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HOW TO BECOME
A SOCIAL SELLING
SUCCESS USING
LINKEDIN
 INTRODUCTION
There are, at present, over 400 million LinkedIn users
across 200 countries and territories. It’s a social network
with phenomenal reach; but then again, so are Facebook,
Twitter and Google+.

So what differentiates LinkedIn from its competitors and

why should you incorporate it into your social selling
strategy?

62.9% of sale professionals report that

social selling has become important
for closing new deals.

Since its inception, rather than being a platform

for sharing innumerable pictures of meals and viral
videos of baby monkeys, LinkedIn has been a distinctly
professional sphere. It’s used as a tool for recruitment,
brand promotion, business networking, and increasingly,
a powerful platform for social selling.

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 2

 WHAT IS SOCIAL
SELLING?
Social selling involves establishing a presence on social networks
with the intention of using them to prospect more efficiently,
generate better quality leads, and nurture more meaningful
customer relationships.

The ultimate goal of using these online channels is to easily

enhance sales pipeline management and make more sales.
As digital transformation continues to impact organizations
of every size across every industry, traditional selling techniques
are no longer enough to guarantee success.

Did you know that only 1% of cold calls

actually result in meetings? Or that 90%
of B2B decision makers don’t respond
to cold sales outreach?

This doesn’t mean that traditional selling isn’t effective; never

underestimate the value of a face-to-face meeting. What it does
mean is that by balancing it with some simple tactics and easy-
to adopt approaches, you can make the most of your LinkedIn
account and achieve social selling success!

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 3

 STEP ONE:
OPTIMIZE
YOUR PROFILE
TO BUILD A
PROFESSIONAL
PERSONAL
BRAND

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 4

 1. Optimize Your Profile To Build
A Professional Personal Brand
If you want to harness a successful social selling strategy, you
need to build your personal brand and establish yourself as a seller
that customers can trust. Presenting yourself as an authentic and
well informed influence through a comprehensive LinkedIn profile
will add an all-important personal touch, and help to promote
positive customer relationships. This will ultimately drive sales
and encourage repeat purchases!

An easy starting point is to optimize your LinkedIn profile. It’s not

only a platform on which you can identify and develop a deeper
understanding of prospects; they can just as easily use LinkedIn
to conduct research on you! That’s why you need to use your
LinkedIn profile to showcase yourself in the most credible and
personable way possible!

Did you know that adding a professional

photo to your profile makes you 14 times
more likely to be found on LinkedIn?

There are certain LinkedIn profile tips that serve as a basic

starting point; personalizing your vanity URL, using a professional
headshot, filling in your job experience and education history.
But in order to really amplify the value of your LinkedIn presence,
there are few more areas you should consider:

Customize Your Headline:

By default, your headline will be your current job title and company,
which is already displayed in the “Experience” section of your
profile. Rather than duplicating content, customize your headline
with some keywords and key specialist functions. This not only
increases your visibility and the likelihood of your profile displaying
in a LinkedIn search, it also showcases your varied skillset!

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 5

 Enhance Your Summary And Contact Details:
Filling in your summary adds another layer of discoverability to your
LinkedIn profile. Include a couple of succinct lines about what you
do and why you’re passionate about it. There is a separate contact
details section, but it’s only visible to existing LinkedIn connections,
so include your contact details within your summary for potential
customers, along with a suitable Call-To-Action. You can also add
three links to either your Twitter profile, company website, personal
website, blog or RSS feed, which further establishes your social
authority and search optimizes your profile.

Add Assets:
LinkedIn allows you to add media assets to your profile, including
documents, photos, links, videos and presentations. By adding
additional relevant content to your profile, you can demonstrate
your thought leadership and creativity to potential customers, and
also use that content to persuade and convert them. Examples
could include a video testimonial, an industry-appropriate blog
or Slideshare presentation.

Ask For Recommendations:

You should aim to obtain at least one recommendation for every
job title listed on your profile. Recommendations are particularly
important for digital selling; client testimonials that root your
solution or service in a human context, for example, could mean
the difference between successfully engaging with and acquiring
a new customer and… well, not!

