sales-playbook-on-social-selling

A Short Sales Playbook On Social Selling For 2022

As we approach 2022, we can look back over our shoulders and see that this year has been one of rapid growth for sales technology.

From marketing automation solutions to data analysis software, the ability to access information in a speedy manner and synchronize tech tools to increase sales in a cost-effective manner has exploded.

Ultimately, this means the bar has been raised for 2022 as brands scramble to dominate their industry by having the best sales tools and tactics at their disposal.

However, before you invest in sales automation tools, you should first identify the marketing channels you will use, and create a custom strategy that incorporates sales automation technology within a growth-minded framework that makes sense for your customers.

Systemizing a sales strategy on relevant social media platforms means everything for hitting your growth goals in 2022. After all, nearly half the world’s population is on social media, which makes social selling more relevant than ever.

And with the boom in sales automation tools, it is only natural that brands invest in a growth marketing agency capable of running a full-funnel approach to exceeding sales goals in the new year to come.

This article will define five routes to run in a sales playbook with the goal to attract and convert buyers into closed deals.

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1. The First Play is Simple: Optimize Your Social Profiles

Before you do anything else, be sure to optimize your social profiles. If your profile is outdated or incomplete, then your social selling initiative presents wasteful gaps. Keep in mind that your social profile should serve a purpose that’s greater than a simple resume.

Your profile should be set up to cultivate a reputation with your target buyers while presenting yourself as a trusted authoritarian. Your profile should also appeal to potential customers and not recruiters.

If your buyers are on Twitter, you will want to post a professional picture as opposed to a family photo, or one of you in Cabo drinking a margarita. Write a positioning statement and link your company’s Twitter account to it while also including your LinkedIn profile, along with a ray of insight, followed by the appropriate hashtags that your buyers follow.

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile will be more laborious. According to the social platform, profiles with a hi-res picture get a 40 percent InMail response rate. Your headline should be a mini value proposition as opposed to a title.

This should express who you help and how you help them. Include three small paragraphs that are easy to digest; each should have three or fewer sentences and demonstrate social proof on how you help your clients achieve their desired results. Finally, add a short CTA that tells prospective clients how and why they should contact you.

2. Join the Right LinkedIn Groups and Other Social Arenas

Most organizations make the mistake of blindly sharing content on their company’s page. While it is important to share from your company’s page to help increase its relevancy, this tactic rarely converts.

After all, you would rather automate sales interactions to actual customers as opposed to thin air, right? Check the profiles of your current customers and prospects, notice the groups they belong to and the ones they participate in. Then join these, and others like them.

In addition, join groups that revolve around large industry trends so that you can challenge your target buyers while staying informed. Once your groups are established, you can create the right content and automate messaging designed to enroll actual prospective buyers into a nurturing funnel.

3. Use Sales Technology to Set Up Social Alerts

In addition to setting up Google alerts, use a sales technology tool to create notifications about your customers and target prospects as they present a possible sales opportunity or trigger an event.

If a prospect posts a question relating to a problem they are having that you can resolve, instant alerts can enable you to act quickly and place yourself in the conversation while it is still fresh. Additionally, if a potential customer’s organization hires a new CEO or CMO, you can comment on the event to get on their radar when it matters the most.

4. Automate Your Content to Establish Credibility and Increase Leads

If you have a team that can write compelling content, then you need a solid automation tool to send the content to the right groups at the right time, using the right cadence. A CRM like HubSpot enables brands to do all three of these, as well as other time-saving tasks like lead segmentation and displaying valuable data that can be used to optimize content and other portions of the strategy.

In addition to sharing your own content, there is value in sharing content written by others. Just make sure the content is relevant to your target buyer’s needs, and that it coincides with the solution you want to offer.

For example, if your company sells scuba diving gear, and one of the common pain points your target buyers have finding gear that slims down their diving profile, and you see a blog by a company that makes fins on the topic of reducing drag, then you can share the blog with a CTA that leads prospects to your site to discover other complementary gear.

Just make sure you automate the article to go out when your target buyers are most likely to see it online (generally right before and after work, or during a lunch break), and use a cadence that keeps the article in their line of site without being too overbearing and forceful.

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5. Run a Blog

When most companies invest in a blog, they usually do so as part of an SEO play. And while blogging is indeed the cornerstone to any good organic search strategy, blogs can do so much more.

In regards to social selling, a blog can either be written to directly convert a reader on the spot with a link to a shopping cart, or it can be part of a long play best suited for companies with a longer sales cycle in which the blog serves as an entry point into a sales funnel designed to nurture the lead through every step of the buyer’s journey until they convert.

This sounds like a massive undertaking, and in some cases, it is. This can require up to 10 people and takes up tons of valuable time. However, when brands invest in a growth marketing agency that uses sales and marketing automation tools, only two or three people are generally required to manage this, and very little time is invested, as all of the tasks are fully automated.


Do these play routes seem like they could be an ideal strategy for helping your organization hit all of its sales goals in 2022? If so, find a HubSpot partner growth marketing agency and ask if they use this playbook. You will likely need much more than this, but this approach will set you up for a great start fresh out the gates.




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