At an industry gathering last month I mentioned how irritated I was with a particular salesperson who kept contacting me on LinkedIn and Twitter to sell me his product. I don't know him and I've never spoken with him before, but there he was every day with a link to his website and plea to set up a call with him to discuss his product. My comments hit a nerve with others at the event. Every one of my colleagues had an equally distasteful story on improperly being ambushed by salespeople on social media.

Those who sell on social media are completely misguided, says Koka Sexton, founder of the Social Selling Lab Social. Rather, social channels should be used to listen to and engage with prospects. In a recent CMS Wire post, Sexton offered the following six tips for making the most of social selling, which we'll share in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.

Turn Insights Into Engagement. In using social media as a channel simply for listening to prospects and customers, marketers can better understand what they read, listen to and engage with, especially in areas where they are looking to solve pain points. This can help marketers better understand what channels to spend their time in and how to engage conversations.

Think Value Not Sales. While social selling does provide leads that can be tracked through close from social channels, this metric alone is misleading. At its best, social selling is less about selling and more about providing value to customers and prospects.

Choose Content That Adds Value. The role of salesperson has changed in recent years. Sales is now in the position of being the caretaker of all information on the product and industry, and a resource to help clients make the best decisions. As such, salespeople need to provide value above and beyond whatever they ask in return. By using keyword searches and being involved in social discussions, salespeople can figure out what is trending and what is being said on these topics, and share them with customers and prospects to provide value.

Branding Helps You Stand Out From The Crowd. As more marketers take advantage of social channels, salespeople can build a personal brand on social media that positions them as experts and thought leaders in the space. This helps them stand out from others.

Keep Your Prospects Moving Through The Pipeline. Successful social sellers see an accelerating flow of inbound leads from their social activities that can provide more potential prospects than traditional channels. This requires that social sellers learn how to quickly disqualify prospects faster than they are qualified by learning how to cut through noise, and focus on more meaningful and digestible conversations.

Provide Information, Not Sales Pitches. Social sellers know they have a prospect's attention when a natural social media conversation takes shape on a topic. The worst thing the seller can do at this point is to start pitching the product. That doesn't add value. The goal is to continue to add value and provide expertise that gets the decision-maker to ask for information that naturally allows you to move the conversation off the social channel.

Source: Koka Sexton is an expert and advocate in social selling. He is the founder of Social Selling Labs and the global industry principal for social selling with Hootsuite.