Social selling has become extremely popular in today’s marketplace. As a matter of fact, it is replacing traditional marketing tactics, such as cold-calling and bulk mailings.
Selling through social networks is helping many data center providers with their sales and lead generation through continually publishing eye-catching content that draws their customers to them.
Salespeople have changed tremendously throughout the past decade. Today, sales professionals realize that it is a buyers’ market. Buyers have more control due to the large amounts of available information, including reviews, product/service descriptions, and comments.
Let's face it; if your company has a bad reputation, it will be readily available for all to see online. This means that more salespeople have turned from pushy to helpful and educational through the use of social media.
What Is Social Selling?
Social selling is using social media platforms to reach out to potential customers. Sales professionals use social media to connect with and add value to their prospects by responding to inquiries, acknowledging comments, and promoting useful content with each stage of the buyer’s journey in mind.
This type of marketing is customer-centric, not just focused on the amount of revenue that will be made from the sale.
How Social Selling Can Improve Your Data Center Business
In the State of Inbound Report, a survey revealed that “42% of buyers said they communicate via social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter for business purposes, and sales teams growing more than 50% were more likely than any other group to identify LinkedIn as a valuable sales connection channel.”
This research signifies that potential buyers and salespeople engage through social media. This year through next, selling socially will be a top priority for salespeople more than ever before. Research revealed that social selling increased by 22% to 28%.
If your data center has not started the social selling trend, you must start the process by strategizing a social media plan.
How to Get a Social Media Plan Started
Social media's primary objective is building relationships; you must understand your buyer persona to get started. By understanding this information, you can select social media sites that are most relevant to your marketing efforts, as your goal is to be on the same social networks as your customers to increase exposure.
Your first step is to choose which social media networks to use. There are numerous social networks, and each represents different marketing channels. For instance, LinkedIn is a professional network, YouTube is a video streaming network, and Instagram is for photos. So, choose the proper network that works for your audience.
Your next step is to start building your network on Twitter and LinkedIn; the more connections you develop, the more views your content will receive. Whenever you meet someone new, invite them to connect.
Additionally, you can grow your network by joining LinkedIn groups and participating in their discussions. There are currently more than 1.8 million groups on LinkedIn. With the number of groups available, it is a big opportunity to network with people in your occupation.
You can see who is talking about your company through social media, especially Twitter. Most importantly, you can share relevant educational content through all social networks and provide your input on certain topics or questions. People like working with knowledgeable people, so if you are a sales professional, sharing your knowledge can bring you future success.
Are you ready to start selling through social media?
Has your data center started to use social media to increase sales? Let us know in the comments below.
Learn more about Colocation Data Center Providers and Go-to-Market Strategy (GTM) for Growth.
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