Picture this: a potential client has been silently watching your agency’s Instagram for three months. They’ve liked a few posts, saved one of your carousels, and watched your last Reel twice. They’re interested — they just haven’t raised their hand yet.
Now imagine you send them a DM. Not a sales pitch. Not a “hey, check out our packages.” Just a warm, thoughtful, genuinely curious message about their business.
Within 24 hours, you’re on a call. Within a week, they’re a client.
That’s social selling. And if you’re not doing it, you’re leaving real money on the table.
At The Ad Guys, social selling has become one of the most natural extensions of our follow-up strategy and it works in ways that traditional email outreach sometimes just can’t. Let me break down why, and more importantly, how to do it without coming across as the person nobody asked for in their inbox.
What Is Social Selling, Really?
Social selling is the practice of using social media platforms — Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, even WhatsApp to find, connect with, and nurture potential clients through genuine relationship-building before making any kind of sales move.
The key word there is genuine. Social selling is not:
- Spamming people’s DMs with your rate card
- Commenting “DM us for services!” on every post
- Mass-following people hoping they follow back and magically become leads
Social selling IS:
- Engaging meaningfully with a potential lead’s content over time
- Starting conversations that are about them, not you
- Sharing insights and value that position you as an expert before you ever mention your services
- Moving a relationship from online interaction to real conversation at exactly the right moment
Why DMs Are Now a Legitimate Business Channel
Let’s settle this debate once and for all: sliding into DMs for business purposes is not weird. It’s not desperate. When done right, it’s one of the most direct and personal ways to start a professional relationship in 2025 and beyond.
Think about it. Email inboxes are crowded and impersonal. Phone calls feel intrusive. But a thoughtful DM on a platform someone actively uses and enjoys? It meets them in their comfort zone. It feels less like an unsolicited sales approach and more like a natural conversation starter.
LinkedIn was built for this. Instagram’s DM culture has made it normal. And Twitter/X threads are basically a live networking event that never ends.
The platform has changed. The principle hasn’t: people buy from people they like and trust.
The Social Selling Playbook at The Ad Guys
Phase 1: The Warmup (Don’t Skip This)
Before you ever send a DM, warm up the relationship in public. This means:
- Following their account genuinely
- Leaving thoughtful comments on their posts (not just “🔥🔥” — actual thoughts)
- Sharing or reposting their content when it’s genuinely valuable
- Responding to their Stories with something relevant
This does something powerful: by the time you send a DM, you’re not a stranger. You’re already a familiar presence. And familiar is safe.
Spend at least 1-2 weeks in this phase before reaching out directly.
Phase 2: The Opening DM — Make It About Them
When you finally slide in, your first message should have zero ask. Just connection.
What NOT to send:
“Hi! We’re The Ad Guys, a full-service marketing agency in Nigeria. We offer Social Media Management, SEO, Google Ads and more. Would you like to know more about our packages?”
Nobody asked. Nobody is thrilled. Delete.
What TO send:
“Hey [Name]! Your post about [specific thing] genuinely stopped my scroll — that point about [specific insight] is something I’ve been thinking about a lot in our work with brands. Have you found a good solution to that yet?”
That message does three things: it shows you pay attention, it positions you as someone in the same thinking space as them, and it opens a conversation rather than a transaction.
Phase 3: The Nurture Conversation
Once they reply, your job is to be genuinely useful. Ask good questions. Share relevant insights. If they mention a problem, engage with it thoughtfully, even before offering a solution.
This is where most social sellers get impatient and jump straight to the pitch. Don’t. Let the conversation breathe. Let trust build. The pitch will land so much better when it comes from a place of relationship rather than urgency.
Phase 4: The Natural Pivot
When the timing feels right you’ll know, because the conversation will start naturally circling around their business challenges and you make the move:
“You know, this is actually something we help brands navigate all the time at The Ad Guys. I’d love to share what’s worked for some of our clients — would you be open to a quick call?”
Notice: it still doesn’t feel like a pitch. It feels like a logical next step in a conversation that was already happening.
Platform-Specific Tips
- Long-form, professional, insight-driven. Lead with expertise.
- Connect with a personalized note, not the default.
- Share articles and comment on posts before DMing.
- Voice notes on LinkedIn are underused and surprisingly effective.
- Visual-first. Engage with Stories regularly — they’re a low-stakes entry point.
- Keep DMs conversational and human. Match the platform’s energy.
- Use polls, question stickers, and story reactions as natural conversation starters.
Twitter/X
- Jump into threads on topics relevant to your niche.
- Reply publicly first — DM only after you’ve established a presence in their mentions.
- Short, punchy, direct. This is not the place for paragraphs.
The Line You Should Never Cross
Social selling only works when it’s authentic. The moment it becomes a numbers game; sending the same DM to 200 people and hoping for some stick, it stops working and starts hurting your brand.
Every DM should feel like it could only have been written for that one person. If you could send it to anyone, it belongs to no one.
The Bottom Line
The DM that closed the deal wasn’t lucky. It was intentional, built on weeks of genuine engagement, crafted with care, and sent at exactly the right moment in a relationship that was already warm.
At The Ad Guys, we’ve seen this play out again and again. Social selling isn’t a shortcut. It’s a long game that pays off for clients who already trust you before they’ve signed a single contract.
And honestly? That’s the best kind of client to have.
Want to see how The Ad Guys can build your brand’s presence in all the right places? Let’s start that conversation — wherever you’re most comfortable.
