I continue to find in my work with sales and marketing teams that the ongoing debate between the efficiency of social media marketing vs social selling in generating revenue in the digital era remains a pressing matter. Both strategies utilize social platforms but differ significantly in their approach and implementation.
In this post, we will delve into the intricacies of using social platforms to expand your reach in social media marketing, while also examining the ways in which LinkedIn’s popularity among B2B marketers and sales professionals can be utilized to achieve organic outreach. Learn how to build genuine relationships with potential buyers by creating meaningful engagements using tools like FlyMSG, and while utilizing data analytics to track progress and identify opportunities for development.
Additionally, gain insights as to how social media marketing and social selling tactics may diverge in this pursuit. We will analyze the difference between targeting a larger audience when social media marketing vs social selling which focuses on specific prospects. And we’ll review the differences between using promotional content versus personalized messaging within the framework of social marketing vs social selling.
We will wrap up by exploring time-saving solutions like FlyMSG and LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, as well as the crucial role of adopting the PVC (Personalization, Value and CTA) mindset in your approach.
Understanding Social Media Marketing
Social marketing is like a superpower for businesses. It helps them increase brand visibility and customer engagement by creating and sharing content on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. That being said, when it comes to social media marketing vs social selling, it shouldn’t be a battle but a cohesive and supportive relationship!
Utilizing Social Media Platforms for a Broader Reach in Social Media Marketing
Social Media Platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook have vast user bases, making them excellent platforms for reaching a broad audience. From promoting products to launching campaigns, these social media platforms allow businesses to interact directly with their customers, gather feedback, and build relationships.
Leveraging LinkedIn for Organic Outreach
LinkedIn is a professional networking site that presents opportunities for B2B marketers.
Clearly, this platform has become an indispensable tool in organic outreach efforts aimed at other businesses, with over 96% of B2B marketing departments incorporating social into their strategy.
The key to successful social marketing lies in marketing departments understanding which platforms best suit your business needs. This requires thorough research into each network’s demographics, usage patterns, and unique features. By tailoring your strategies accordingly, you can maximize engagement rates and build relationships while minimizing wasted effort.
To effectively implement these strategies, tools such as Agorapulse or Hootsuite Inbox are invaluable. They help keep all public messages organized, allowing easy company updates and sharing, increasing overall process efficiency.
Services like LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator improve prospecting efforts by providing actionable insights needed to formulate winning game plans. In fact, this article on using Sales Navigator to find leads might be particularly useful to you!
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is widely regarded as one of the most potent tools for social selling, yet it remains significantly underutilized by most teams. On average, our clients have only achieved an adoption rate of approximately 20-30%. Surprisingly, even many of the power users fail to fully leverage the immense potential that LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers.
Investing in LinkedIn Sales Navigator comes with substantial expectations for a significant return on investment (ROI). However, when the right program is implemented, the ROI can surpass even the loftiest of expectations.
The Power of Social Selling
Unlike traditional sales methods, selling with social is a powerful strategy that focuses on building direct connections with potential buyers. This approach doesn’t just aim to make a sale; it emphasizes nurturing relationships through the sharing of authentic content and meaningful interactions on the various social media platforms.
Building Trust and Rapport through Genuine Engagement
In social selling, trust plays an integral role in converting prospects into loyal clients (resulting eventually in revenue generation). By responding to, addressing and appreciating feedback from your followers, you can create a sense of togetherness around your company and build trust with prospects.
Using Data Analytics to Track Progress and Identify Opportunities
Data analytics can be incredibly useful when implementing a selling strategy. Tools like LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator offer actionable insights about your target market, which can help guide your prospecting efforts more effectively. Tools such as LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator can provide the data needed to measure progress and discover new leads.
A well-executed social selling strategy has been proven to increase win rates by nearly 50% compared to businesses without it – making it an essential tool for modern enterprises.
The key lies in understanding how this method differs from a traditional sales process: instead of focusing solely on closing deals as quickly as possible, successful sellers take the time to build lasting relationships with their customers first.
This shift towards relationship-based marketing reflects today’s increasingly digital landscape where consumers are looking for more than just products or services – they want experiences too. And what better way than via personalized communication tailored specifically towards each individual customer?
