9 Proven Strategies for Social Selling on LinkedIn

Social selling on LinkedIn is a powerful tactic for bringing in new leads and business opportunities.

The platform’s immense reach and targeting capabilities make it an invaluable resource for sales professionals who want to build relationships, nurture prospects, and drive revenue.

Scroll 👇 to get the answers to:

• What is meant by social selling?
• Why should B2B salespeople build personal brands on LinkedIn?
• How do you effectively sell on social media?

What is social selling?

Social selling is a prospecting technique that involves interacting with leads on a social network through various methods, such as posting content or sending direct messages.

The goal is to build strong relationships with social leads and develop your reputation as an industry expert.

When you execute social selling correctly, potential buyers will think of your name when they need help.

And as a result, your inbox will fill up with messages from leads who want to learn more about your solution.

In B2B sales, the majority of social selling happens on LinkedIn. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, LinkedIn is an online network for professionals actively searching for and open to expert advice and creative solutions to their business problems.

What are the benefits of social media selling?

Social selling on LinkedIn can dramatically strengthen your sales pipeline and help you exceed your numbers.

Here are three reasons why:

Social selling expands your reach

Unlike cold calling or event networking, selling on social media is an incredibly wide-reaching lead generation tactic.

A well-written LinkedIn post, for example, can reach hundreds, if not thousands, of potential leads. It can awaken your target audience to their problems and how to solve them.

Of course, not all your posts will reap such rewards, especially when you’re just starting. But after months of consistent effort, you should start seeing a satisfying engagement level.

You develop a personal brand

If you regularly post insightful and helpful content on LinkedIn, you’ll inevitably gain a reputation as an expert in your space.

This is helpful in the short term for generating leads and hitting your sales goals.

But a personal brand has long-term benefits, too. The reputation sticks with you - even if you leave your job - and so do your connections and followers.

How you leverage this to your advantage depends on your goals. For example, you could become an influencer and make money from your posts.

Or you could continue tapping into your B2B leads network as you move to a different company or start your own business. Regardless of your goals, having a dedicated following opens up doors.

You book meetings with high-quality leads

If a user has been following you on LinkedIn for a while, they’ve seen much of your content. They’ve likely developed a firm understanding of the problems your business solves.

When this lead finally contacts you for help, they’re likely a good fit for your product or service. They’ve already pre-qualified themselves over time by viewing your content.

More meetings with qualified leads result in shorter sales cycles, higher win rates, and less time wasted on leads who don’t need your solution.

What are the best social selling strategies?

Looking for ways to succeed at social selling on LinkedIn?

Follow these 10 strategies for a smooth and seamless sales approach 👇

1. Grow a targeted network (and do it smarter with Cognism)

The quality of your LinkedIn network directly impacts your social selling success.

It’s not about connecting with as many people as possible - it’s about building a community of prospects who match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

Here’s how to do it:

• Define your ICP first: Job titles, industries, company size, tech stack, and geography. This ensures every connection adds value to your pipeline.
• Use LinkedIn’s advanced search filters to find decision-makers. Save your search so you can revisit it regularly without reapplying filters.
• Send personalised connection requests that reference something specific - a recent post, mutual connections, or shared industry trends - to boost acceptance rates.
• Engage first, connect later: To warm up your prospects, comment thoughtfully on their content before sending a connection request.

Pro tip:

Use the Cognism Browser Extension to supercharge your network growth. With it, you can:

• See verified contact details (including mobile numbers and emails) directly on a prospect’s LinkedIn profile.
• Identify key decision-makers faster without relying solely on LinkedIn’s filters.
• Save prospects to your CRM or outreach tool instantly, making your LinkedIn prospecting part of a seamless multi-channel sales strategy.

By combining LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities with Cognism’s accurate and compliant B2B data, you’ll build a network of high-intent, qualified connections - and shorten the time from “hello” to booked meeting.

See how it works 👇

2. Optimise your LinkedIn profile

Before you start connecting, commenting, and messaging, your LinkedIn profile needs to work as a 24/7 sales asset.

Think of it as your personal landing page; it should instantly show prospects who you help, how you help them, and why they should trust you.

Keep in mind that writing a great profile is an art. You’re trying to get visitors to see you’re the go-to person for fixing their issues.

