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Shannon Belew explains the Art of Social Selling.
In this episode of Social Media for Small Business Digital Marketer and author of The Art of Social Selling, Shannon Belew, debunks the myth that businesses should never sell on social media and says that social selling should in fact become part of all sales strategies.
Shannon explains how social media is changing the ways consumers make purchase decisions.
‘If done correctly, social selling is about building relationships that lead to sales. It is about getting yourself out there early and establishing yourself as a trusted resource for people.’
Shannon proposes a triangle model of social selling made up of sales, marketing and customer care. All three must work together for a social selling strategy to be effective.
Three social selling tactics to avoid:
- Lurking is failing to participate in conversation online.
- Pushing is failing to contribute meaningfully to online conversations. Pushers tend to contribute only self-centred and brand-focused content.
- Lead scrapping is watching for potential customers and gathering their information to launch a ‘hard sell’ later on. The hard sell is often unsuccessful because a customer-brand relationship has not first been established.
Listen to this Social Media for Small Business interview with Shannon Belew to learn:
- How to build value and create relationships online
- How to use LinkedIn to drive sales
- How to use Facebook advertising more effectively
- How to use Facebook analytics to your advantage
- Ways to avoid being a ‘lurker’ and a ‘pusher’
Mentioned in this episode:
This post was co-authored by Poppy Johnston. Poppy is currently completing a journalism internship at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. She is studying Media and Communications at The University of Sydney.
