Social selling isn’t what a lot of people think it is. It might have been the ‘fishing with dynamite’ / ‘e-cold calling’ show once upon a time, when early B2C adopters were cashing in on vast, engaged new audiences, and B2B marketers were steering sales teams through the largely uncharted waters of LinkedIn.

 

But the game has changed. And where it isn’t yet, it will.

 

Forget about the ‘LinkedIn Set’ – that inner circle of self-styled influencers who make a lot of noise and a lot of money telling marketers and sales people what social selling is and how to do it. (Surprisingly, it usually revolves around committing to platforms, programmes and processes that influencers have significant buy in with…)

 

The only truth the influencers are demonstrating is that social selling is about finding new ways to socialize and share ideas. So it’s about personality, personal brand and finding new routes to boost exposure and share of mind.

 

The money they’re making from speaking at conferences, public appearances and book revenue also demonstrates another truth – that socializing and sharing ideas isn’t just for online anymore.

 

Social selling is still relevant, it can still work, and it can still have immense value… but that relies on fewer sheep and more marketing and sales leaders. More on that next in the coming weeks…

 

Drop us a comment on the Whiteboard Strategies Linkedin pagewe would love to hear your thoughts on social selling, whether you agree with me on this or any other comments.

 

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– Tom @ WSL