According to social selling expert Daniel Disney, you won’t be able to do that by talking about yourself.

“You’ve got to make it more about them and less about you. Talk about who you help, how you help them, what you can help the new customer achieve, and include someone you’ve helped that they’ll recognise.”

Alongside this, there are some other things your profile must communicate.

For starters, it must make you come across as relatable, knowledgeable, and friendly. And it should make it easy for visitors to learn more about your B2B business and get in touch.

Let’s go over how to fill out the sections of your profile to accomplish these goals:

Profile picture

A good profile pic is a hi-res image in which your face takes up 60% of the frame.

You should be the only person in the picture wearing what you’d typically wear to work.

Cover photo

Avoid distracting backgrounds and ensure your cover photo is 1584 x 396 pixels.

Workspaces or a picture representing your company are great go-tos for your cover photo.

Headline

Your LinkedIn headline should tell visitors who you help and how. Many salespeople follow the “I help X do Y” formula.

Include keywords that your target audience is searching for. This will make your profile more discoverable.

Summary

The LinkedIn summary is a great place to explain your value to your visitors.

To get the most out of this section, include three to five sentences that describe:

• Your years of experience in your industry.
• Your areas of expertise.
• Your skills.
• What you’re most known for professionally - what have been your biggest career wins?

End your summary with a call to action. For most salespeople, this message will ask leads to book a call with them to learn about their product or service.

Here’s Cognism’s former VP of Sales Development, David Bentham’s about section:

It’s short and humorous, and a great example of how to sell on LinkedIn!

Another longer example, as we discussed above, is from growth advisor Gaetano DiNardi:

These are the four most critical components of your profile. Use them wisely to build credibility and show your customers how you can help them.

3. Post content that drives engagement (and generates sales conversations)

On LinkedIn, your content is your credibility.

The more you share valuable, relevant insights, the more you attract the right audience and warm them for sales outreach.

The goal isn’t to go viral; it’s to get your ideal prospects engaging with your ideas so you can start meaningful conversations.

Best practices for engagement-driving LinkedIn content:

• Lead with insight, not promotion: Share lessons learned, industry trends, and actionable tips that solve your audience’s challenges.
• Mix up your formats: Text posts, carousels, polls, short videos, and LinkedIn documents all work differently in the algorithm. Test and see what resonates with your network.
• Use storytelling: Share customer success stories, real-life lessons, or personal experiences to make your expertise relatable.
• Encourage conversation: End posts with open-ended questions to spark discussion in the comments.
• Be consistent: Posting 2–4 times a week keeps you top-of-mind without overwhelming your audience.
• Engage quickly: Respond to comments within the first hour to boost visibility in the LinkedIn feed.

Pro tip:

Use the Cognism Browser Extension to research prospects before creating case study posts, ensuring you highlight results that matter most to your audience.

4. Leverage the LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI)

The LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) is like a scoreboard for your social selling efforts.

It measures how effectively you’re establishing your professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building customer relationships - all core pillars of LinkedIn success.

Your SSI score (0–100) updates daily and is broken into four components:

1. Establish your professional brand: How complete and credible your profile is.
2. Find the right people: How well you identify and connect with decision-makers in your ICP.
3. Engage with insights: How actively you share relevant content and join conversations.
4. Build relationships: The strength and depth of your LinkedIn connections.

Why it matters:

A higher SSI score correlates with more profile views, connection acceptances, and InMail response rates.

It gives you a benchmark to track progress over time, showing you whether your social selling efforts are moving the needle.

5. Engage in comment-driven outreach to warm up prospects

One of the most effective, yet underused, LinkedIn social selling tactics is comment-driven outreach.

Instead of sending cold connection requests or messages out of the blue, you earn attention first by adding value to your prospect’s posts. This warms them up before you ever step into their inbox.

How to do it effectively:

• Follow your target prospects (or add them to a LinkedIn Sales Navigator lead list) so their posts show up in your feed.
• Leave thoughtful, relevant comments that add to the discussion - share a quick tip, pose an insightful question, or link to a resource (without being salesy!).
• Be consistent: Engage 2-3 times over a couple of weeks before sending your connection request.
• Reference your previous interactions when you finally reach out - this will make your message feel familiar and personal.

