15 Social Selling Statistics That Will Change Your Content and Sales Strategy in 2021

While 96% of marketers use content marketing, only 42% believe their content strategy is effective (1). The most common issue I encounter when it comes to content marketing effectiveness is not the quality or quantity of content. It’s the reach. If you have great content that doesn’t get in front of enough of the right people, it won’t drive business. Likewise, if you have a sales team spending their time on cold outreach, they will have low response rates. Bringing your content strategy and sales outreach strategies together can dramatically improve your sales and marketing RIO.

B2B decision-makers, buyers, and customers want to engage with sales representatives that know their business and industry. Trusting the people, they are working with is incredibly important to them. 

1. 90% of B2B decision-makers say they won’t respond to cold outreach (2)

2. 92% of B2B customers say they will respond to someone who has positioned themselves as a thought leader. (2)

3. 96% of decision-makers say they are more likely to consider a brand’s product or service if sales professionals have a clear understanding of their business needs. (3)

4. 51% of decision-makers rank trust as the number one factor they desire in a salesperson (3)

These decision-makers use social media, particularly LinkedIn, to stay connected with their industry and find new products. They are using it to make key purchasing decisions.  

5. 91% of B2B buyers are active on social media (4)

6. 77% of B2B buyers are going on social networks for information about the products and services they are considering (6)

7. 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level executives are influenced by social media when making purchasing decisions (6)

There is a huge opportunity for content shared by users to get more engagement on LinkedIn.

8. Users are 8x more likely to engage with content shared by a user than by a company (4)

9. There are 9B impressions on LinkedIn every week, but only 1% of users post content (7)

10. LinkedIn has 740M users, 310M log in at least once a month, and almost 125M log in once a day (5)

One of the biggest barriers for sales teams is a lack of training. They often know they should be doing more, but they aren’t sure what. 

11. 53% of salespeople want help in understanding social selling better (4)

12. 32% say their sales team lack confidence when engaging on social media (6)

13. 28% say they had a lack of understanding of social selling products, 27% said it was a general lack of training (6)

Your strongest marketing channel maybe your sales team’s social media, but due to a lack of training, they aren’t being utilized. Creating a program training your team and establishing a strong professional brand as a thought leader can support your team’s long-term success and overall goals. 

14. Companies with consistent social selling processes are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals than non-social sellers (4)

15. A social selling program can drive 16% better win rates, 2x pipeline, and deliver 48% larger deals. (4)

Book an appointment today to learn more about helping your team succeed with a social selling program.

Sources: 1 - https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdf 2 -  https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/social-selling-stats  3 - LinkedIn State of Sales Report Pocket Guide 4- https://everyonesocial.com/blog/social-selling-statistics/ 5 - https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#Statistics  6 - https://www.smallbizgenius.net/by-the-numbers/social-selling-statistics/ 7- https://kinsta.com/blog/linkedin-statistics/