The term “social selling” has been hitting the headlines hard lately and there’s certainly a major shift happening in the way companies interact with customers.

We believe that the tactics and strategies used in social selling apply to nearly every one whose success is dependent on the strength of their network - salespeople, marketers, recruiters, journalists, public relation professionals…the list goes on.

No matter what your profession, having a large network with strong connections will help you be more successful. It’s that simple. A great quote from Robin S. Sharma really fits with this week’s roundup content, “the business of business is relationships; the business of life is human connection.” One thing is certain, if you can build the right relationships, there’s no limit on what you can accomplish.

With that said, here’s the Nudge Social Selling Roundup #3 offering insightful commentary on some of our favourite content that will help you become better at growing the right relationships.

Twitter Overtakes LinkedIn As Number 1 Social Media Site For Salespeople

This was a great article backed by research proving that LinkedIn is far from the only useful social network when it comes to the professional landscape. We’ve had a quite a few discussions among our team highlighting the importance of Twitter when reaching out to new connections.

I love that the author, Mark Fidelman, gets quotes from a variety of social selling influencers and thought leaders commenting on this surprising trend. Although most of these folks indicated that they’re already using Twitter, it’s great to see that the rest of the professional world is moving in the same direction.

One commonality that you’ll read throughout the article is that nearly everyone uses Twitter to learn more about someone beyond just their professional profile. LinkedIn gives you a good foundation about someone’s experience and interests, while Twitter allows you to really learn in real-time what that individual finds interesting based on their activity. Highly recommend reading this article if you’re sceptical about Twitter!

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The Secrets to Social Selling

This was actually posted at the start of the month but I had to highlight it this week as it contains a ton of valuable information around not only social selling but building authentic relationships. This article caught my attention as it clearly highlights the fundamentals of relationship building which many sales folks often overlook.

Whether you’re looking to drive sales or simply build better relationships, this article can serve as a guide for getting started. John Rampton, the author of this post, creates a fairly simple list of things you must consider before leveraging social media and other digital channels to build and nurture the right relationships.

John highlights the importance of “listening” before actually reaching out to anyone. This is a critical first step as it will help you craft a highly personalized message to the individual you’re trying to connect with. On that note, being able to find mutual interests as you research makes crafting the right message a whole lot easier. I would recommend reading this article if you’re not getting the right responses (or any at all) when you try and connect with someone new.

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4 Effective Tips On How to Reach Influencers

What a perfect way to finish off our Social Selling Roundup this week given that Twitter is becoming more and more of a professional network and that you now have the strategy to build better relationships. It’s no secret that you have the ability to connect with nearly anyone online with the open nature of social media, no matter how influential that individual may be.

With all of these tools and resources at your disposal, why not try and find a few influencers that you’ve always wanted to reach out to and start a conversation? You’ll noticed one thing right away about building a relationship with an influencer…it takes time, hard work and thought provoking conversations that go beyond a 140 character tweet. Although getting on their radar with a few Tweets might help you get started.

I hope that by reading all 3 of these articles this week you now see how powerful your voice can be in the online world if you take the time to grow the right relationships. As Rhett Power, the author of this article highlights, you don’t need to reach out to superstars to make a huge impact. Finding influencers among the niche groups you want to reach can prove to be the most effective way in getting your message heard.

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That all we’ve got for this weeks Nudge Social Selling Roundup! Be sure to follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn and if you’re looking for a new tool to help you grow the right relationships be sure to sign up for Nudge Beta below - have a great week!