How to boost your social selling on Linkedln

A recent meeting of the Strasbourg Press Club featured a talk on social selling on LinkedIn by Cécile JAMELOT, a specialist in the subject. Social selling is an approach which sets out to drive and create new business through social networks. LinkedIn, which started off simply as a social network for businesspeople, has gradually turned into a platform for generating sales leads and offering B2B services. Let’s have a closer look at this benchmark professional social network.

 

Did you know?

LinkedIn has 10 million users in France and has a new person joining every 10 seconds. It publishes 150,000 articles every week, while 75% of B2B purchasers admit they are influenced by social networks like this and 57% of purchasing decisions are made before any contact is made with your company.

Why use social selling?

The social networks have 3 billion daily users, which makes them a pivotal tool for seeking new prospects. LinkedIn helps companies network efficiently and generate relevant business leads. Cécile Jamelot, who founded Cecydi, her own social selling consultancy, estimates that some 40% of its users have already experienced a positive effect on their sales. LinkedIn allows a business to project itself as an expert in its specific area, providing it posts relevant and regular industry content. Jamelot points out that while only 1% of Internet users post content on LinkedIn, 80% of them are liable to read the articles. Offering regular insights means companies can publicise their expertise and boost their credibility and commercial visibility, leading to better sales. One snag, however, is that a LinkedIn algorithm means that only 10% of your followers will actually see the content you have posted.

How to publicise your corporate page ? 

Although posting regular articles is highly useful, it turns out to be difficult to attract the number of followers you’re looking for. How, then, can a company boost its LinkedIn profile? You have to remember that it’s the people in your company who represent the core of any corporate community, but they are often forgotten when it comes to social selling strategy. Getting your people involved in coming up with content for your LinkedIn strategy is an excellent way of reaching a wider range of prospects and increasing your visibility. It’s a good idea for as many people as possible in the company to have their own account. Jamelot advises businesses to give all employees with a LinkedIn account a set of key facts that they can subsequently include in their profiles. The company should, at the same time, continually publicise their business page on the social networks through tools such as mails and a newsletter. What this means is that all your LinkedIn people will help drive your brand awareness, by reaching out to people with whom the company itself potentially has no contact. Jamelot also advises companies to build relationships with users, with regular likes, comments and sharing. She recommends joining groups which bring together professionals working in the same business sector or sharing similar interests to share content, come up with ideas, publish and read ads, forge new business contacts and set themselves up as experts in the sector. This feature is, however, not yet available for corporate pages.

Social selling can therefore be of considerable help in building up your business and it is the go-to tool for business contacts. It will help you increase your customer base with powerful new tools at a time when trust and relevance are key success factors for LinkedIn.

 

Source :

Cécile JAMELOT, fondatrice de Cérosa Conseil

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