How to Do Social Selling the Right Way (And Without Coming Across as a Creep)

By Bill Choudhry

Have you ever gotten a friend request from an old friend? You expect a nostalgic message reminiscing about a fun time you had together, but instead this friend tells you about an amazing multi-level marketing opportunity where you can make millions working from home.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced this. In fact, this type of selling ("social selling") has become so commonplace, many people on social media are completely turned off by these types of sales pitches.

Does this mean selling through social media doesn’t work? No, it just means that most people are doing it wrong. In this article, we will go over three ways to sell socially without coming across as a creep.

Social selling: Benefits and best practices

The average person spends 145 minutes a day on social media—that's a lot of time! Besides the fact that the majority of your potential customers are on social media, social selling allows you to develop deeper connections and relationships with prospects, build your business brand, and drive higher traffic to your social properties and website, which is unlike traditional forms of outreach.

However, social selling is something you need to approach very, very carefully. If you mess up with your first interaction, your chances with that prospect are toast.

We are going to keep things simple and just focus on three best practices for selling on social media:

1. Provide value

How do you provide value in social media? By providing valuable content.

Content guidelines:

• Content should be entertaining.
• Share a valuable insight.
• Use media (pictures, live video, video) as much as possible.
• Vary the type of content you post: case studies, general advice, entertaining posts, personal stories.
• Make sure your content accomplishes an objective (e.g., educates, entertains, or moves the prospect through the decision-making process).

People will buy from someone they know, like, and trust, and your business can do that by providing value. Remember, you are an advisor or consultant, not a salesperson. Provide good information that will help your prospects move through the buying process.

Other than providing good content, how else can you provide value?

• Answer questions about your product or service.
• Share other people’s content.
• Post tips and best practices on how to effectively use your products/services.

2. Optimize your social media profiles

Before you engage in any selling over social media, optimize your profile by appearing professional and positioning yourself as the solution to your prospects' problems. How do you do that?

Example #1: You are a digital marketer and your prospect is a small business that wants help with social media to increase its online presence and brand.

How to position yourself: Position yourself as a branding and growth specialist who uses social media to grow small businesses. Don't just position yourself as a digital marketer—everyone else is doing that.

Can you see how this is more powerful positioning than saying you are only a digital marketer? This type of positioning can be used no matter what your role is or what type of business you are in.

Example #2: You are a fitness coach and your target audience is busy people who want to lose weight, but say they don’t have time and don't know how.

How to position yourself: Position yourself as a fitness coach who specializes in helping busy people lose 15 to 20 pounds with minimal time effort.

Remember, don’t use your job title on social media—that is weak positioning. Position yourself as the solution to your prospects' problems.

Attributes of an optimized social profile:

• Clean profile image
• Cover image that also shows your company tagline
• Memorable action-oriented headline—not your job title
• Powerful bio summary that shows the value of your product/service
• Testimonials about yourself and your business

More articles from AllBusiness.com:

• To Optimize Your Sales Cycle, Treat It Like a Buying Cycle
• Eight Questions To Help Instill Customer Service Consistency In Your Business
• 7 Effective Ways to Increase Engagement With Facebook Ads
• 3 Best Online Advertising Channels to Grow Your Small Business
• 6 Rules for Successful Video Marketing

3. Use the right approach for the right platform

This point cannot be overstated. Your approach to social selling is dependent on the platform. I will talk about social selling on two main platforms: Facebook and LinkedIn. These two platforms have to be approached very differently.

Social selling via Facebook:

A common misconception is that you should not do social selling via Facebook. This is not true, as Facebook is one of the most powerful platforms to grow a business.

Your first step is to figure out what type of content your target audience would like and need—this can be either personal content or company content.

Next, you need to locate your target audience. Facebook groups are a good place to start. You can find the right Facebook groups by searching on keywords that describe your target audience (e.g., stay-at-home moms, small business owners, digital marketers). Post in the Facebook group and interact with the members. The same content rules apply to posting in groups: add value and think of yourself as an advisor.

DO NOT add group members as friends just yet. Once members begin liking and commenting on your posts and you've begun interacting with them, then you can add them as friends. After you add them as friends, however, they are still not ready to be sold to. You now need to interact with members on a more personal level; interact with them via likes and comments on THEIR posts, not via a DM. Once you've begun interacting, you can then directly engage with them.

Steps for interacting on Facebook:

• Like
• Comment
• DM

Social selling via LinkedIn:

People are on LinkedIn for business purposes, so social selling can be approached much more directly. Still, going straight for the sale is not the best idea. The key is to build your network with prospects in your target audience and interact with them in an authentic way.

First, optimize your profile and position yourself as someone who can solve your target audience's problem. Then, sign up for LinkedIn's Sales Navigator and use specific keywords to find prospects in your target audience (e.g., C-level executives in the medical equipment industry). Send connection requests to these people, but make sure your requests are personalized, and try to start a conversation about a problem you can solve for them.

DO NOT make generic pitches. Figure out a specific problem that you can solve, and if the problem resonates with the prospect, ask whether they are open to hearing about your solution and schedule a call.

Do not send too many follow-ups. If someone doesn’t respond to a follow-up, feel free to like or comment on one of their posts to get back on their radar. LinkedIn is a network that is not used daily by most people, so don’t be disappointed if someone does not respond back immediately.

Steps for interacting on LinkedIn:

• Add prospects through keyword searches.
• Break the ice with rapport-building questions.
• Discover a problem a prospect may have and see if it resonates with them.
• Offer a solution to the problem.
• If the prospect is interested in hearing more, schedule a call.
• Regularly post content and make sure your network can see updates on your profile. This will keep you in your network's radar.

The power of social selling

Social selling is a powerful tool if approached properly. Remember to always provide your prospects with value, use the right approach for the right platform, and optimize your profiles.

As you start using social selling properly, see how your business grows. Not only will you gain more brand recognition and trust, but you will see more traffic and leads—the benefits are endless.

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