Why it works:

It builds recognition and trust before you ask for a meeting. It also positions you as a helpful, informed voice in your prospects’ network.

Metrics-wise, you’ll likely see increased connection request acceptance rates and InMail responses.

6. Use LinkedIn voice notes and video messages

Text-based LinkedIn messages are everywhere, and that’s exactly why voice notes and video messages can make you stand out.

They add personality, tone, and authenticity that plain text can’t match, helping you build rapport faster.

Here’s why they work:

• They humanise your outreach: Prospects hear your tone and see your expressions, which makes it more personal.
• They cut through the noise: Few sellers take the time to record a voice or video message, so yours will be memorable.
• They convey empathy and enthusiasm: Perfect for complex solutions that benefit from a warmer, more conversational introduction.

Here are some best practices for your voice and video prospecting:

• Keep it short: Aim for 20–40 seconds for voice notes and under 60 seconds for video.
• Make it all about the prospect: Reference something from their profile, recent post, or company news.
• Avoid scripts: Speak naturally as if you were leaving a voicemail for a friend.
• End with a light call to action: “Would it be worth a quick chat to share what’s working for others in your industry?”

Pro tip:

Use Cognism’s Browser Extension to gather verified, context-rich data before recording your message.

Personalise your intro by referencing recent company updates or industry trends from Cognism’s data. Mention relevant success stories from similar companies in their sector.

If the prospect is part of a larger buying committee, check Cognism for other key stakeholders you might want to message next.

7. Share case studies and social proof

In social selling, trust is currency, and nothing builds it faster than showing real-world proof that your solution delivers results.

On LinkedIn, case studies and social proof turn your claims into credible evidence that prospects can’t ignore.

Here’s why it works:

• It demonstrates your ability to solve specific problems.
• It helps prospects see themselves in your customer’s success story.
• It reduces perceived risk by showing you’ve delivered measurable results before.

And here are social proof best practices on LinkedIn:

• Use a problem–solution–result format to make the content easy to digest.
• Focus on tangible outcomes (e.g., “Increased booked meetings by 57% in 60 days”).
• Pair your post with an eye-catching visual, such as a branded graphic, before-and-after chart, or short video.
• Tag the client (with their permission!) to boost reach and credibility.
• Share different formats: Quick wins in single posts, deeper dives in LinkedIn articles or documents.

8. Follow a consistent outreach cadence

Social selling isn’t about a single message that magically lands you a meeting. It’s about strategic, consistent follow-up that builds familiarity and trust over time.

On LinkedIn, a structured outreach cadence ensures you’re engaging with prospects regularly without overwhelming them.

Here’s why it works:

• It keeps you visible without being intrusive.
• It strengthens your position as a helpful, relevant contact.
• It increases response rates by giving multiple, varied touchpoints.

Example outreach cadence:

• Week 1 – Engage with a prospect’s post by leaving a thoughtful comment.
• Week 2 – Send a personalised connection request referencing your comment.
• Week 3 – Share a relevant piece of content (article, case study, webinar).
• Week 4 – Send a short, personalised LinkedIn message to start a conversation.
• Week 5+ – Continue engaging with their content and share further insights.

Best practices:

• Mix your outreach methods: LinkedIn comments, connection requests, direct messages, voice notes, and video messages.
• Leave 2–3 days between touchpoints to avoid spamming.
• Keep track of your cadence to ensure no prospect slips through the cracks.

Pro tip:

Use Cognism’s Browser Extension to enrich your outreach with verified contact details; this way, you can combine LinkedIn with email or phone touchpoints for a multi-channel approach.

Save prospects directly from LinkedIn into your CRM with Cognism, tagging them by industry, role, or campaign for better cadence segmentation.

Then, use Cognism’s intent data to prioritise prospects who are actively researching your type of solution, ensuring your outreach cadence focuses on high-intent leads first.

9. Partner with marketing for ABM campaigns

Social selling works best when it’s not just a sales activity, but a coordinated revenue strategy.

By partnering with marketing on Account-Based Marketing (ABM) campaigns, you can warm up your ideal accounts before outreach even begins, making your LinkedIn activity far more effective.

Why it works:

• It aligns sales and marketing around the same high-value target accounts.
• It creates multiple touchpoints across channels: LinkedIn, email, ads, and events.
• It warms up prospects before sales reach out, improving connection and response rates.

