy

A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.

Messaging Strategy

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.

Employee Engagement

Request for Proposal

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document that outlines a project's needs and invites qualified vendors to submit bids to complete it.

Request for Proposal

Interactive Voice Response

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated phone system that uses voice and keypad inputs to interact with callers and route their calls.

Interactive Voice Response

Closing Ratio

Closing ratio is a key sales metric that shows the percentage of leads or proposals that result in a successful sale.

Closing Ratio

AI-Powered Marketing

AI marketing uses artificial intelligence to analyze data, automate decisions, and deliver personalized customer experiences at scale.

AI-Powered Marketing

Data Appending

Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.

Data Appending

B2B Buyer Intent Data

Learn about B2B buyer intent data, including sources and types of buyer intent data, & key benefits of leveraging buyer intent data.

B2B Buyer Intent Data

DMP

A Data Management Platform (DMP) is a tech platform used to collect and manage data, mainly for digital marketing and advertising campaigns.

DMP

Account-Based Everything

Account-Based Everything (ABE) is a strategy aligning sales, marketing, and success teams to focus on a specific set of high-value accounts.

Account-Based Everything

Funnel Optimization

Funnel optimization is the process of improving each stage of the customer journey to maximize conversions and drive revenue growth.

Funnel Optimization

Statement of Work

A Statement of Work (SoW) is a document that outlines a project's scope, deliverables, and timeline. It acts as a contract between parties.

Statement of Work

Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy is the promotion of an organization by its staff members, who share positive messages and content through their personal networks.

Employee Advocacy

Outbound Leads

Outbound leads are potential customers a business proactively contacts through outreach like cold calls, emails, or social media.

Outbound Leads

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Subject Matter Expert

A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is an individual with profound knowledge and authority in a particular area, topic, or industry.

Subject Matter Expert

Applicant Tracking System

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.

Applicant Tracking System

Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.

Net Promoter Score

Escalations

Escalations are the process of moving a customer issue or sales opportunity to a more senior or specialized team member for resolution.

Escalations

Private Labeling

Private labeling is when a company rebrands a product made by a third-party manufacturer and sells it as their own.

Private Labeling

Subscription Models

Subscription models are a business strategy where customers pay a recurring fee at regular intervals for access to a product or service.

Subscription Models

Site Retargeting

Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.

Site Retargeting

Precision Targeting

Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.

Precision Targeting

Sales Champion

A sales champion is your internal advocate at a target company. They believe in your product and help you push the deal forward to close.

Sales Champion

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Marketing Mix

Sales Key Performance Indicators

Sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable metrics used to measure how effectively a sales team is achieving its key objectives.

Sales Key Performance Indicators

Drip Campaign

A drip campaign is a series of automated messages sent to prospects or customers over time to nurture leads and drive engagement.

Drip Campaign

Email Verification

Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.

Email Verification

Content Management System

A Content Management System (CMS) is software for creating, managing, and modifying website content without needing specialized technical skills.

Content Management System

SQL

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard language for managing and querying data within relational databases.

SQL

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a premium tool helping sales teams find and engage with the right leads and accounts on the LinkedIn network.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Real-time Data Processing

Real-time data processing is the method of analyzing data the instant it's generated, enabling immediate actions and decision-making.

Real-time Data Processing

User Interface

A User Interface (UI) is the point where humans and computers interact. It encompasses all visual elements like screens, icons, and buttons.

User Interface

Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.

Lead Nurturing

Sales Rep Training

Sales rep training is the process of equipping your sales team with the skills, knowledge, and tools to effectively sell and hit their targets.

Sales Rep Training

Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel is a model illustrating the path potential customers take, from initial awareness to making a purchase.

Marketing Funnel

Cloud-based CRM

A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.

Cloud-based CRM

Email Personalization

Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.

Email Personalization

Proof of Concept

A Proof of Concept (PoC) is a small exercise to test whether a business idea or project is technically feasible and has real-world potential.

Proof of Concept

Request for Information

A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers before issuing a more detailed proposal.

Request for Information

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Inbound leads

Inbound leads are potential customers who proactively reach out after finding your business through content, social media, or search.

Inbound leads

Product Champion

A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.

