Guide: Optimize your income with Social Selling in 2025

I'm not going to tell you the whole history of the Internet, but since its creation, the way purchasing and consumption works has been disrupted. There has been a revolution for every existing brand in the market.  

We went from looking on the Internet then calling to buy to:

• Being able to purchase directly via the Internet (E-commerce site), 
• Feel an experience as powerful as in store, 
• Buy on social networks and in “lives”

With instantly available information, product experiences on websites and social media, buyers can imagine the product much better today. This is why they buy the product of their favorite brand online now, and increasingly through social networks since 80% of French people are active on a daily basis on social networks. This is what we call the social selling, and this is precisely what we will see in this article: what is social selling, what are its advantages and how can salespeople use direct marketing communication to generate more sales? This is what we will see in this article👇 What is social selling?Definition Social Selling (= vente via un social network) is a strategy that aims to promote your professional brand through social networks.The idea is to arouse the interest of buyers through organic content and messages in order to establish a relationship of trust. In B2C, it has been essential in the digital marketing approach since its beginnings. This turning point took longer for B2B, but it has now also become essential. The difference with traditional sales techniques (for example cold calling) is that the sales process via social networks allows you tobuild relationships of trust and start a sale without necessarily having a commercial speech that could scare away the prospect. LinkedIn made a comparison table: 

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As you can see in the visual, the social selling consiste to engage in less commercial conversations, precisely to sell on networks social. Why is Social Selling important in 2025? NWe're in a time where community, connection, and conversation are key to selling. On social networks, it is possible to interact with the content of other users, connect with prospects, or even send private messages. According to LinkedIn, salespeople and sales teams who use Social Selling have 45% more opportunities than those who do not use it. So, ready to use the social selling ?How to implement an effective social selling strategyThe key steps to developing a social selling strategyIdentify business targets Knowing that each social network has its own code with very different users, so the idea is to know its target(s) and identify them. To do this, do not hesitate to use this template: 

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Thus, you will be able to understand your target, adapt your message and generate leads qualified. Choose the social network(s) Once your target is established, where is it located? Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube?  You must choose the channel(s) on which the targeted people are present, and define the strategy and objectives to achieve. In B2B, there is a social network which stands out from the crowd: LinkedIn. The platform has become absolutely essential for increasing the visibility of your sales team and highlighting their expertise. This is the social network number 1 professional in France (around 28 million users including 13 million active, and more than 500,000 French companies) and in the world. There is a very good chance that your prospects are on LinkedIn, so develop your social selling approach and go for it! Optimize your profile on LinkedIn The idea behind this sales technique, is that your salespeople develop their Personal Branding on the platform. Enter: 

• a salesperson who has no profile on social networks and who calls you to sell you his product;
• Or a salesperson with an optimized profile on LinkedIn who sends you a message to ask you questions

Who will you trust the most? (I already know the answer). Here is how our CEO, Thibault, wanted to optimize his profile: 

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1. He added an optimized banner with a slogan, the company logo and adapted visuals
2. A quality and optimized profile photo
3. A tagline showing his role in the company and Humanlinker's mission
4. His company logo 
5. A link to the site web of his business

This is a profile worthy of a successful salesperson! Add the right people to your network Social Selling is above all a question of network. Remember step 1, finding your target? The idea will be to add this target to your network to initiate a premier contact. Here are different ways to find your target: 

• Go to the search bar and type the keyword corresponding to your target (as in this visual) 

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For example, you could type “marketing director”. Next, click on "People", "2nd and 3rd level" relationship (because these are the people you do not yet have in your network), then select the geography if necessary. You have access to other filters, even more if you have LinkedIn Sale Navigator. 

• The other idea is to go to the Company page of the company you are targeting, click on "People", then when you go down, you will see all the people who work at the company. You can then connect with decision-makers. 

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• Finally, don't hesitate to add people who engaged with your content (those who liked or commented). They have already made a move towards you, so normally they will have no problem accepting you into their network. 

