Menu
In the world of online marketing strategies, two terms that are often used interchangeably are “Digital Selling” and “Social Selling.” However, it’s essential to understand that there are distinct differences between the two. Digital Selling refers to the use of digital assets to engage with customers, while Social Selling involves using social networks to build relationships and engage with potential customers.
Understanding Digital Selling
Digital Selling is a broad concept that encompasses various strategies and techniques aimed at finding and engaging customers online. It involves leveraging technology to identify and reach potential customers, ultimately driving sales and revenue. Some key components of Digital Selling include:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): By improving your website and content’s visibility in search engine results, you can attract more clients.
- Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs): These are virtual spaces where sales professionals can interact with customers, showcase products or services, and close deals.
- Content Marketing: Making and sharing valuable and interesting material to get potential customers’ attention and keep them interested. This includes movies, infographics, blog posts, and more.
- Pay-per-click Advertising: Advertising on search engines and social media sites to attract new visitors and produce new leads.
- Email Marketing Campaigns: Developing relationships with potential consumers through carefully focused email campaigns.
With digital sales, companies can run targeted campaigns with highly personalized messaging and content. This boosts interaction and sales, which in turn propels company expansion.
Exploring Social Selling
Social Selling, on the other hand, is a specific tactic within the broader scope of Digital Selling. It entails interacting with potential clients on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Social Selling focuses on creating meaningful conversations and interactions with prospects rather than pushing sales pitches.
Some key elements of Social Selling include:
- Personal Branding: Building a solid online presence and reputation as an industry expert or thought leader.
- Engaging in Conversations: Actively participating in discussions and conversations on social media platforms to establish connections and provide value to potential customers.
- Using the Power of Influence: Leveraging your network and relationships to drive conversations and influence buying decisions.
- Relationship Building: Developing and nurturing relationships with prospects through personalized interactions and tailored content.
Social Selling is not about making quick sales but rather about building trust and establishing long-term relationships with customers. It is an effective way to engage with potential buyers, understand their needs, and provide them with valuable insights and information.
The Intersection of Digital Selling and Social Selling
While Digital and Social Selling are distinct concepts, they are closely intertwined and often work together to achieve marketing goals. Digital Selling provides the framework and infrastructure for businesses to leverage digital assets and technologies, while Social Selling adds a personal touch and focuses on building relationships.
To successfully implement Digital Selling and Social Selling strategies, businesses need to adopt a holistic approach. This requires managing customer support, marketing, and sales to ensure a unified customer experience throughout all contact points. It also requires integrating digital tools and technologies into the sales process, enabling sales professionals to leverage social media platforms and engage with customers in a personalized and meaningful way.
The Importance of Human Interaction in Digital and Social Selling
While technology plays a crucial role in Digital Selling and Social Selling, it should never replace human interaction. At some point, the conversation needs to move from the digital realm to a more personal space, such as a phone call or video meeting. Automation and scheduling tools can help facilitate the process, but human interaction is critical for building trust and establishing solid relationships.
Driving Digital Sales Requires Digital and Social Selling
Even though social selling is an integral part of digital selling, especially in this day and age, you will need more than just the results you want.
Digital shopping changes all the time. Engaging with business and social networks online and using all the digital sales tools you have access to to make more sales is what it seems like.
Digital selling, now an essential part of any sales process, means organizing your content and setting up a whole environment to track how your audience uses your content.
Your company has a great chance of making a name for itself with possible partners and customers alike if it makes clever use of all the digital assets it has access to.
Working Together in Person and Online
The part of the human is the other vital thing to consider in all of this. Digital and social selling are handy tools, but they should only be used in talking to people in person.
At some point, the conversation needs to move to a more private place, like Zoom or Teams.
Because of this, some businesses make tools for automating and planning posts on LinkedIn and Twitter. These are things like Dripify, Hootsuite, Buffer, and Owlead. There are lots of them.
But it’s essential to put a person at the center. Scheduling Tweets is a good idea, but the main point of all your Tweets (and LinkedIn posts) should be to get people to interact with you and create value, which leads to discussions. That means you must figure out when the software and schedules stop doing their job, and you take over. This is very important, especially for Social Selling.
FAQ’s
1. What does digital selling mean?
Digital selling is offering goods or services for sale online through different digital outlets, like websites, emails, social media, and online ads. It means using technology and online platforms to find possible customers, get them interested, and turn them into paying customers.
2. What does social selling mean?
On the other hand, social selling is a type of digital selling that focuses on using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to build relationships with customers and leads. It means sharing relevant material on social networks, interacting with possible buyers, and getting leads and sales.
3. What’s the difference between selling online and selling on social networks?
When you sell something digitally or socially, the significant difference is the channels and methods you use. Digital selling includes more than email marketing and online ads. It also provides website improvement and email marketing. This is different from social selling, which is more about using social media to make connections and make sales.
4. What are the pros of selling things online?
Digital selling has many advantages, such as a more extensive reach because companies can target customers worldwide, more interaction with customers through different online channels, and the ability to observe and study customer habits and choices. It also lets companies handle some parts of the sales process, which makes them more efficient and productive.
5. What’s the point of social selling in the sales process?
Social selling makes the sales process more valuable by letting companies connect with possible customers on a personal level. Salespeople can connect with potential customers on social media sites, give them personalized suggestions and help, and build trust and trustworthiness. This method helps to keep leads interested, boost sales rates, and build lasting relationships with customers.
Digital Selling and Social Selling are two distinct yet interconnected strategies that businesses can leverage to engage with customers and drive sales. While Digital Selling uses technology and digital assets to find and engage customers online, Social Selling takes it further by leveraging social media platforms to build relationships and create meaningful conversations.
