Passle is attending B2B Intech today - I'll be liveblogging thoughts and reactions to various talks throughout the day.

Timothy Hughes was recently ranked no.1 social seller by Onalytica, and his practical and engaging talk on how to master social selling makes it clear why.

As he puts it: social selling isn’t using social to sell, it’s a new way of selling. 40% of people choose root canal surgery over hearing a sales pitch, so it’s clearly not the way to go, instead it’s about adding value to the buyer.

Timothy Hughes’ top tips:

• You need to be on LinkedIn: shop window to the world. It reflects your personal brand. LinkedIn Pulse posts on a profile prove that you are an expert, while your summary is keyword-searchable so vital to spend time on it if you want to be found. It’s key to have a tagline that is buyer-centric: what are the results you produce?
• Try and use the same picture across all your social media profiles, it makes it easier for people to find you.
• On Twitter, try and have your name, not numbers, or you’ll look like spam. Have a call-to-action in your biography.
• Listening is key - engaging on social media gives you a different level of a relationship (and friendship). He advocates Facebook as a great way to get to know people on a deeper level.
• Influencers matter. On a macro and micro level you are talking to influencers all the time, whether it’s asking advice to friends and family, or following a celebrity you look up to and buying a product they use. Employee advocacy is great for brands, but you need external people who your customers will trust as unbiased sources. 
• Marketing automation is a great way to nurture leads over time. As an alternative to Marketo etc, LinkedIn is a free nurturing platform: connect with your customers there, share content, and get them to be interested in what you are saying and doing.
• Bringing sales and marketing together is key to social selling success.