Social networks have become powerful marketing tools for companies. Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are some of the clearest examples. For example, the younger ones are regular consumers of content through these and other platforms. According to a study conducted by PEW Research, 81% of millennials use Twitter at least once a day. While 22% of the world’s population uses Facebook, according to a study published by Statista.
As a result, more and more companies decide to use social selling applications in their different marketing strategies. As proof of this, and according to a study by the Aberdeen Group, 73% of salespeople who used social selling tools during their sales process outperformed their colleagues and achieved the 23% quota more frequently.
Using social selling applications can help marketing teams: 53% of salespeople want to help to better understand social sales, according to A Sales Guy Consulting. Companies interested in this type of marketing have at their disposal a wide range of options, such as the veteran Hootsuite, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or rFactr.
Below is a selection of the best social selling applications, with their different features and characteristics:
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
If there is one social network that focuses on the professional field, it is LinkedIn in which professionals and companies interact with each other. And for them, the team of developers has created a tool called LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which is considered one of the applications to sell on social networks more interesting.
This function of the professional social network is a powerful application of social selling indicated to sellers. The reason? Leads (potential customers) are obtained for each user’s products. In addition, and for greater customization has different versions of payment, plus a powerful filter to reach customers more accurately.
Nimble
Social networks are full of potential customers. That’s why companies need tools that simplify their work and can look for new sales opportunities.
Nimble is a solution that integrates seamlessly with tools such as Google Apps or Office 360, as well as different email clients. And all this by automatically importing detailed contact information.
It is also able to improve customer interaction by offering a simple way of systematically prospecting with potential customers. Nimble offers two premium versions and a 44-day trial version.
Followerwonk
Another application to sell on social networks is Followerwonk. This tool is specific for use with Twitter. Thanks to this application, companies will obtain relevant data such as locations from which followers connect; the times in which more interactions are obtained; as well as obtaining comparisons between different Twitter accounts with which companies want to contact to carry out a marketing campaign.
Awario
Having all the reactions of the target audience at your fingertips is essential for successful marketing strategies. Awario is a tool that helps monitor all reactions to the product that companies market. It is a quick way to interact with customers and companies can be present in all conversations.
Awario can work with different social networks: Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, or Reddit. In addition, this social tool is also capable of discovering conversations in blogs and online publications.
rFactr
Another tool that new 21st-century salespeople can use to improve their sales is rFactr, a company that has been dedicated for years to improving business-client interaction through social networks.
rFactr integrates seamlessly with networks such as Facebook or Twitter and facilitates conversations with potential customers. Content can also be created and programmed for better workflow and performance.
Of course, rFactr will also be able to monitor the activity of the competition, as well as fully track sales and all their details.
HootSuite
One of the local veterans is HootSuite. A powerful tool for professionally managing social networks and one of the applications of social selling.
The different company profiles must provide content. And what better way than to be able to program all the messages that you want to distribute through the different networks? Scheduled mass mailings of more than 300 messages distributed by social networks will make the marketing strategy of a company can reach more target audiences.
360Social
Some solutions can work independently and others like 360social work with a web browser. In this specific case, Google Chrome is one of the most popular multiplatform browsers.
360social gathers in real time all the information of those users of different real platforms: Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, Slideshare, Youtube, Github, and About.me, Crunchbase, Flickr, Instagram, Vimeo, Tumblr, Connect.me, Klout.com, Stackoverflow, Quora, and Plaxo, among others.
And is that knowing all the details of the users with whom you want to interact can be a laborious job that this free plugin can facilitate and save time.
Meltwater
Meltwater was founded in Norway in 2001. Since its inception, the company has focused on digital media monitoring. And more recently the possibility of covering social networks was added. Meltwater is a tool that provides from one place (control panel) information about how the public reacts to a company’s products.
It is also important to have data on which messages sound the most on the networks. That’s why Meltwater also provides metrics about this data to improve different marketing strategies. As if that weren’t enough, companies can also keep an eye on the competition by monitoring specific keywords or products.
Presenting all the above options, it seems clear that social networks are important in digital marketing. With the adoption of this new way of selling, companies will give a more modern image to their business, being an excellent way to build relationships between seller and customer very durable.
Not surprisingly, companies with consistent social sales processes are 40% more likely to achieve their revenue goals than their competitors, according to SalesForLife.