Incorporate Keywords:
If you want to increase your profile’s chances of displaying in
LinkedIn search results, it’s important to use relevant keywords
throughout your profile. Put yourself in the position of somebody
who would be searching for you; what words or phrases would
they use? Try to incorporate these into the content of your profile
as naturally as possible – it will be obvious if you’re forcing them

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 6

 and could disrupt the fluency of the professional, accessible tone
you should be trying to achieve.

“ “Having an online brand is not necessarily

having your name in lights or being known
or famous; it is the public view you give of
yourself to others” - Ian Moyse (Industry Cloud
and Channel Sales Leader) , rated #1 Cloud
Influencer 2016 and awarded a LinkedIn Power
Profile 2015

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 7

 STEP TWO:
CONNECT
AND PROSPER

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 8

 2. Connect and Prospect
Once you’ve perfected your profile, you need to extend your
LinkedIn network so it’s as far-reaching as possible. The more
quality connections you make, the better your chances of building
a healthy pipeline. There are a number of methods you can use
to achieve this:

Don’t forget the people you know:

Form the foundation to a successful LinkedIn network by first
fostering connections with colleagues and past colleagues. This
provides the perfect opportunity for outreach as you can evaluate
your 2nd and 3rd degree connections and ask for an introduction
where necessary. Utilizing the connections you already have is
important; LinkedIn asserts that buyers are five times more likely
to engage if outreach is conducted through a mutual connection.

LinkedIn also enables you to connect with people you may already
know by importing your email contacts. Be judicious when using
this method; avoid a mass import and be mindful of who you try
to connect with, as your email correspondence with certain
individuals might not be substantial enough for them to want
to engage with you on LinkedIn.

Opt for Advanced Search:

This is a valuable method to grow your network and prospect
effectively. You can look for potential new connections using
a variety of fields that can streamline your search. Even better,
a basic LinkedIn account will enable you to save up to 3 people
searches based on a particular job title and receive weekly alerts
when new users match your criteria. With a premium profile, you
have access to more search fields including seniority level, years
of experience, function, and company size, as well as the ability
to save even more people searches, which can further maximize
your prospecting efficiency!

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 9

 Even when you’re using advanced search options, try to leverage
an existing connection by searching for fellow Group members
or 2nd connections, before reaching out to somebody with
whom you share nothing in common!

Remember:
there’s a fine line between intercepting a customer’s need and
coming across as intrusive, and your prospect is the one who
draws it.

Get Personal:
Nothing says “I don’t really care about you I just want your money”
like an automated invitation to connect! You need to make
an effort to cultivate a connection with your prospects; after
all, 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer
feels they are being treated. If you start investing in your customer
relationships from the very outset, you are better placed to drive
both first-time sales and encourage repeat purchases, which
is something you, as a seller, should definitely aim for. According
to Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing
customer is 60-70%, whereas the probability of selling to a new
prospect is 5-20%. The simple act of tailoring an invitation
to connect, by succinctly and simply stating how you know
them, why you want to connect, and what value your connection
can provide them, can set a very positive precedent that can
ultimately benefit your ROI.

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 10

TOP TOOL

Sales Navigator

LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator is made for social selling, with a focus on

finding the right prospects as quickly as possible. Equipped with this
tool, you’ll significantly enhance your chances of becoming a social
selling specialist.

You can use Sales Navigator’s Lead Builder function to build lead
lists using the premium advanced search filters mentioned above!
You can also save up to 3,000 leads and receive real-time updates
on anyone you’ve saved. This includes what they’ve shared, their
company updates, and alerts when individuals or companies
are mentioned in the news. Sales Navigator also generates lead
recommendations that are tailored to your personal preferences and
based on leads you may have already saved.

