A summary of how B2B marketers can support the sales team's journey to social selling: 1. The marketing department should create shareable and relevant content that the sales team can promote via social channels. This includes blog posts, expert videos, graphics, humour etc. 2. The content should be hosted and shared via corporate profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter, SlideShare, corporate blogs…) for employees to access and share. We should also be using the corporate accounts to amplify and interact with employees (especially in their early days on social media). 3. Sharing and interacting on social media can be confusing even for seasoned users. It’s important that the marketing department provides tools, advice and on-going support. This can include anything from basic training and guidelines through to recommended lists of influencers/prospects. 4. Successful social selling comes with strong social media profiles. Salespeople need to remember that their LinkedIn and/or Twitter accounts act as their business card. There’s a lot that marketing teams can do to help salespeople get the basics right. 5. All of the above should create the platform that salespeople can use to create sales opportunities. Which can be further supported by marketing monitoring and sharing potential opportunities to interact.

1. MARKETING’S ROLE SUPPORTING SOCIAL SELLING
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CORPORATE
CONTENT
CORPORATE
PROFILES
• LinkedIn
• Company page
• Showcase page
• Groups
• Twitter
• Website
• YouTube
• Slideshare (presentations, PDF’s)
• Pinterest (images, infographics)
• Blog (repository)
• Expert/influencer videos
• Content ‘experiences’
• Humour
• Graphics
• Buying-cycle content
• ‘Content feed’ service
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INDIVIDUAL
SALESPEOPLE
PROFILES
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Industry forums
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OPPORTUNITIES
• Introductions and engagement
• Inbound leads/content marketing
• Events
• Reputation
• Learning
The Great Barn, The Old Estate Yard, East Hendred, Wantage, Oxfordshire, OX12 8JY +44 (0) 1235 833233 info@themarketingpractice.com themarketingpractice.com
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MANAGEMENT
AND SUPPORT
• Target audiences
• Influencer list
• Monitoring and alerts
• Automated posting
• Tools/training/guidelines
• Analytics and reporting