Create content An optimized profile is good, a solid network is good too. But sharing information and value is what will make your prospects trust you – and want to work with you. “If people like you they'll listen to you, but if they trust you they'll do business with you.” comme would say Zig Ziglar. What's "tricky" about this strategy is that as a salesperson, the worst idea is to want to highlight your company in all your content. The strategy is to have a content creation engaging, where you talk about different elements.
For example: your are campaign optimization software for salespeople You will speak: 

• From the commercial world in 2025, for visibility (50%) 
• Optimization campaigns, for expertise (30%) 
• Your tool and your offers, for sale (20%)

It's not the only strategy that exists, but you see what I mean: to sell, you don't have to sell. ANDbuild relationships trusted The last step but not the least: build relationships of trust. For what ? because that's when you'll be able to send private messages with prospects who already trust you. We wrote an article about the best messages to send to your prospects. Don't hesitate to take a look! Tools and techniques to use for social sellingHere are the most used tools on the market for "social media prospecting" B2B on LinkedIn: LinkedIn et Linkedin Sales Navigator LinkedIn's flagship tool for prospecting, offering advanced features for generate leads. It is far from free but it can be very effective for your prospect research. 

‍Humanlinker: knowing your target + hyperpersonalization + data In all objectivity, the best tool. 👀Humanlinker is a complete solution in which you can personalize your prospecting messages and improve the productivity of sales teams on LinkedIn and by email, thanks to automation and the integration of a CRM. Humanlinker has a database of more than 700 million contacts...In other words, you won't be able to not find your customers! 

​Waalaxy: Send connection requests automatically The simple and affordable tool for prospecting on LinkedIn effectively. Thanks to its free version, it is aimed at freelancers and businesses. 

‍Hubspot: CRM for social media campaigns Hubspot is a CRM (= system of relation clients) complete which allows you to automate emails, campaigns and even reminders, while following your prospects at each stage of their journey. This platform also allows you to monitor and optimize your customer service.

‍Best practices for a successful social selling strategyIf we had to give 3 good practices for those who use social networks to sell, here is what we would say: 

• Stop selling 

Rather than trying to constantly talk about your product, sell an offer, etc., my advice is to provide information, added value, And share content that will resonate with your audience and then convince them to buy your product or service. 

• Develop your personal branding through an optimized profile and a solid network 

​In 2025, your Personal Branding is a super-powerful strategy to tip the scales in your favor. Did you know? Only 1% of LinkedIn users create content. There is still plenty of room and a high chance of being seen as an expert in your field. 

• Measure performance 

We haven't talked about it yet, but as a sales team, I imagine you know very well that measuring your performance is absolutely necessary to improve your results. How can you read your results? by observing the performance of your content on LinkedIn, by looking at the response rate of your private messages, the acceptance rate, etc. Notable successes thanks to social sellingIt's time to introduce you to 2 companies that are succeeding thanks to and their Social Selling strategy : The Scalezia caseScalezia is a company specializing in supporting hypergrowth startups and SMEs. It uses social selling to position itself as a partner of choice for entrepreneurs.

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Here is his approach:

• The CEO and members of the team regularly share educational content on LinkedIn: case studies, tips for scaling your business and market insights.
• They personalize every interaction with their prospects using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify decision-makers and initiate conversations about their specific challenges.

And the results:

• Increase in the number of qualified leads thanks to strong organic visibility.
• Strengthening their image as experts among their target, which allows them to shorten the sales cycle.

The Aircall case

Aircall, a company that offers cloud telephony solutions for sales and support teams, uses social selling to target SMEs and startups.His approach:

• The company identifies decision makers through LinkedIn Sales Navigator and engage in conversations tailored to their needs.
• The team shares customer stories, webinars and use cases to show the value of their solutions.

And the results:

• Improved the conversion rate of leads identified via LinkedIn.
• Customers are retained thanks to relationships established during the prospecting phase.

