There’s no escaping the fact that AI is reshaping how we do business, and social selling is a prime example of where AI can have a significant impact when used effectively. According to the Salesforce State of Sales report, 81% of sales teams use AI today, but how do you guarantee your AI output isn’t diluting the benefits of social selling?
Social selling is so impactful because it builds trust and genuine relationships. If you’re using AI to produce content, do you lose the human connection that is so important?
Here at Tribal Impact, we know there are advantages to using AI. But we’ve learned, and strongly share with our clients, that AI isn't about replacing human connections. Instead, it’s about enhancing the sales process by assisting with time-consuming tasks, allowing sales professionals to focus on creating meaningful relationships.
The conversation isn't about choosing between AI and human input; it’s about making sure the content we share, whether AI-driven or human-crafted, adds value and relevance.
In this blog, I want to share how to use AI as a co-pilot in social selling because, with 83% of sales teams using AI seeing revenue growth in the past year (Salesforce), it would be a shame not to understand the best way to utilise this glamorous assistant!
Three ways AI can support your social selling efforts
AI can revolutionise your social selling approach, streamline processes, and help you better connect with key prospects. With so many ways AI can potentially help you, I wanted to focus on three ways in particular.
1. Use AI to enhance your profile and LinkedIn page
The foundation of successful social selling lies in a robust online presence. Having a well-crafted profile allows you to start building connections with like-minded individuals and in turn create trust and rapport with new prospects, customers, and professionals within your industry.
LinkedIn’s new AI features offer powerful tools to help you optimise your LinkedIn profile and posts. AI can analyse your profile and suggest improvements for your headline and About section, ensuring that your personal brand is clear and compelling.
One of the biggest challenges with AI-generated content is avoiding the pitfalls that make it feel, well, “AI-like.” Social posts that come across as superficial, generic, or inaccurate are quickly dismissed by audiences who crave authenticity.
To avoid this, it’s essential to infuse authenticity into your content. AI can generate a post, but it’s up to us to add the human element. Personal experiences, unique insights, and a genuine voice are irreplaceable.
At Tribal, we help our clients with this through our AI-Assisted Profile Optimisation program. This includes a tailored review of their profiles, the creation of compelling headlines and About sections, and ensuring they use AI tools correctly to strengthen their social selling efforts.
2. Gain deeper insights into customer accounts
LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator can help businesses understand their prospects, even more so now with its new account insights and IQ features. AI can analyse data across customer accounts to deliver real-time insights, helping you better tailor your approach.
By tracking changes in roles, engagement patterns, and company priorities, you can strategically target key decision-makers and shorten sales cycles, leading to bigger deals and more successful outcomes.
Using AI to stay updated with these shifts improves the precision of your outreach and enables you to approach every interaction with valuable insights. As Felipe Torres explains in this clip, by plugging in your data sources, you can have a complete picture of how social activation affects your organisation.
3. Outsource routine tasks
AI can handle the repetitive and time-consuming tasks of social selling, freeing up your time to focus on building relationships and closing deals.
Automating everything from lead generation to post-scheduling allows you to concentrate on higher-value activities. By automating routine tasks, your social selling program can achieve greater efficiency without compromising the quality of interactions.
According to LinkedIn's Deep Sales Playbook, 75% of B2B salespeople globally who exceeded quota use AI; this figure alone should submit a strong case for using AI as your co-pilot.
The dos and don’ts of using AI for social selling
If you’ve come this far, you’ll likely be considering using AI to aid your social selling efforts. However, before you start, I want to share a few essential dos and don’ts to ensure you use it effectively and ethically.
AI Do's:
- Maintain Authenticity:
AI can generate content, but it is crucial to remain authentic. Use AI to assist, but keep the human element front and centre. - Personalise Communications:
Create messages that resonate with your network and have a touch of ‘you’ in them. - Monitor AI Content & Performance:
Always monitor the content AI generates, particularly in social selling. Ensure that it reflects your brand’s values and tone. - Stay Informed:
AI is constantly evolving. Stay updated with the latest developments to ensure you’re always using the most effective tools and strategies. - Provide Value:
AI can quickly generate content but ensure every piece offers value to your audience.
AI Don'ts:
- Over-Automation:
Avoid over-relying on AI. Too much automation can make your content feel impersonal, which is a significant risk in social selling. - Neglect Human Connection:
Focus on creating genuine connections with your audience. Add personal insights when sharing AI-generated content. - Sacrifice Quality for Quantity:
AI makes it easy to produce high volumes of content, but if it lacks depth, it won’t resonate with your audience. - Ignore Feedback:
AI can make recommendations but can’t replace the insights gained from direct feedback. Listen to your network to refine your social selling strategy. - Underestimate Human Expertise:
AI is a tool, not a replacement for human expertise. Use AI to enhance your skills, not replace them.
The future of AI in social selling
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels. This shift means sales teams will rely more on digital tools to manage relationships and tailor their outreach.
If this is the case, it makes sense that we use AI to our advantage. AI will help sales professionals work more efficiently, handling routine tasks and offering deeper insights into customer behaviour. The integration of AI with CRM systems will allow sales teams to make smarter decisions, personalise their approach, and connect with prospects at the right moment.
Looking ahead, the focus will remain on building solid relationships while AI assists in streamlining processes. Those who don’t embrace AI as a co-pilot could be left behind.
Get the best from your social selling efforts, find out how we can help.
