The best approach to social selling on LinkedIn: a guide for Founders

Is it about time you started posting on LinkedIn? If you're a Founder – there's a huge chance you're missing out on if it's just something you've been meaning to get round to doing. These days, your potential customer and those key decision makers you want to get in front of is more likely to be hanging out on LinkedIn. So it's not enough for your sales teams to be there.

But it isn't just a numbers game over who has how many followers. It's also about creating opportunities to nurture business relationships with your target market which means it is a long term strategy. And if it is done well, it can be beneficial to your sales and marketing teams, as well as your own personal brand as an entrepreneur.

In this blog post, we look at what social selling is, its benefits, why LinkedIn is a top choice for many, and more.

What is social selling?

Social selling is a technique used by sales professionals to leverage social networks in the sales process. It involves using social media platforms to find and engage with potential customers, build relationships, and ultimately close sales. Social selling can also be used to help Founders establish credibility within their industry and build long term relationships.

At a high-level, to build a strong social selling strategy, you'll need to:

• Know exactly who your ideal customer profile is
• Build a strong personal brand
• Engage with relevant content
• Nurture relationships
• Leverage social media insights
• Keep an eye on metrics.

What are the benefits of social selling?

As a Founder, it's beneficial for you to start building a personal brand and your own LinkedIn network because you can use this channel to generate social media leads organically, build a community, gather insight into your target audience and more.

One of the main challenges Founders face is being intimidated especially if they have to build a personal brand from scratch. Sometimes, this intimidation manifests into imposter syndrome, often stopping a lot of entrepreneurs from taking that first step to start posting on LinkedIn. Instead of remaining frozen, we suggest using an experimental approach so that you can figure out what kind of LinkedIn post might work for you, and the type of LinkedIn content you want to share.

How do you choose the right social media channels?

Wondering why LinkedIn is a good place to start? How you choose the right social media platform comes down to where your ICP is likely to hang out. Research shows that there are at least 65 million key decision makers on LinkedIn alone, as of 2023.

7 tips to optimize your social selling efforts on LinkedIn

Unlike traditional sales techniques, social selling focuses more on soft selling approaches such as sharing relevant content, engaging with other LinkedIn users and building a personal brand. Even though it's a long term strategy, social selling on LinkedIn can transform the way you connect with potential customers and partners. We suggest getting started with the following tips.

1. Optimize your LinkedIn profile

Before you get started with any LinkedIn social selling strategy, make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date. LinkedIn profiles with little to no information can make you come across as spam. Especially if you've never interacted with the LinkedIn users you want to engage with.

Optimize your LinkedIn profile by making sure that the following information is up to date:

• Profile picture
• Tagline and profile
• Featured posts

2. Have a content marketing plan

If you're just getting started and aren't sure about what you should post, a content plan can come in handy. You can develop a content marketing plan that reflects your expertise and speaks to your target audience. It should include a mix of original and curated content.

Make sure your content marketing plan addresses:

• How often you can post.
• Your content pillars, so you know what to post about.

Our top tip? While your posts as a Founder doesn't have to be about your product or service every single time you post something – it's a good idea to check in with your sales and marketing team so that you have an idea of when they might be launching new features, the type of conversations the sales team has been having, and campaigns.

3. Start posting regularly

Regularly post articles, insights, and industry news that adds value to your network. Engage your audience with questions and calls-to-action to encourage interaction and feedback.

4. Find the right people

Success in social selling heavily relies on connecting with the right people which is why understanding your ideal customer profile is an important component.

Use LinkedIn's basic search and filter tools to identify potential leads, decision-makers, and influencers in your industry. Personalize your connection requests with a note about why you want to connect, perhaps commenting on a piece of content they shared or a common professional interest, to increase acceptance rates. You might also want to explore LinkedIn Sales Navigator which can also help you understand your social selling index score.

This is only available to LinkedIn Sales Navigator subscribers and helps you measure how effective you are at establishing your professional brand, finding the right people, building relationships and engaging with insights.

5. Use a CRM

As you become a social selling success, you'll need to find a way to capture a lot of the contact information of people you regularly interact with on LinkedIn. Instead of manually adding them to a spreadsheet only for it to be forgotten, we suggest using a CRM such as folk. Why? A CRM helps track all your interactions and sales progress with each connection. Tools like LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator can sync with most CRM systems (like folk). folk can support you and multiple business functions. This way, your marketing and sales teams can use it and crease separate contact lists for their campaigns and sales pipeline.

6. Establish a personal brand

Once you get the right rhythm of posting on LinkedIn, you should start thinking about your personal brand. Are there any topics you enjoy posting about that resonate with your target audience? What do you want to be known for in your industry? What is a personalized hashtag you can use that is unique to your brand?

7. Adopt an experimental approach

Adopt an experimental approach to your LinkedIn strategies. Test different types of content, posting times, and engagement techniques to see what yields the best results. Use LinkedIn analytics to measure the performance of your posts and interactions. This data will help you fine-tune your approach and optimize your efforts over time.

What is the best approach to social selling on LinkedIn?

Don't have much time but want to get started? Assuming that your LinkedIn profile is optimised and you've got the other basics sorted, we suggest paying attention to these two approaches.

1. Sharing valuable content

Sharing and creating valuable content increases your visibility and can establish you as a thought leader. This isn't about generating a lot of generic posts that you can write using generative AI. It's more about having meaningful conversations and sharing genuine insight.

When you consistently share high-quality content that is relevant to your industry, you position yourself as an authority or a thought leader. This approach helps you gain credibility among your peers and potential customers. By providing insights, analysis, or solutions that address common challenges or trends in your industry, you demonstrate your expertise and depth of knowledge. This builds trust—a critical factor in any B2B sales process.

2. Having meaningful conversations

Social selling is fundamentally about building and nurturing relationships rather than pushing a hard sell. Engaging in conversations allows you to learn more about your potential clients and tailor your interactions based on their responses and interests.

Conclusion

It's no secret that social sellers outsell peers who don't have a strong personal brand. As founders, your journey on LinkedIn is about more than just networking—it’s about strategically leveraging the platform to build and nurture relationships that drive business growth. Social selling is a long term strategy, but through it you can position yourself and your company as thought leaders, establish meaningful connections, and eventually convert these relationships into business opportunities. To make the most of your LinkedIn social selling strategy, remember the fundamentals: optimize your profile to reflect your professional brand, share valuable content and have meaningful conversations.

More resources

• What is social selling
• folk CRM for Founder-led sales
• How to leverage social media activities to outreach leads

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