Do they hear you? Get the right content to the right audience!

09/14/2018

During the last years “social selling” has become a must within the sales process. It is the ability to develop 1/1 relationships, identifying your target audience and finding a warm path into that person rather than cold calling. It takes place offline: sharing relevant content and information, interacting directly, personal branding…, but more and more this often takes place online via social networks, for instance LinkedIn, WeChat, Xing, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

Social selling has gained popularity during the last years in a variety of industries and it is used primarily for B2B (business-to-business). Companies are now using those techniques and have translated them to social media, because we all know that the B2B audience is also online at least as much as the B2C audience. A fast-growing part of B2B personnel researching online are millennials, digital natives, and according to Sprout Social, 84% of C-level executives use social media to support their purchasing decision. At Balluun we believe in social selling as very effective in a constantly changing selling and buying environment.

Social selling made easy: attract and engage buyers while expanding your industry network

The first step of social selling is finding the audience in order to address the right people we want to engage, and as Google research found (Google/Millward Brown Digital, B2B Path to Purchase Study, 2014), often it is better to focus on the ecosystem around the B2B research process, often consisting of younger people, rather than targeting only the highest level such as C-suits. B2B personnel researching online influence purchasing decisions, and if you're only addressing the highest-level executives, you will miss the people who need to be involved.

The second step is the content: what content is the most appropriate? According to Forbes the most appreciated materials in B2B purchasing research to read before taking any purchasing decisions are white papers, webinars, case studies, infographics and blog posts. Predictive content is the most wanted. Business teams crave new information, trends, innovations, interesting figures, … nobody wants to be reading just a sales pitch!

The third step is how we present the content. Video plays a huge role in today’s fast-moving communication. According to Google 70% of B2B buyers and researchers watch videos throughout the entire path to purchase. And we are not talking only about short clips - researchers also watch videos which last 30 minutes or more to be informed about a product or a company they are interested in. Videos about product features are top of the list, followed by how-to’s and professional reviews. B2B researchers watch videos because they find it highly useful to learn about things and products, comparing and researching and sharing useful information with peers.

Capture leads, stay connected and nurture audiences with the help of intuitive technology

Finding the right audience and creating appealing content are the basis for social selling. We need to keep creating value to support and feed our 1/1 relationships. When people, both buyers and sellers, enter a dedicated B2B marketplace such as the solution that we power at Balluun, they automatically enter a network where they find the specific audience for their business; here retailers can easily get in touch with potential customers while buyers can browse around the clock and discover products, trends, brands, innovations and industry-specific content. Starting and growing a 1/1 relationship within a selected audience, makes time even more valuable!  Brands and sellers can focus directly on showcasing their products or services, uploading product photos and videos, personalizing their profile with banners and widgets, and being active and sharing valuable content in the social feed. The CRM customer relationship management tool behind it is very simple and has two ultimate goals: improving business relationships and making social selling easier.

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