Glossary
What is social selling?
Definition: Social selling is the sales strategy that uses social networks (in particular LinkedIn) to identify, connect with, educate, and influence potential customers before selling. Instead of cold messages, it relies on valuable content, authentic conversations, and building authority in a specific niche.
Unlike traditional prospecting (cold calls, mass emails), social selling flips the funnel: first you publish content that solves real problems for your ideal customer, then interested people self-identify by interacting with that content, and finally a qualified conversation begins. LinkedIn measures this capability with the Social Selling Index (SSI), a score from 0 to 100.
Effective social selling in 2026 combines three elements: consistent publication of expert content (2-5 posts per week), strategic comments on posts from customers and industry references, and personalized messages that reference the prior content. AI tools like Clonio cut the time cost of the first element, freeing up more energy for the other two.
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