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~ Column Carola ~

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NO SUCCESS IN YOUR BUSINESS WITHOUT THE RIGHT
SOCIAL SELLING STRATEGY

Text: Carola Rodrigues // Photos: Kim Booij

ast time, I talked about the importance of The importance of personal branding
your most important KPIs (Key Performance In this article, I will take you through the nine steps of the
LIndicators) in your organisation and your Social Selling Strategy. And in the next and last article of this
employees. Based on the Social Selling Philosophy, series, I will explain it step by step. You will receive a mini-
we believe that every employee is an ambassador for course on paper from me in the hope that you can complete
your organisation. Everyone expresses employee these steps for your business then implement and reap the
pride and thus contributes to a positive brand image. benefits. The basis of the Social Selling Strategy is Personal
A shop assistant is just as important as the director. Branding. In this case, when thinking and working it out,
The cleaner who walks around on-site is just as im- the corporate identity and brand are equally subordinate.
portant as the receptionist. For me, as a consumer, Personal branding means that you give your people the space
everything contributes to a positive or negative to position and load their own powerful brands as mini
experience of your brand and organisation. brands of the big brand. We do this with valuable content
that addresses the urgency/pain of your target group. You
Quarrel between sales and marketing create and build a personal brand based on 100% authenticity.
Sales are responsible for raking in the leads and converting We leave tricks at home. People do business with people, and
them into deals and sales. And marketing is responsible for we want authenticity and purity in the contact and in the
facilitating good-quality leads. The most common complaint connection.
from sales about the marketing department is that marketing
does not throw purely qualified leads over the fence. And The Social Selling Strategy in 9 steps
marketing’s biggest grumble is that sales promise all kinds of Everything starts with having a goal. As simple as it reads,
things to win that deal, which the organisation cannot deliver. it is. What goal do you set with the Social Selling Strategy?
Both departments always work together under a certain The next two steps are inextricably linked, namely ‘target
tension. And now I am telling you this: sales and marketing group’ and ‘proposition.’ How well do you know your ideal
should not be two separate departments. It should be one to customer? Do you speak his or her language? Do you know,
achieve your ideal business strategy and results. understand, and feel the urgency of the target group? And
which proposition from the organisation fits in seamlessly
Create your ideal world with this? This also includes your promise. These are steps 1
It is your business, your product, your service and your market to 3: Goal, Target
and target group, and yet you (often) allow yourself to be
guided and distracted by outside influences. What is the Group and Proposition. We then proceed to step 4, which
competitor doing? What are the latest developments? Come is social media channels. The question you must ask yourself
on, we have got to go with it. Stay close to yourself, to the here is, ‘Where is my target group?’ and you can, therefore,
DNA and core values of the organisation. Pursue authenticity. also find relevant content there. Step 5 is content; what
In everything you do, who you are and what you want to different content resources are there? What suits us well? And
radiate. Authenticity is key in the world in 2023. You do not what do I like? Can I persevere to keep bringing?
have to keep reinventing the wheel. Sticking to your reading
in terms of core business works well in this case. It is much The next step is content planning. Without planning, you
more about showing yourself, claiming the role of thought shoot blanks, and that does not get you anywhere. Provide a
leader, and bringing out your people as powerful personal well-thought-out content planning of three to six months.
brands. If you are going to do that, you will automatically The seventh step is not a real step, but it is truly relevant
attract the right customers. As a customer magnet, customers because only now do you come into ACTION. The steps
come to you instead of you having to peddle. before were preparation. Now, it is going to start. The Social

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