Product Champion

Ramp Up Time

Ramp-up time is the period a new hire takes to get fully up to speed and become a productive member of your go-to-market team.

Ramp Up Time

Bottom of the Funnel

Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.

Bottom of the Funnel

CRM Integration

CRM integration connects your CRM software with other tools, creating a unified system for all your customer data and business processes.

CRM Integration

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Data-driven lead generation is the process of using data insights to identify, attract, and convert high-quality leads into customers.

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Field Sales Rep

A field sales representative, or outside sales rep, travels to meet prospects in person, selling products or services directly within their territory.

Field Sales Rep

Stress Testing

Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.

Stress Testing

After-Sales Service

After-sales service is the support provided to customers after they've purchased a product. It includes things like warranties, training, or repairs.

After-Sales Service

Win/Loss Analysis

Win/Loss Analysis is the process of systematically tracking and analyzing the reasons why you win or lose deals with prospective customers.

Win/Loss Analysis

Purchase Buying Stage

The purchase stage is when a buyer has decided on a solution and is ready to buy. They're comparing vendors to make a final choice.

Purchase Buying Stage

Content Rights Management

Content Rights Management involves controlling the use and distribution of copyrighted digital media to protect intellectual property.

Content Rights Management

Sales Intelligence Platform

A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.

Sales Intelligence Platform

Responsive Design

Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.

Responsive Design

Application Programming Interface Security

API security is the practice of protecting application programming interfaces from attacks, preventing data breaches and unauthorized access.

Application Programming Interface Security

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Sales and marketing alignment means both teams work in sync, sharing goals and data to boost lead quality, conversions, and company revenue.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Prospecting

Prospecting is the process of identifying potential customers, or prospects, to build a sales pipeline and generate new business opportunities.

Prospecting

Target Account Selling

Target Account Selling is a focused sales strategy where teams identify and pursue a specific list of high-value accounts.

Target Account Selling

Compliance Testing

Compliance testing ensures a product or system adheres to specific regulations, standards, or policies set by governing bodies or organizations.

Compliance Testing

Product Qualified Lead

A Product Qualified Lead (PQL) is a user who has experienced a product's value, signaling a strong potential to convert to a paid customer.

Product Qualified Lead

Draw on Sales Commission

A draw on commission is an advance payment a salesperson receives against future earnings, which is later repaid from earned commissions.

Draw on Sales Commission

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, offering insights into user behavior and marketing effectiveness.

Google Analytics

Sales Partnerships

Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.

Sales Partnerships

Rollback Procedures

Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.

Rollback Procedures

Consumer

A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.

Consumer

Sales Stack

A sales stack is the suite of tech tools—from CRMs to prospecting software—that sales reps use to close deals faster and more efficiently.

Sales Stack

Electronic Signatures

An electronic signature is a digital method for getting consent on electronic documents. It's a legally binding way to sign agreements online.

Electronic Signatures

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Total Addressable Market (TAM) represents the maximum revenue a company can earn by selling its product or service in a specific market.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Conversion Path

A conversion path is the journey a visitor takes to complete a desired goal, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing.

Conversion Path

Application Performance Management

Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.

Application Performance Management

Sales Manager

A Sales Manager leads a sales team, setting goals, analyzing performance, and developing strategies to drive revenue and meet targets.

Sales Manager

Dark Social

Dark social is the sharing of content through private channels like messaging apps or email. This traffic is hard to track as it lacks referral data.

Dark Social

Programmatic Display Campaign

Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.

Programmatic Display Campaign

Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a model illustrating the customer's journey from initial awareness to the final purchase, narrowing down leads at each stage.

Sales Funnel

Cold Emailing

Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.

Cold Emailing

AI Data Enrichment

AI data enrichment uses artificial intelligence to automatically enhance and update raw data, making it more complete, accurate, and valuable.

AI Data Enrichment

Soft Sell

A soft sell is a low-pressure sales tactic that uses subtle persuasion and relationship-building to gently guide customers toward a purchase.

Soft Sell

Sales Presentation

A sales presentation is a formal pitch by a salesperson to a prospective customer, showcasing a product or service to secure a sale.

Sales Presentation

B2B Sales Process

Learn about B2B sales process, including key components of B2B sales processes, & crafting an effective B2B sales strategy.

B2B Sales Process