In a world where social media is becoming more and more important, failing to implement a concentrated strategy on social platforms can lead a business to ruin. Too many businesspeople rely on their gut feeling when it comes to their social selling strategy without considering the data that should drive their decisions.
We’ve compiled a list of social selling statistics to give you important insights and help you approach your followers the right way: Social selling is the latest wave in the tech-driven consumer revolution, and you should be part of it.
General Social Media Statistics
1. According to Statista, 22% of the world’s population has a Facebook account.
2. More than 600 million people have LinkedIn accounts across 200+ countries. (LinkedIn)
3. According to PEW Research, Facebook is still the most widely used social media platform with 79% of American internet users.
4. A staggering 80% of the time spent on social media platforms happens on mobile devices. (ComScore)
5. More than 56% of internet users have more than one social media account. (PEW Research)
6. Almost half of the entire world’s population (3.03 billion people) has at least one social media account. (Hootsuite)
Crucial Social Selling Stats to Keep in Mind
7. 73% of sales representatives using social selling as part of their sales process did better than their colleagues who didn’t use social selling. On top of that, they exceeded quota 23% more often. (Aberdeen Group)
8. Salespeople who use social media as part of their sales methods outsell 78% of their peers. (A Sales Guy)
9. 90% of top-performing salespeople now use social media as part of their sales strategy. (LinkedIn)
10. According to SalesforLife, companies who have consistent social selling processes are 40% more likely to hit revenue goals than non-social sellers.
11. 50% of revenue is influenced by social selling in 14 common industries, including computer software, healthcare, and marketing & advertising. (LinkedIn)
12. 90% of decision-makers never answer a cold call, but 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions. (LinkedIn)
13. 54% of sales agents using social media are able to track their social media usage back to at least one closed deal. (A Sales Guy)
14. 77% of B2B buyers claimed they did not talk with a sales agent until after they had performed independent research. (DemandGen)
15. 53% of sales agents want help in understanding social selling better. (Adam Global)
16. Sales agents with high social network activity achieve 45% more sales opportunities and are 51% more likely to hit their sales targets. (LinkedIn)
17. Employee-generated content receives 8 times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. (Social Media Today)
18. Brand messages reached 561% further when shared by employees compared to the same messages shared via official brand social channels. (Marketing Advisory Network)
19. 93% of sales executives have not received any formal training on social selling. (EveryoneSocial)
20. According to EveryoneSocial, a good social selling program can drive 16% better win rates, 2x pipeline, and deliver 48% better deals.
21. 89% of top-performing sales agents claim social networking platforms, such as LinkedIn, play a major role in closing deals and are part of their sales strategy. Moreover, 70% of sales professionals are active on LinkedIn for business purposes, compared to 64% on Facebook and 43% on Twitter.
22. 64% of sales agents that invested in social media hit their quota. On the other hand, only 49% of sales agents that don’t use social selling hit the quota.
23. Social selling leaders manage to create 45% more sales opportunities than their peers.
24. 97% of consumers go online to find and research products and services.
25. 47% of buyers view at least 3 to 5 pieces of content before they contact a sales agent, according to DemandGen.
26. Baylor University’s Keller Center for Research reports that the success rate of cold calls to appointments stands at only 0.3%.
27. 75% of B2B buyers are impacted by social media when making a purchasing decision.
28. 31% of B2B professionals claim that social selling has allowed them to build deeper relationships with clients.
29. More than 10% of social sales agents have closed 5 or more deals due to being active on social media.
30. 76% of buyers are ready to have a social media conversation with potential providers.
31. A staggering 92% of B2B buyers are willing to engage with a sales professional who is a known industry thought leader.
32. 53% of customer loyalty is driven by a salesperson’s ability to deliver unique insight, which is easily done through social media.
33. 39% of B2B professionals claimed social selling reduced the length of time they spent researching potential leads.
34. 84% of C-level executives use social media to make purchasing choices.
35. 33% of users prefer to contact brands through social media over making a phone call.
36. 80% of companies believe their salesforce would be more productive if they had a greater social media presence, but two-thirds of companies have no social media strategy for their sales organization.
37. 50.1% of social sales agents spend 5-10% of their time on social media. (A Sales Guy)
38. According to HubSpot, 61% of US marketers use social media for lead generation.
B2B Social Selling with Twitter
39. 92% of employees’ Twitter followers are new to their brand. (A Sales Guy)
40. 74% of B2B marketing companies use Twitter to push their content.
B2B Social Selling with Facebook
41. Image source81% of people find unsolicited Facebook messages from sales agents creepy, and 78% are turned off by friend requests from sales agents.
42. The reach of 135 employees engaged in employer advocacy is larger than that of a company page with one million Facebook followers, likes, or fans.
B2B Social Selling with LinkedIn
43. 98% of sales agents with over 5,000 LinkedIn connections meet or surpass their quota.
44. 65% of people on LinkedIn wouldn’t find it awkward if a sales agent sent them a message and they had mutual connections.
45. There is a grand total of 154 million LinkedIn users in the US alone.
Social Selling Efficiency Statistics
46. IBM increased its sales by 400% thanks to its inbound social selling program.
47. Sales agents who took a look at the profiles of at least 10 people at each of their accounts were 69% more likely to exceed quota than those who viewed 4 or fewer.
48. Social sellers create 38% more new opportunities than traditional sellers.
49. 90% of top-performing sales agents use social selling tools, compared with 71% of overall sales professionals.
50. Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.
51. 63.4% of social sellers reported an increase in company sales revenue, compared to 41.2% of non-social sellers.
52. Sales agents who leverage social selling in their sales process are 79% more likely to attain their quota than those who don’t use it.
53. 77% of B2B purchasers claimed that they would not even talk to a sales agent until they had done their own research.
54. 55% of all buyers do their research by using social networks.
Ultimately, leveraging your social network when selling is critical to your success. Use insights from these 54 stats to inform your social selling strategies using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: Doing so will meet potential customers where they are, leading to better relationships, impactful discussions, and more sales.
This post is sponsored by DirectScale, a cloud-based software that supports direct and social selling companies and their salesforce in every aspect, from selling products with social media to paying commissions. Request a free demo of DirectScale and see how it can help your company grow.