The way e-commerce sales occur is changing. Originally, cold calling, emailing, and directories were the only tools. Unlike social selling, their effectiveness was very limited.
A recent study showed that sales achieved by telephone marketing were 0.3%. In other words, out of every 1,600 calls, only 5 sales meetings were achieved.
But today companies have a wide range of marketing strategies. In recent years, social selling has made its way, and more and more e-commerce stores are encouraged to use it.
But why social selling? Let’s give another figure: 64% of the companies that use a social media strategy reach their imposed sales quota (target), while only 49% of the companies that carry out a more traditional method reach that quota.
In other words, 15% more effectiveness is achieved by betting on the most current and digital methods. But what is social selling?
What is social selling and why e-commerce stores should start using it?
Modern consumers want to be informed, they like to be on the cutting edge and know opinions before taking the step to acquire a product.
One of the best ways for companies to satisfy this new consumer need is to use social media. This is where the importance of social selling lies.
In simple words, social selling means selling with the help of creating a relationship with customers. But before going any further, you need to read the “Social Selling as an Amazing Approach: Definition, Best Practices, and Benefits” article to understand the social selling concept.
So, what is the importance of social selling within a company? It’s a more direct strategy for connecting with your target audience.
In other words, the immediacy of social networks makes both the company and the client have much more direct contact in conversations, and possible doubts are resolved in a much more personalized way.
And this last point is of vital importance for this new era of consumers.
Also, using this method we get to the crux of the question and why social selling is important: while the traditional method looks for a short-term relationship, social media helps to establish a company-customer relationship for the future, long term and secure more sales throughout that established relationship.
4 benefits for understanding why social selling is important
If you are still in doubt as to why it is important to use social selling in your company or in your e-commerce, below we will detail some of its main advantages. You can’t miss them!
Contribute to generating valuable leads
The most important thing about carrying out a strategy in which social selling is going to be used is to be able to get an important base of clients and try to maintain a lasting relationship that allows achieving the objectives set by a company.
In the social media sector, this type of potential client is known as a “lead”. The companies use these users to send them advertising -normally personalized and of their interest- in order to achieve that in the end purchase is materialized.
However, these leads can be users who fill out forms with their data, subscribe to a newsletter, for example, or leave their data to the company by any other means.
Allows you to increase brand awareness
Another benefit of social selling is that it will increase what is known as brand awareness.
What does this mean? Well, the company will be able to get the client to remember to a greater or lesser extent the brand from which it receives advertising.
In other words, the literal translation of this digital marketing term is brand awareness.
If online businesses or companies that have a good Social Media strategy are able to connect with customers -leads- in a much more personal way, it is very possible that these users will be able to recognize the brand in any situation and it is very possible that the trust generated will also be increased.
Helps to be more in touch with the customer and their needs
Perhaps the best answer to why social selling is good for a company is what we have told you before the most direct contact with the client/consumer.
Social selling will allow the company to have a closer relationship with customers and thus achieve longer-lasting relationships, more thinking about the future than in the short term as could be the case of more traditional companies: the use of the cold door.
Also, it is inevitable that using social selling will not get more data on tastes and this will result in a greater chance of achieving sales more quickly and conveniently.
It helps to know the market and to get better products in front of the competition.
Let’s not fool ourselves: every company that implements a marketing strategy is trying at all times to achieve as many sales as possible.
And, of course, take customers away from the competition and let them keep the products you offer. And that is why, thanks to social selling, any business – physical or online – will know better the market niche in which it “plays”.
Knowing the tastes, and interests, which products arouse more interest among leads or which are the most successful campaigns among the public, will, therefore, help to get a better understanding of the market.
In addition, it will help meet the needs of the target audience in a much more reliable way, that is, to position the products offered among the first purchase options.
At this point, it is time to summarize and understand why social selling is beneficial for any company that wants to be on the latest trend of the moment.
Today’s consumers are much more alive, they want to be informed to the maximum before taking the step in a purchase. And that is why e-commerce stores should bet on maintaining a closer and more direct business-client relationship.
In this way, they will be able to know the market in which they operate and thus bet on products that are better suited to the needs of the target audience, in addition to getting a better representation of the brand at other levels and reaching more customers that would otherwise be impossible to reach.
There is still more to learn about this interesting topic. Read the “Why social selling on Facebook is essential to your ecommerce marketing strategy” article.