Differentiating Between Social Media Marketing and Social Selling
While both social marketing and selling are important for modern businesses, they have different focuses. Understanding these differences is key to implementing effective strategies that will drive your business forward.
Broad Targeting vs Specific Prospecting
Social marketing targets a broad customer base to promote the latest initiatives or campaigns. It’s about reaching as many people as possible and raising brand awareness on platforms like Facebook or Twitter.
Selling with social, on the other hand, concentrates on specific prospects with the intention of nurturing them into loyal clients. This strategy involves using tools such as LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator to identify potential leads and create personalized messaging tailored specifically to their needs.
Promotions vs Personalized Messaging
In contrast to the promotions-centric approach in social marketing, which primarily focuses on advertising products or services broadly across various channels, social selling emphasizes building relationships through personalized messaging and follow-ups.
Tools like LinkedIn Inmails and messages can be used effectively for this purpose, allowing sales reps to connect directly with potential customers and provide valuable content based on individual preferences and interests, thereby fostering trust and rapport (and allowing them to generate revenue) over time.
The difference between these two strategies is in how they interact with the public. One strategy emphasizes widespread publicity through promotional activities, known as social marketing. The other strategy, on the other hand, focuses on building relationships by providing personalized interactions.
To maximize results from both strategies, it’s crucial to not only understand but also appreciate each method’s unique strengths and limitations.
Knowing when and where to apply them accordingly within your overall digital strategy can make all the difference in achieving desired outcomes, whether it be increased brand visibility, improved conversion rates, higher ROI, more satisfied loyal customers, or long-term success and growth for your company.
Tools for Effective Implementation of Strategies
Social marketing and selling require distinct tools for effective implementation and measuring success. These tools streamline the process and help businesses maintain consistent interaction with their audience.
LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator is an excellent tool tailored towards social selling and revenue generation. It provides actionable insights into potential prospects and facilitates personalized outreach based on these findings. The ability to track interactions with specific individuals aids in nurturing relationships over time – a key aspect of successful selling with social.
This platform aligns perfectly with our PVC Sales Methodology.
Vengreso’s PVC methodology stands for Personalization, Value, and Call to Action. By following this methodology, sales people can effectively engage and convert potential prospects on LinkedIn, thereby enhancing their social selling skills on the platform.
1. Personalization: Personalization involves tailoring your communication and interactions to the specific needs, interests, and characteristics of your target audience. It goes beyond generic messages and focuses on crafting personalized messages, connecting on shared interests, and demonstrating a genuine understanding of the prospect’s challenges and goals. By personalizing your outreach, you can establish a stronger rapport and build trust with your LinkedIn connections.
2. Value: Providing value is essential to capture the attention and interest of your prospects. Instead of solely promoting your products or services, focus on offering valuable insights, resources, or solutions that address the pain points of your target audience.
This can be done through sharing relevant industry articles, offering expert advice, or providing educational content that helps prospects make informed decisions. By consistently delivering value, you position yourself as a trusted advisor and increase your chances of attracting and retaining prospects’ attention on LinkedIn.
3. Call to Action (CTA): A call to action is a clear and compelling instruction that prompts your prospects to take a specific action. It could be scheduling a meeting, requesting a demo, or accessing a valuable resource. Including a strong and relevant CTA in your LinkedIn interactions helps guide prospects towards the next steps in the sales process. It’s important to make your CTAs concise, actionable, and aligned with the value you have provided.
By incorporating effective CTAs, you can drive engagement and conversions on LinkedIn.
By following the PVC methodology, sales professionals can optimize their social efforts on LinkedIn by personalizing their interactions, delivering value-driven content, and strategically including clear CTAs. This approach enhances the overall effectiveness of social selling, leading to stronger relationships, increased engagement, and improved conversion rates on the platform.
PVC isn’t just about making one-off sales; it’s about nurturing relationships over time, leading to repeat business and increased customer loyalty – something that traditional sales methods often overlook.
Implementing PVC with FlyMSG
We often recommend creating email and messaging templates that build PVC into them. Once that is done, we have our customers add those templates (we call them FlyPlates) to our auto text expander, FlyMSG so that they can easily access and deploy them anywhere online in mere seconds!