So, if I had to learn from these successes, I would say that: 

• personalization is key: these companies succeed because they personalize every interaction; 
• content is a lever of influence: the most successful companies share high-impact content added value which have a very specific objective; 
• authentic interaction: the basis of the basis! A speech that is too commercial will scare away the prospect 

‍What are the advantages of social selling?No, Social Selling is not just a trend: it is the set up a powerful strategy to transform brand-related social networks into a prospecting and sales tool. Here are its advantages: 1. Improve customer relations I repeat: social media exists to create relationships and communities, hence the name. With existing tools on the market, you can even send personalized messages to hundreds or thousands of prospects in just a few clicks (yes yes, it's possible with Humanlinker) 2. Increase sales opportunities Who says social networks means millions of connections and therefore many opportunities to sell, and especially to sell to qualified prospects (i.e. who are more likely to respond positively to your offer because you have detected that they have a need). This strategy reduces the sales cycle (which can be very long in B2B), and allows the seller to respond to a specific need at the right time. 
3. Your credibility will be strengthened Your Social Selling strategy positions you as a reference in your industry or area of ​​expertise. By sharing useful content tailored to your audience, you will show prospects that you know your field inside out. If, for example, you publish content such as customer testimonials and concrete case studies, how can a prospect not fall under the spell of your talent? ☺️ How to use social networks to sell?You have understood, social networks are now essential for your brand, and for selling. Here's how to use them in 3 parts:

• Optimize profiles (that of salespeople and key people in the company)

Present a neat and clear image of your skills and your company. (see Thibault's profile above). 

• Share relevant content 

Your company's objective, market trend, new opportunities, case studies, ... we all have tons of stories to tell! 

• Engage in authentic conversations 

Respond to comments, ask questions and interact directly with your audience on the platforms to initiate a premier contact. Then, don't hesitate to chat in the comments, users love to be asked questions! 

• Bonus  

Use prospecting tools: they are there to know your target, write and schedule the sending of your messages, and analyze the results. ​Organize your content creation to last in the long term: it's not as simple as you think! What are the best practices for social selling?We have already talked about it a little, but I would like to return to the point of good practices, because some are very important: 1. Regularity : Post content consistently to stay visible. The content strategy that doesn't work will be the one you abandon2. Listen before you speak : use social networks to understand the needs of your audience, ask questions in private messages, etc.3. Avoid generic messages : big mistake! Each prospect should have a personalized connection, as if you were talking to them in real life 4. Provide value : your content must meet one of the following objectives: Is my content useful? Is my content entertaining? Does my content respond to a barrier in my audience?How to personalize your Social Selling messages?Personalization is the key to social selling, particularly in the sense that users expect a completely personalized conversation with their interlocutor. In this case, I no longer present to you: Humanlinker The tool analysis at a glance the profile of your prospects to identify important information.Once he knows your target, he will be able to write ultra personalized messages for each profile, thanks to AI. Great, right?  You save time and your messages are more authentic. PS: it’s free to test all the features 👇
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​How to combine social selling with digital prospecting?You now understand: digital prospecting goes hand in hand with social selling, logically. In this case, a combination of 3 elements of social selling are part of your digital prospecting: 

• an optimized profile 
• your content strategy 
• expanding your connections  

Remember that a network is social, so if you are not social, you will not be able to sell and grow your business. How to use artificial intelligence to automate Social Selling?Most software uses artificial intelligence in their solution. For what ? It is this revolution that makes it possible to increase tenfold sales process : it's thanks to AI that you can send thousands of personalized messages in one click. AI has enormous potential: that of being able to develop, nay, transform your activity! With the billions of data provided to it online, AI can easily build sales assets (messages, campaigns, etc.) and turn your ideas into concrete action. Humanlinker uses AI to How to measure the effectiveness of social selling?How should you calculate your Social Selling efforts? Firstly, social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) all have their data and analysis dashboards, which serve as an indicator for your actions. On LinkedIn, you have a social selling index (score SSI) giving you access to precise data relating to your profile. To discover your score SSI, click here. You should also check: 

• growing your network
• the performance of your content 
• conversion rate and leads generated

Up to you ! What tools should I use for social selling?We have already mentioned the ideal platforms for social selling, but here is a summary: 

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator : to identify and target your prospects precisely.
• Humanlinker : to personalize your approaches and better understand your prospects.
• HubSpot CRM : to manage your customer relationships and track your sales opportunities.
• Hootsuite ou Buffer : to schedule and manage your publications on several networks.

 The social selling activity is part of l'inbound marketing. Thanks to this strategy of marketing social and this business strategy, you finally have all the potential to share resources, become a leader in your sector, be the source of new opportunities, and meet your objective through social selling.  Thanks to the social network, you become an expert in your field and strengthen your branding. Thanks to the social network, the sale is more qualified, and on a larger scale. What more could you wish for?