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10 social selling tools every small business needs

Discover 10 essential social selling tools and strategies to help small businesses boost sales, grow their audience, and build lasting customer relationships.

Kelly Moser Co-founder and editor at Home & Jet
Published at
Business owner checking social media

The rise of e-commerce has coincided with the emergence of some exciting sales and marketing techniques, and social selling is one of them. In this article, we’ll review some of the most valuable social selling tools for retailers, discuss the benefits of selling through social channels, and share tips for making the most of it.

What is social selling?

Social selling is a sales and marketing technique that taps into the relationships brands build on social platforms to sell their products. This technique uses a mix of building a social media presence and creating authentic connections with your audience. The goal is to leverage these relationships to make more sales.

There are a few social selling strategies you could use. You can make sales using tools built into social media channels or promote your offer by creating valuable content that features your products.

Benefits of social selling

There are several benefits of social selling:

  • Converting followers to customers

  • Creating more social media posts

  • Building community connections

  • Improving your online presence

  • Enhancing brand awareness

  • Shortening the sales cycle

All of these benefits ultimately lead to growth in your business’s sales.

What are social selling tools?

Social selling tools are software offerings that support various parts of the social selling process.

Some of this technology is built directly into social media platforms, like Instagram, TikTok, and similar apps. Others are standalone products designed to enhance the tools provided by social platforms.

10 social selling tools every small business owner needs

Let’s take a look at some tools that can help you with social selling success.

1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

This tool helps you find and connect with potential prospects on LinkedIn. You can tailor your outreach based on customer insights (interests and activities).

2. Hubspot Sales Hub

This tool integrates with popular social media platforms and delivers valuable insights (read: data) into your customers’ and prospects’ activities. These insights allow you to personalize your outreach campaigns.

3. Hootsuite

This tool helps you manage your social media platforms from a single dashboard. It also provides scheduling, analytics, and reporting tools.

4. Sprout Social

In addition to Hootsuite’s features, Sprout Social offers dedicated social selling tools, such as a lead capture form and a social CRM.

5. Salesloft

This tool can automate your sales process, from lead qualification to closing deals. You also get insights into your pipeline so you can focus on the right opportunities.

6. EveryoneSocial

EveryoneSocial enables brands to reach more customers on social media by distributing content more broadly.

7. TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop is a feature built into TikTok, a popular social media app focused on short-form videos. This social selling tool allows creators to sell products directly in their videos.

8. Instagram Shopping

This is a social selling tool fully integrated into the Instagram user experience. It enables users to shop for items with links added to images published on the app.

9. Facebook Shop

Another social selling tool from Meta, Facebook Shop is managed in the same suite as Instagram Shopping. However, social selling efforts come via Facebook instead.

10. Vidyard

Vidyard is an online video platform that enables users to create powerful sales videos to connect with their audiences more effectively. This platform uses AI video messaging to help you customize your social selling efforts.

Tips for successful social selling

Now that you’re more familiar with the best tools for social selling, let’s dive into a few tips for amplifying your efforts.

1. Study success stories

As mentioned, TikTok has emerged as a powerhouse for social selling thanks to its vast, engaged audience. TikTok’s unique platform allows businesses to create engaging content that resonates with viewers, turning followers into customers.

A prime example is SoFi, a personal finance company that leverages TikTok to showcase its services. It demonstrates how effective TikTok can be in promoting financial services in an accessible and relatable way.

For instance, SoFi uses TikTok to demystify financial terms by explaining the difference between APY and interest rates. This engaging strategy showcases their services, educates the audience, and has helped garner over 160k followers.

2. Streamline team communications

Since social selling requires collaboration from several departments, it’s crucial to streamline team communication to enhance productivity and cohesion. Integrating an employee communication app is valuable for effective collaboration within small businesses. It provides a centralized platform for team members to connect, share ideas, and collaborate on sales strategies.

3. Leverage social listening

Social listening is a technique that involves diving into comments, threads, and chat feeds where your followers (or members of your target audience) are discussing topics relevant to your brand or product. Assessing the comments and interactions on relevant content will provide valuable insights to improve your offer or hone your messaging to better connect with your community.

4. Incorporate social proof

Another great way to build trust and increase sales is to incorporate social proof into your social media content. This could include reviews, testimonials, and demos from happy clients.

Social proof and other user-generated content are valuable because they give your brand legitimacy and reassure potential customers about the quality of your product.

Start your social selling journey

With so many great social selling tools available, it’s time to level up your sales and marketing by tapping into social channels. Which tools and channels you use depend on your brand and your audience, so it’s worth exploring different options to find the tech stack that works best for you.

*This guide is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice.
**Melio does not provide legal, tax or accounting advice, and you should consult with a professional advisor before making any financial decisions.

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