What is social selling (and why you'll want to use part of this approach)?

You've heard about social selling before, but the idea hasn't particularly appealed to you? What if we told you that part of this method could be of great help? Because while certain aspects of social selling can be problematic for small and medium-sized businesses, other components of this concept can be particularly beneficial for a brand.

To bring some clarity, we have defined social selling in a clear and concise way. This is also an opportunity for us to explain which elements of such a strategy can be genuine assets, and which ones we recommend leaving aside.

What is social selling?

In general terms, it is a communications strategy based on social media. It is a comprehensive process of monitoring, research, selection, listening and interaction.

You may have already heard of community management, social media management or inbound marketing. All of these practices fall under the umbrella of social selling.

57% of purchasing decisions are made well before the first contact with a brand's sales representative. It is therefore essential to be present at the right moment in the right place. And what better place than social media to connect with your prospects?

This is where managing your brand's social media pages comes in, along with promoting your content (particularly your inbound marketing content) and all the communication and marketing practices at your disposal.

Social selling is often associated with one of its "key" components: employee advocacy. But in our view, it is perfectly possible to do without this practice. First, though, what exactly is employee advocacy?

Employee advocacy: what is it and why does it cause concern?

While employee advocacy and social selling are linked, they can easily be separated — and that is precisely what we personally recommend.

Simply put, social selling involves using social media to communicate and sell as a brand. Employee advocacy, which is one possible practice within social selling, consists of using your employees' personal accounts to talk about and promote your brand.

Employee advocacy raises certain ethical questions regarding the boundary between private and professional life. After all, it concerns an employee's personal account, their personal contacts and their personal actions. If your employees are 100% enthusiastic about your brand and eager to talk about it in their personal circles, there is nothing to stop them. On the other hand, "forcing" employee advocacy is, in our view, counterproductive: an unconvinced employee is unlikely to convince their contacts in turn, and one can, in any case, question the legality of imposing such a practice against an employee's will.

Social selling, however, is a much broader concept that, in our view, can easily do without employee advocacy. For example, a community manager who manages your brand's company page speaks not in their own name, but in the name of your brand — does that not already constitute social selling? They are communicating and selling your services or products via social media, which corresponds perfectly to the notion of social selling (social selling); yet they do so using the brand's account, and their personal account remains personal (which means it is not employee advocacy).

This is why we recommend doing social selling without using employees' personal profiles. A dedicated account can easily be created for the purpose and enables similar practices. Being present on social media is an excellent opportunity to sell your services or products better and in greater volume. Forgoing it would mean closing doors that are otherwise wide open.

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