How to execute ABM for LinkedIn social selling:

• Agree on the target account list with marketing: Focus on accounts with the highest potential lifetime value.
• Marketing runs targeted LinkedIn ad campaigns toward these accounts, promoting content that solves their pain points.
• Sales engages with these warmed-up prospects: Liking, commenting, and messaging after they’ve seen your brand.
• Share data and feedback between teams to adjust targeting and messaging in real time.

Pro tip:

Use Cognism’s intent data to identify accounts that are already in-market and feed these directly into your ABM list.

Enable your sales team to use the Cognism Browser Extension on LinkedIn to pull verified direct dials and emails for key stakeholders in your target accounts.

Sync Cognism’s enriched data with your CRM so that sales and marketing can work from the same accurate account intelligence.

When sales and marketing run ABM in sync, with LinkedIn social selling as a core outreach channel and Cognism powering the targeting and data, you create a high-touch, highly relevant buyer experience that accelerates deals and increases win rates.

What are the best practices for LinkedIn social selling?

Form a daily social selling routine

Consistency is key to social selling on LinkedIn. Set aside 45 minutes per day to work on your tasks.

Here’s an example daily routine:

• Connect with five leads.
• Publish one post.
• Comment on two posts.
• Send five InMail messages to leads.

The more frequently you engage with your network, the faster you’ll gain traction on the platform and start booking meetings.

Use copywriting techniques

When writing your LinkedIn posts, use copywriting techniques to grab and hold users’ attention on the app.

Use humour, storytelling, startling facts and stats, and interesting questions to hook and engage your audience.

As a rule, write how you talk. Focus on educating your audience about something they care about, not selling them something.

Consume great content in your niche

It’s smart to regularly consume great content in your niche for two main reasons:

• You’ll learn from the masters how to create great LinkedIn content yourself.
• You’ll gain industry knowledge that serves as material for creative and insightful posts.

To start, find social sellers on LinkedIn with a large following and study them closely. Analyse their high-performing posts and identify the qualities that make them so effective.

You’ll also find inspiration for your posts and discover your voice by seeing these social selling examples. As Daniel Disney said:

“You’ll want to surround yourself with the right people, take it nice and steady, and consume more regularly.”

You must also consume LinkedIn content and books, articles, courses, and industry publications related to your niche.

Stay updated on the current landscape of your industry. Know the trends and issues that matter to your customers.

Make this learning a daily habit. Twenty minutes every morning is a good place to start. The knowledge you gain will help you develop unique and interesting things to say to your audience.

And as an added benefit, you’ll also be more confident and persuasive on sales calls.

Emulate your favourite social sellers

Find your social selling LinkedIn heroes and create posts that would make them proud.

Uncover the techniques that drive the effects you also want to create in your posts. Then apply those tactics to your creations.

Start slow and stay true to yourself

There’s no need to rush or be someone you’re not. Follow Daniel’s advice to go slowly and post about topics that interest you (and your prospects):

“It’s all about getting comfortable in your voice, writing your thoughts and opinions, and sharing those with your audience. Don’t look at the mountain and get intimidated - start nice and slow and take each step as it comes.”

Here’s an example of a helpful LinkedIn post from Kyle Coleman, Global VP Marketing at ClickUp:

The success of this post shows that riffing on another person’s writing or image is a solid way to create content, as long as you credit the original creator.

Here’s another great LinkedIn post - this one from former Cognism SDR William Gay:

Cognism had a competition to see who could get the most engagement from a post on LinkedIn. Of course, this post won.

Why? Because it told a relevant story and hooked people with humour. Plus, it showed personality without being overbearing.

Build a strong LinkedIn profile

Daniel Disney uses his headline and cover photo to present himself as an expert, the king of social selling on LinkedIn. Check it out:

The sales managers and reps he’s selling to can take one look at his speaking, authorship, and training experience and know that he knows what he’s doing.

He also lists his services in his headline so people can find him on LinkedIn search when looking for social selling trainers.

What is the best social selling platform?

Cognism’s Sales Companion gives you access to the emails and phone numbers of prospects you’d like to do business with on LinkedIn.

Get your free data sample today 👇