Find Content That Clicks
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Describe where to source content for social media.
- Explain how to create strong posts.
- Describe what to share and how often to post.
All the Content That’s Fit to Share
All sales are social, but social selling is about using social media to engage with potential customers. While personal social media is about status updates, social selling is about providing relevant content. This includes:
- Articles—including recognized research material
- Blog posts
- Videos
- White papers
- Public event registration pages
- Ebooks
- Other rich media—including images, infographics, webinar invites, and book reviews
The content you share has to appeal to the prospects you are hoping to attract. Just remember your social selling brand. When you have a strong brand, there are three ways that you can get content to share.
- Curated—public stuff
- Commercial—your company’s stuff
- Own—your stuff
Curated
There’s some good content out there on the internet. Keep an eye on the content that’s already out on the market. Here are some suggestions to get you started.
| Source | How to use it |
|---|---|
|
Alerts |
Set up alerts for your target industry, prospects, and customers, and the issues they care about. |
|
News feeds |
Create news feeds for your target industry, prospects, and customers, and the issues they care about. |
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Thought leaders’ blogs |
Learn from industry notables and collect relevant content. |
|
Social Media |
Discover content through the companies you follow, your network, shares, likes, posts, and other content they believe you might be interested in. |
|
Local business press |
Finding local items can be far more relevant than general, global content. |
IMPORTANT: Wherever you get your content, always read the whole thing before reposting. Nothing hurts your credibility as a thought leader more than sharing things that don’t make sense, contradict your point, or are just plain wrong. Also, don’t repost anything that is offensive or mentions your competitors—whether it’s positive or negative.
Commercial
Does your company have a blog? A visible presence on social media? Does your company regularly publish white papers, research articles, or press releases? If so, use these for your social selling strategy. Take some time to catalog all the content your company creates so you are ready to plug these in as needed.
Own
Sometimes, the best content you can find is the type you make yourself. You already have your brand set. You’re living and breathing the information that your potential prospects care about. You have the insight and expertise for how they can find new customers, win more business, keep their customers happy, and build their relationships. The only thing left is to put it all down in a way that grabs their attention.
Social Selling Best Practices
Before you put anything out there, make sure that it follows your company’s social media policy. Here are the most important rules for posting online.
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
|
Think before you post. |
Share company financials or confidential info. |
|
Follow the company code of conduct, and avoid posting anything that could be considered offensive. |
Use company branding without permission. |
|
Be respectful, honest, and transparent. |
Make predictions or other forward-thinking statements. |
|
Disclose that you work at your company but be clear that your comments are your own and not those of your company. |
Create new social media channels for company use without permission from your social media team. |
Put Your Best Content Forward
Whether you are using commercial, curated, or your own content, you still have to flex those creative muscles. Content can only take you so far. To take your potential customers the rest of the way, you need to strategically appeal to your audience.
To get the most out of your content, you should make both emotional and logical appeals to your customers.
| Emotional Appeals | Logical Appeals |
|---|---|
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Here are some additional ways to improve your social engagement.
- Get involved. Share, like, and comment on others’ content.
- Follow the leaders. Stay aware of content put out by companies and industries you plan to target.
- Check for moments. Follow your potential prospects’ and customers’ feeds for moments like job changes, promotions, and news mentions. If they have good news, join in the celebration!
Amplify the Signal
The best thing about social media is that anyone can share anything. And the worst thing about social media is that anyone can share anything. With that much content out there, you have to make your message stand out.
Make Yourself Known
Make sure your social media profiles are the best you can make them. This means professional photos, personalized URLs, and brand-friendly posts.
Spread the Word
Use @mentions and hashtags to get your message onto other people’s social networks. This will get more eyes on your message, and hopefully lead to more followers and potential prospects.
Connect to Groups
Almost every social media platform lets people form groups, so whatever audience you want to reach, it probably already has a group to tap into. Posting to a group spreads your content to all of its members. You can even make your own specialized groups to reach a specific audience.
Team Up to Boost
If you’re on a team of social sellers, you can work together to reach more prospects. Set some timers to take turns liking and sharing each other’s content throughout the day. Make a party out of it! You’ll all get more views, and it will push each post to the top of the list.
It’s Sometimes About You, Too
Your curated content is great, but remember to put a bit of yourself into your posts. After all, you’re more than just an RSS feed. Letting people get to know and like you is part of what makes social selling “social.”
The trick is keeping balance between the informative and the personal. People swear by many different sharing ratios, but lets focus on 4-1-1 and 5-3-2.
4-1-1
This is a good general ratio for when you’ve collected a ton of great content to share. For every six posts you make:
- Four posts are other people’s content.
- One post is a retweet.
- One post is your personal update.
5-3-2
This ratio is great for anyone who has a bunch to say about the fields they are reaching out to. For every 10 posts you make:
- Five posts are other people’s content.
- Three posts are your content.
- Two posts are personal updates.
Since half of what you post is coming from you, it lets people know you and shows that you know your stuff.
Remember that these are representative ratios, not daily quotas. You don’t have to force 10 posts on social media every day or restrict yourself to 6 tweets. Just make sure that your counts average out to these general trends.
Don’t forget what we said about adding a personal touch. People respond more to an article if you give some personal context—plus it shows you actually read it yourself!
Know How Often to Post
Think about your inbox first thing in the morning. You probably have a ton of emails, and some part of you thinks, “Do I really have to read all of these?” Well, a social media feed is the same thing, except your prospects don’t have to read everything you post. That’s why it’s so important to know the right amount to post.
Some social media platforms are designed for professionals so your best bet is to reach out during business hours. Try to post at least once every work day. Some top marketers post three to four updates per day. That’s at least 80 posts each month.
Other social media platforms are more social in nature. Some members tweet everything, so volume is your friend. To stay visible, tweet between three to 30 times a day. Five tweets a day is the sweet spot, as long as you post at the right time.