When salespeople or businesses use social media, they often go into auto-pilot mode.
They see a platform, with an audience, and just start advertising.
“Check out our latest offers”
“Here’s our latest amazing testimonial”
“Read about our latest company news”
Us, Us, Us, Me, Me, Me!
Guess what happens…
The content rarely gets ANY engagement.
They don’t grow a personal brand and they rarely, if ever, generate any business from it.
(They’ll then usually be the ones saying that social media or social selling doesn’t work!)
What they’re doing wrong is they’re doing the 80/20 social selling split the wrong way round. At least 80% of their content is about THEM and of zero value to their prospects, and perhaps 20% (often even lower) is of any actual value to their audience.
This is where you need to flip that right around.
80% of the content you share on social media should BENEFIT your prospects, customers and network. It should be of VALUE to them.
This can include expert tips, top industry trends, book recommendations, thought leadership, industry knowledge, industry experience, stories etc.
Not only will your content actually start to generate good engagement, you’ll also then EARN the right to share 20% of content that does promote what you sell or your company.
Here are some VALUE driven content ideas to get you started:
(I’m going to use software as an example, just change it for your industry!)
1) Write The Top 5-10 Current Industry Trends
This could be “The Top 7 Software Industry Trends in 2019”, or something like that. Speak to people within your company for insight, read other content out there for insight and pull it all together in an engaging and valuable article.
2) Write About A Common Challenge Your Prospects Face
Using software as an example, you could write a post about “The Impact AI Is Having On The Software Industry”. Again use the people around you, and online, to gain the information you need and put it together into a post or article.
3) Write About 5-10 Books You Would Recommend
For example, again using software, you could write “The 5 Books Everyone Working In The Software Industry Should Read”. You can write a mini review on each book and link it to the book on Amazon as well to help people buy the ones your recommend.
Those are just a few ideas to get you started on creating content that will benefit your audience and drive some stronger engagement numbers!
Once you’re leveraging content properly in social, one of the next challenges to overcome is learning how to use messaging effectively. Done right, LinkedIn messaging can open doors, start conversations and create pipeline.
Unfortunately, just like in the world of content, most salespeople and businesses are doing it wrong. Once again, the majority of the messages sent are advertisement/sales led messages, which again rarely attract responses.
This is why I wrote my brand new book, The Million-Pound LinkedIn Message!
The Million-Pound LinkedIn Message shares the story of how a well crafted LinkedIn message opened the door to a sale worth over £1,000,000. I’ve packed this book with as many LinkedIn & Social Selling tips as possible and it comes with 25 tried, tested and proven LinkedIn message templates for you to use!
This book unlocks simple but powerful strategies for winning on LinkedIn. Whether you are a seasoned LinkedIn pro or a green, LinkedIn newbie, this book is for you. My favourites were the 25 message templates which are jam-packed with instructions for when and how to use them.
Dan Disney is the real deal; he has real followers, real successes, and is the number one influencer on LinkedIn. That stands him out from the LinkedIn crowd as the go-to expert. If you’re going to listen to one person on the subject of LinkedIn, make it him.
Better still, buy this book, read it on the plane/train/automobile (he has packed it with content not waffle), and start applying it the moment you land.
Gavin Ingham, founder of #IAM10 & author of ‘Be More, Do More, Sell More’
You can order it on paperback or on Kindle through Amazon right here
I hope you found this blog helpful and informative! If you enjoyed this post please do click LIKE and click SHARE to share it with your network, thank you.
About the author:
Daniel Disney is one of the world’s leading Sales, Social Selling and LinkedIn experts. With over 15 years sales experience, Daniel has mastered how to use social media to generate exceptional results, both in social engagement and in revenue generated. His brand new Online Social Selling Masterclass Course is helping salespeople all over the world generate MORE sales with LinkedIn and Social Selling.
Daniel is also a highly in-demand international keynote sales speaker, is the UK’s leading sales blogger and is also the Founder and Owner of LinkedIn’s most popular sales publication, The Daily Sales. With an audience of over 450,000+ followers and growing by thousands each week, his content reaches millions of salespeople far and wide.
To inquire about Daniel keynoting or speaking at your company or event, or to find out more about his 1-day and online LinkedIn/Social Selling Masterclass please email contact@thedailysales.net.