The utilization of FlyPlates and FlyMSG in social and selling has the potential to greatly amplify the productivity and impact of sales experts, while also preserving their precious time in the process.
Why use PVC Templates and FlyMSG?
Here are just a few reasons why social sellers should implement a protocol of using FlyPlates (templated messages) with the FlyMSG auto text expander:
1. Time Efficiency: PVC FlyPlates and FlyMSG work hand in hand to expedite the outreach process. Templates provide a pre-defined structure for common messages, while auto text expanders allow you to insert entire blocks of text with just a few keystrokes.
✔️This combination enables rapid generation of standardized messages, eliminating the need to repeatedly type out the same content. As a result, sales folks can engage with a larger volume of prospects in less time, freeing them up to focus on other critical sales activities.
2. Consistency: The use of PVC FlyPlates and FlyMSG ensures messaging consistency, both in terms of content and branding. Templates establish a uniform structure and key points to cover in each interaction, while auto text expanders insert pre-approved text snippets or responses.
✔️This consistency in messaging helps reinforce the organization’s brand image, maintain a professional tone, and align with the overall sales and marketing strategy.
3. Accuracy and Compliance: PVC FlyPlates and FlyMSG contribute to accuracy and compliance with company guidelines and legal requirements. By using pre-built templates, sales pros can rest assured that they are using approved content that complies with industry regulations and internal policies.
✔️Auto text expanders further ensure precision by allowing the insertion of pre-written, reviewed, and compliant text, minimizing the risk of errors or inconsistent messaging.
4. Scalability: The combination of PVC FlyPlates and FlyMSG empowers sales teams to scale their selling with social efforts effectively. With templates as a foundation, they can quickly personalize and tailor messages to individual prospects while leveraging auto text expanders to insert frequently used phrases, introductions, or follow-up messages.
✔️This scalability allows sales pros to engage with a larger audience without sacrificing personalization or spending excessive time on repetitive tasks.
5. Productivity and Focus: By leveraging PVC FlyPlates and FlyMSG, sales folks can optimize their productivity and concentrate on higher-value activities. The time saved by quickly inserting standardized content using auto text expanders allows them to allocate more attention to customizing messages, building relationships, and addressing specific prospect needs.
✔️This heightened focus leads to more meaningful interactions and ultimately improves conversion rates.
By harnessing the power of PVC FlyPlates and FlyMSG, sales people can streamline their social efforts, save time, ensure consistency, maintain compliance, scale their outreach, and enhance overall productivity and focus on how to build relationships with prospects.
Other Social Selling Tools to Consider
Other marketing and social selling tools available that can aid in implementing both strategies effectively include:
- Sprout Social: A comprehensive solution providing deep analytics and publishing capabilities across various platforms.
- Agorapulse: Known for its strong scheduling and reporting features; ideal for managing large volumes of content across numerous accounts.
- Zoho Social: Offers real-time monitoring and predictive analytics enabling better decision-making processes regarding when and where to share posts, maximizing reach and engagement rates.
The right combination of these tools can significantly enhance a business’s online presence while ensuring consistency throughout all engagements – a crucial factor within our PVC methodology framework.
FAQs in Relation to Social Media Marketing vs Social Selling
Social selling involves personalized engagement on platforms like LinkedIn, while marketing with social media focuses on broad audience targeting and promotional content.
Social media plays a crucial role in modern sales strategies, offering opportunities for prospecting, lead generation, customer engagement, and relationship building. Tools such as LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator can significantly enhance these efforts.
No, they are different. Social media refers to online platforms where people interact, while social marketing uses these platforms to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and society.
Social media provides a platform for businesses to reach potential customers directly, generating leads and nurturing them into customers. It also influences marketing by providing data analytics used for strategic decision-making.
Conclusion
The ongoing dispute between sales people and marketers regarding the effectiveness of social media marketing vs social selling in generating revenue in the digital age continues to be a significant concern. Both strategies make use of social media platforms, but they differ considerably in their approach and execution.
Hopefully you have discovered the art of cultivating genuine relationships and the secrets of how to generate revenue with potential buyers through meaningful engagements, all while employing data analytics to monitor progress and identify growth opportunities.
