Sales

3 examples of social selling done right

By Steve Watt — On May 2, 2024

Ensuring the floor of the hospital you're building is perfectly flat.

Helping your employees return to work after parental leave with minimal disruption.

The intersection between AI and humans in the modern corporation.

Whatever it is a buyer values, there's likely a social seller putting it all out there for them. They're buyer-centric, modern sellers who regularly show up and speak up on LinkedIn. They have a very different mindset and approach from what we've seen in the past.

They're pulling the world toward them and building reputations, relationships, and trust at scale. They're magnets for the right conversations, with the right people, at the right time. And, they're driving big revenue results.

As enablement leaders, it's essential that we help sellers develop and continuously sharpen the mindsets, skillsets, and approaches they need to thrive. In today's world, where buyers are inundated with non-stop sales and marketing messages, sellers need to rise above the noise. They need to stand out in positive ways.

And social selling, done right, can give them that critical edge.

While some articles on social selling examples focus on tactics, this one is different. We're going to focus on the sellers. We'll explore what they do, why they do it, and how it drives success for themselves and for their company.

Mattias Svensen | Senior Account Manager | FARO Technologies

Mattias sells complex equipment to highly technical and very demanding buyers. Some are building hospitals or immense medical equipment production facilities. Others are retrofitting ships to meet highly regulated environmental standards. It's serious business, and Mattias delivers serious learning to his customers and his future customers across northern Europe.

He knows it's not enough to reshare his company's marketing content, even if it's great material. He also uses LinkedIn to share his own insights and learnings in an authentic way.

"I don't want to be generic. I want to share my own experience. That's how to stand out," he told me on a recent call.

"My main interest is to develop my business. I want to show what we can do in the field. That's not shown in a product sheet or in a fancy video. It comes from experience. I have lots of customers who don't know about all the capabilities we have. There is no better, no more efficient way than using LinkedIn for that. If you can do that together with a personal flavor, you have a good formula."

Mattias provides a great example of social selling into industries where decision-makers are hard to reach and hard to build trust with.

Ashley Coghill | Director of Enterprise Accounts | Parentaly

Ashley is on a mission. Of course, she cares a whole lot about the growth of her small company. That's crystal clear when she shares the names of the giant firms she's working with.

But she has real passion for more than her own success. She's an outspoken advocate for women in sales. She champions the cause of working parents. She urges companies to do a better job of supporting those on, and returning from, parental leave.

"I consider LinkedIn like a community," she says. "I feel like I'm giving and very rarely taking away from LinkedIn."

Let's think about what she's saying. The notion that LinkedIn is a community of professionals is central to the thinking of the most successful social selling strategies. It's a sharp contrast to the outdated notion that LinkedIn is a giant Rolodex of people that we ought to bombard with connection requests and pitch-slaps.

"The whole point is to be there, to be present, and to be engaged," she continues. "Of course, I'm intentionally making sure I'm connected to the right people so when I post something they're going to see it, but it's about building a public reputation."

"Pick a couple of things you actually care about, post about those things consistently, and it will just sort of snowball from there," Ashley advises.

And to those who say they don't have time social selling? "It's a fundamental difference of opinion on how sales should be done. I don't believe that a transactional, quick-win sale is something that lasts. As part of a strategy to get into an enterprise account, building a reputation as someone they want to work with is invaluable."

DeJuan Brown | Director, Modern Workplace – Financial Services and Insurance | Microsoft

DeJuan is a fantastic example of social selling with real passion and heart in one of the world's largest enterprises. He brings a big personality, a keen intellect, and he addresses a wide range of topics spanning AI, growth mindsets, continuous learning, mentorship, and more.

His social selling journey maps to the fundamental changes that many of us have experienced on LinkedIn. "I started in 2008," DeJuan told me. "I thought this was where I'd have my living, breathing resume. It was like tick-marks, accomplishments, trophies and accolades. Things that made me more appealing to potential employers.

"That transitioned into seeing that LinkedIn was a place where I could educate those who I serve. I could share content they care about, and I could put some commentary on it to show that I think about it. I'm not just posting this stuff. In the past few years, that evolved to realizing that people want to know people. Sales is a human contact sport. We need to bring the humanity to the table."

I asked DeJuan what holds so many sellers back from doing what he does. "There's so many ways to get involved," he says. "Often, we think if I'm going to put myself out there on LinkedIn, I need to be an amazing author because I need to pen something from scratch. But what's the power of joining conversations that already exist? What's the power of reposting with some comments of your own? You don't have to write four hundred words. You can just say 'this is interesting to me, and this is the main reason why'. You don't need to be an expert. Do you have a perspective? Agree? Disagree? Say those things!"

And the impact of all this? DeJuan says "I've gotten meetings with so many C-Suite inhabitants by virtue of the content I post on LinkedIn. The familiarity of who I am prior to my reach out is critically important. It's such a short walk from a conversation that's already started in LinkedIn comments and posts to a call or a meeting. It makes so much sense because it follows a path of continuity. There's nothing abrupt about it. A cold call is abrupt. A conversation that starts on LinkedIn and moves to the phone or to Teams is much more organic."

It all starts with the right mindset

The best social selling examples aren't hacks or tactics. Instead, successful social selling starts with the right mindset. It's important to understand why people are on LinkedIn in the first place. Then, show up with an honest intent to educate, inspire, and help your current and future customers.

Sellers who join this great ongoing business conversation with a 'balanced diet' of interesting and valuable content rise above the crowd. Keep in mind that good social media selling is about more than pushing your company's marketing content. If that's all sellers share, they'll be seen as advertisers. Instead, an effective social selling strategy empowers sellers to be seen as experts and industry peers in their space.

And, if you're looking for more examples of social selling, you're in luck. My teammate Heather Cole and I recently interviewed Sam McKenna, CEO of #samsales Consulting for Go-to-Market Magic. Sam shared some excellent examples and tips for being a seller who buyers want to speak to. Give it a listen here!

Are you ready to harness the power of social selling?

Enablement leaders have a tremendous opportunity to usher in a new era of buyer-centric, authentically human social selling in their organizations. Seismic is here to help.

Seismic LiveSocial provides a unique feed of fresh, relevant content for each of your sellers. LiveSocial gives sellers access to authentic, compliant, and market-specific content right at their fingertips. It's easy for them to add their own voice and expertise that position them as trusted thought leaders. Interested in learning more? Watch this on-demand video or explore some frequently asked questions about LiveSocial here.

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It all starts with the right mindset

Are you ready to harness the power of social selling?

Enablement leaders have a tremendous opportunity to usher in a new era of buyer-centric, authentically human social selling in their organizations. Seismic is here to help.