9 Key Social Selling Tips, According to Experts

Social media has become a crucial part of the sales world, especially considering that high-performing salespeople are 12% more likely to use social media when selling.

As social selling skills are becoming a need-to-have, I asked sales experts for their best social selling tips you can apply to better leverage your social media presence to connect with prospects and make hard sales.

Let's dive in.

1. Optimize your profiles.

Your social media profiles are useless to leads and potential customers if they don’t contain the information they need to learn more about you, what you offer, and how you can help them.

Because of this, optimizing your social media profiles and keeping them up-to-date with all of your and your business's relevant information is crucial.

Yes, it should be visually appealing and have a headshot and your cohesive brand identity, but it should also clearly state who you are, your role or position (if applicable), and any relevant information about your professional background that lets a prospect know that you’re relevant to them.

50+ for Social Selling on LinkedIn and Beyond

Use this guide to improve your social selling efforts and close more deals from platforms like...

• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Instagram
• And more!

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2. Leverage information on social media to connect with prospects.

When I reached out to Sarina Kowaguchi, former Senior Growth Specialist at HubSpot, she stressed the importance of leveraging social media to find common ground and build rapport with prospects.

She says, "I've found that social selling can be truly impactful when you can leverage information on social media — such as LinkedIn — to connect with a prospect on mutual experiences, interests, or connections."

For example, you could congratulate a prospect on a professional milestone or "win" or send a personalized message from time to time.

3. Diversify your platforms.

Dan Tyre, former executive at HubSpot, emphasizes the value of maintaining an active social media presence across various platforms.

He says, "Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin are my jam. Part of being an inbound executive is to make sure you are optimizing multiple platforms to make it easy for people to find you and reinforce your brand."

Kowaguchi echos a similar sentiment, telling me: "While email and phone calls will remain a large part of my day-to-day prospecting, I diversify my efforts across other channels of selling as well, and I've found that social media messages can cut through the noise that emails often present."

So, which platforms should you use? According to our 2024 State of Sales Report, sales reps who use social media for prospecting say that Facebook is the most effective, followed by Instagram and LinkedIn.

In regards to prospect research, reps say Facebook is the most effective, and LinkedIn and Instagram are tied for second.

4. Be an influencer and share helpful content.

The role of a salesperson is changing in 2024 as buyers are researching products and services on their own and building their knowledge before ever reaching out to a sales rep.

This shift allows salespeople to become influencers on social media by sharing the helpful content buyers look for when doing their research. Tyre says, “Salespeople have the opportunity and the responsibility to amplify good information to help prospects gain a better understanding of solutions. Because social media is critical to finding potential solutions in the attract-phase, publishing helpful information is a big differentiator."

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5. Demonstrate interest by interacting with your prospects' content.

Engagement is the name of the game when it comes to social selling. Tyre underlines this point, telling me: "I find that prospects and customers appreciate it when you share pertinent information and help expand their reach."

Engaging online also conveys that you're familiar with the prospect and their work. As Tyre observes, "If I am going to target an account, I always follow them on Twitter and have some interaction before I call or email so that they know I did my research and I want to help them get more business."

When you interact with people on social channels, you learn more about their interests and pain points, which clues you into exactly how you can help them. With this understanding, it’s much easier to inform the type of content you share and craft an effective value proposition as you nurture them further down the sales funnel.

50+ for Social Selling on LinkedIn and Beyond

Use this guide to improve your social selling efforts and close more deals from platforms like...

• LinkedIn
• TikTok
• Instagram
• And more!

Download Now for Free Learn more

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Download Now

6. Be yourself, and be sincere.

Kathleen Rush, Sales Manager at HubSpot, suggests that sales reps stay true to themselves through their social selling efforts. According to her, "I live by this mantra in person and on social media — be yourself, and be sincere. And your audience will naturally grow as a result."

She adds, "When you affirm how you genuinely feel about a client or a product, you build authenticity as a helpful resource. Once that trust is established, the conversations can really begin! Watch those views and shares grow!"

Barrett J. King, Sr. Director of Revenue at New Breed, seconds this and tells me it’s crucial to be authentic: “Readers and buyers can 100% feel the difference between content that's rooted in real experience vs. content that's fake and fashionable. If you want to build trust (which you can't sell without), authenticity is the only path.”

7. Build credibility with LinkedIn recommendations.

When I touched base with Marlon De Assis-Fernandez, Principal Account Executive at HubSpot, he had this to say: "When I think about social selling, I think about how I can use my social media to build social proof."

For De Assis-Fernandez, a great way to do this is by building (and then leveraging) your LinkedIn recommendations.

He told me, "Having a slew of recommendations can help showcase your integrity. For those that I haven't worked with, I like to point them in the direction of my recommendations on LinkedIn to hear straight from other customers I've worked with. The key is being genuine."

He adds, "If you do a great job solving for the customer, they'll always be keen to provide feedback — and the more you solve for them, the more positive that feedback will be. It's a great habit to get feedback after a sales process and even better to have that feedback displayed in the form of a LinkedIn recommendation."

8. Use data to inform your social selling strategy.

For business leader and author Melonie Dodaro, a good social selling strategy is backed by data.

In her own words, "To improve your social selling strategy on LinkedIn, it’s important to regularly analyze your data and adjust your approach based on your findings."

There are several key performance indicators (KPIs) worth tracking, like profile views, connection requests, and leads generated.

Of course, you need to define your goals so you have something to measure for. For instance, maybe you want to increase your network by 20% — or generate X-number of leads via LinkedIn each month. Then, you can determine which tactics are helping you move closer to your goal.

9. Stay consistent.

Building relationships with prospects takes time. This is why consistency is a key ingredient for any sales strategy — online or not.

For instance, Tyre recommends sales reps post at least weekly on LinkedIn, along with individual follow-ups with prospects who engage with your content.

He told me, "Generally, the key is to have three or four interactions within 10-12 days, which shows professional persistence without overwhelming your prospect."

Back to You

Developing strong social selling skills is easier said than done — still, sales reps stand to gain a lot from making that development a priority.

Social media isn't going anywhere, and when properly navigated, it can be a powerful resource for understanding, connecting with, and ultimately making deals with prospects.