There’s no doubt, if you’re social, you need content. Whether it’s your own or not, you need to share it or you have nothing to talk about. No bait for your hook.
Sharing other people’s content is the quick, easy part. The part where you can make a bigger difference is with your own content. When prospects engage with your curated posts, that’s great. But how much better is it that they engage with your own content?
Much, much more valuable.
How much?
The question you might ask first is, how much content do you need to be making yourself? Isn’t that why Marketers are employed?
Well, kinda. But if you’re making your quota each quarter and your social is contributing, you can spare an hour to write a blog post one evening. It’ll be worth it.
The balance is tricky but commit to something you can and will commit to. Saying you’ll write a post every 2 weeks may not be sustainable. Maybe you want to do more. Maybe you think it will be more like one per month.
The key is to strike the balance and stick to it. Keep it regular and routine. It will be different for each person.
What do I talk about?
You as a salesperson know what your buyer struggles with and what they also do well with. This makes you the perfect person to talk about how to solve these problems, and how to capitalize on the strengths and “low hanging fruit” they have in their reach.
For me, it’s helping salespeople be social and let them get into social selling. Often they have reservations, don’t know where to start, how to start. It’s my job as the person with the answers to tell them, educate, entertain and inform them of this information. The information they need, even if they don’t know it just yet, they need and want.
Focus primarily on solving, and strengthening.
“But…”
If you’re worried about your writing skills, how you sound on camera, what you think could be shot down by “trolls”, take a step back.
Realise that right now, not many people are brave enough to create content about what they know and think and then present it to the world. Marketing people can do this because they know it is part of their must-do tasks, but sales are new to this.
It is OK to feel worried, nervous or uncomfortable with creating content. It’s not a bad thing, but there are some “myths” or ideas I can dispel for you.
- With nearly anything in the world, you are likely not the first to say it. That doesn’t mean your buyer doesn’t need or want to hear it, from you.
- People are kinder than you think, and often praise people who make content (particularly when they are new to making it)
- The first step is always the hardest, but it gets easier and a routine makes it even easier.
- You have colleagues and connections who will be able to offer advice, use this as an advantage
- Finally, think of what you are doing as a good thing and that you’re making a positive statement, not doing something terrifying.
Final thoughts
I understand for salespeople, for people uncomfortable with putting their neck on the line, content is a scary topic. The reality is, it is getting more and more important and closer to the time when everyone else has gone into using it for selling.
Salespeople around the world are in the same place, where they need to make a change and be proactive in order to push on and get into the top 10% of sales who coincidentally, are those who crush quota by using social and being early adopters.
I really think it’s key to not see social selling as a big scary skill that everyone has to learn otherwise they will lose their jobs. It’s a proactive step now, but a needed one soon. I’m urging salespeople who take a leap before they are pushed, the transition is easier and frankly being proactive is better than reacting.
Let me know what you think about this by dropping a comment below.
