Social selling has been an effective way for businesses to boost the effectiveness of their sales efforts. 78 percent of businesses that effectively leverage social selling’s non-intrusive and relationship-based approach outperform their competitors.
When it comes to social selling different platforms have different advantages, and LinkedIn (LI) remains one of the best platforms for B2B businesses. Here are some of our insights to boost your LI social selling efforts on the platform.
With the fast-changing B2B landscape and the flood of content vying for attention, potential clients are not keen to be dragged through the pipeline of product-led content or paid ads that only promote the brand. “Aim to help, not to sell” is a mindset we share with our clients for their content creation on LI. Taking a non-salesy approach makes it easier to build a well reputable brand as your network expands. The following are the content types to drive it home.
1. Client education
Expanding on the “aim to help” mindset earlier goes beyond educating your client about your product/service. Identify specific challenges you know they will encounter and share your expertise in resolving them. This process builds credibility, trust, and understanding of what you can do in your field. When your potential clients approach you, they will be aligned with your approach. Here is an example of a post that identifies the common misunderstandings of social selling, and how to make it work.
2. Brand awareness
Content in this category covers company updates with history and milestones, and explainer posts to share what your products/services are. Sticking to the “not to sell” part of the mindset is possible by encouraging conversations as your call-to-action through events, webinars, and blog posts that showcase how your company does it. This is a great way of letting others know about how you work, and if your brand synergizes with their needs.
3. Credibility building
The success cases you have from the projects or dealings with your clients can be content that highlights your working processes and the challenges you overcame to get the right results. Along with a short testimonial and sharing about your client’s business, this presents an opportunity to elevate the profile of the individual, company, and client. Such content opens up the opportunity for conversations with others facing similar challenges and for satisfied clients to be your brand ambassador and build your credibility through word-of-mouth.
Content creation and building your brand via LI is an ongoing process, and no matter which stage you’re at, there’s always something you can do and improve on:
1. Companies with little/no content
The first thing to focus on is establishing authority. Client education content should be the priority. Identify the main pain points that resonate with your intended targets and create a small body of work to start with. Supplement it with social proof via credibility building. Even with few clients, you can build your success stories, pop up in their network, and capture a new audience. Content such as case studies, Q&A highlights, and insights from your calls and interactions can serve as the building blocks.
2. Companies with an existing body of content
Companies with a body of content often span across different channels such as blogs, YouTube channels, etc. With the option of bringing their existing audience from one channel to another for multiple touchpoints, it is important to ensure each platform’s content has something unique that draws an audience to them. We have worked with a client who adopted an educational tone on YouTube and a personal touch on LinkedIn. Existing content that does well can also be repurposed via shorter edits, expanding on a particular topic, or representation in a different medium.
Now that you have a better understanding of content, here are some elements to make your LI profile pop:
- Have a clear headline that articulates the value you bring, avoid sales talk.
- Have a professional profile photo.
- Activity counts – people will look at your content and the engagement received more than how many followers you have. Start making and sharing good content!
In these two examples of good LI profiles, you can see how they work as landing pages for their services while engaging with the audience and posting useful content related to their space.
Combining compelling content and an optimized profile before engaging prospects will put you in a good position to start seeing tangible results, here are some metrics we often look at as a guideline:
1. Increased profile views
With the clients we’ve worked with, a jump of an additional 200 plus views a month is not uncommon. Coupled with active engagement in events or conferences, the numbers can go beyond 400. Most of the views should be from your target audience.
2. Check your Social Selling Index (SSI)
LI’s SSI dashboard is a great way to check for improvements in your presence and engagement. Through consistent effort, an SSI score of 75, and reaching the top 1 to 3 percent of your network and industry by the second or third month are good milestones to aim for.
3. Increase in organic conversations
By the second month, you should have multiple conversations going. With a lead generation campaign on LI, a 20 to 30 percent response rate is considered healthy. With the right approach to social selling, you can expect response rates over 50 percent.
Being in the B2B space and tapping on the LI network provides many opportunities. Whether or not you’re active on LI you can be sure that your audience is doing research on you. LI can be more than a digital calling card and help with qualification both ways for you and your connections, leading to fruitful collaborations.
Iurii Znak is Founder of Respect.Studio with a decade in B2B digital marketing. Championing a reputation-first approach, he has empowered 200+ clients globally, blending data and creativity to foster genuine business relationships.
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