Insights such as who’s viewed your profile, and who on your team
is connected to your leads so you can engineer warm introductions
(available in the Team edition of Sales Navigator) enable you to build
meaningful relationships that are more likely to drive sales. You can
even send InMails to your prospects which, according to LinkedIn,
have been shown to get higher response rates than emails.
How PayPal Australia achieved
3000% ROI with LinkedIn Sales Navigator

By using LinkedIn Sales Navigator for social selling, PayPal Australia

was able to achieve close to 3000% ROI and reduced sales cycles
by 25%

“We use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for every single deal”

- Paul Weingarth, Head of Field Sales

Ɉ PayPal’s goals were to:

• Acquire more accurate sales leads
• Minimize data scrubbing
• Speed up the sales cycle

Ɉ They used LinkedIn to:

• Navigate directly to decision makers
• Find up-to-date and noteworthy contact details
• Generate new leads with an inexpensive approach

Ɉ The results achieved were:

• Almost 3000% ROI
• Reduced sales cycles by 25%
• Multiple threading allows access to several key contacts
 STEP THREE:
ENGAGE

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 13

 3. Engage
The final and most crucial step to using LinkedIn for social selling
success is to engage and interact with your connections! If you
are proactive and participate regularly on the platform, it will
enhance your visibility, establish your credibility and help
to nurture customer relationships.

Did you know that 74% of buyers choose

the salesperson who was first to add value
and insight through their engagement?

Here are a couple of fool proof approaches to engagement

that you can easily adopt:

Join LinkedIn Groups:

LinkedIn has countless groups suitable for every professional and
industry. You can search for, and join groups relevant to your target
industries and geos in order to stimulate discussions and share
content relevant to prospects. These groups also provide you with
an opportunity to keep on top of industry trends and innovations,
which will help you to better understand and accommodate your
customers’ needs. By sharing content, advice and engaging in
dialogue, you can present yourself as an industry thought leader,
a trusted source of information and facilitate warm conversations
with prospects in the process!

Keep Your Status Updated:

Status updates are an underused but highly effective LinkedIn
feature. Aim to update your status approximately three times a
day (either at the beginning or end of the working day) in order
to maximize your social presence, but make sure that whatever
you share adds value.

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 14

 Post informative, relevant content, use keywords in your headlines
that will pique the attention of potential customers and be able
to identify what you’re trying to achieve with each status update.
Examples could include an educational ebook or Slideshare
presentation to re-enforce your thought leadership, or a
testimonial video to incentivize prospects to engage with you.

Don’t post for the sake of it; your LinkedIn engagement should
always complement and support your social selling goals, whether
it’s in the context of refining your thought leadership status or
nurturing prospects. Finally, don’t forget to extend your reach;
always make sure the visibility of your posts is set so everyone,
not just your connections, will see them.

Use LinkedIn Pulse:

Pulse, LinkedIn’s publishing platform is another powerful method
to expand your reach and accelerate engagement. Unlike status
updates, which are suited to excerpts and links to other sources,
the purpose of Pulse is to publish long-form content directly on
LinkedIn. Long-form content is the ultimate way to consolidate
your status as an industry authority and increase your exposure.

When you publish a post on Pulse, your network will automatically

receive a notification alerting them to the article and its title,
so as with your status updates, make sure your headlines
incentivize users to click! If your network is compelled to like
or share your content, this will allow you to infiltrate their own
connections, and if those connections like what you write, and
decide to follow you, your network has the potential to grow
exponentially.

In addition to this, articles posted on Pulse are searchable both

on and off LinkedIn, which extends your reach that little bit further!

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 15

 If you’re repurposing content on LinkedIn, a company blog post
for example, always be sure to credit the author (if it isn’t you) and
provide a link back to the original source, and avoid republishing
anything that isn’t owned by you or your company. If you’re
creating original content, keep in mind the interests of your target
audience, your existing connections, and use your insights
to create content on topics that will appeal to them and
consequently strengthen your relationships.

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 16

 WHAT NEXT?
After you’ve implemented these simple strategies, you can
measure your effectiveness by using LinkedIn’s Social Selling
Index. This is a quick and easy measurement tool that, with the
click of a button, analyzes how successful you are based on a
number of criteria, including establishing your professional brand,
finding the right people, engaging with insights and building
relationships. You can chart your progress on a weekly basis and
benchmark yourself against both people in your industry and your
network. As always, you can use these metrics to identify your
strengths and weaknesses, and adjust your approach accordingly.

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 17

 digitalmarketinginstitute.com

How To Become A Social Selling Success Using Linkedin 18