LinkedIn provides sales professionals with the ability to follow companies. Why would this be useful for social selling activities?
- Following a company provides you the option of declaring what the type of relationship you have with the company (e.g., Consumer, B2B Vendor, Competitor, Fan) which limits the types of communications you’ll receive from that organization to those relevant to your business goals.
- If the target company accepts your follow request, your second-degree connections with them will transfer into first degree connections. This allows you to send direct messages to those connections.
- You’ll receive access to the company’s recent updates section, which contains valuable information.
- The company will receive a follow notification, which will prompt them to review your profile – and therefore the products and services you offer.
- By regularly monitoring the feeds of these companies, you may glean insights that can move your sales efforts forward.