Salespeople are governed and driven by dollars and cents. If you want a piece of their attention span then it better be about something that is going to help them hit quota and make commission!
When it comes to social selling, salespeople want to share content that is going to spark conversations, not drive awareness (or other vanity metrics that don’t directly correlate to revenue generation).
As stated by Forrester, 74% of deals are awarded to the sales professional or company that was first to add value & insight.
Content has to drive conversations on social media that convert offline into new sales opportunities. With this in mind, your content has to offer insightful value to the buyer. Without value, your content will go to waste (as 60-70% does! – according to SiriusDecisions).
What types of content provoke conversations with buyers on social media?
1. Infographics
I personally love sharing infographics, there’s no better way to tell a compelling argument than to use visualizations of empirical data. They also organize complex data into digestible stories that are simple to understand. Our marketing department creates and curates multiple infographics a month, and they are always top-performing content assets. Data driven content is objective, and positions you as a credible resource.
2. How-To-Guides
I digest 2-3 how-to guides on a daily basis, as they give me actionable steps I can take towards solving an immediate problem. If you can provide your prospects with an immediate solution to an obstacle or issues they are facing, they are going to be more inclined to give you the time of day.
3. Original Research & Industry Reports
Sources like Forrester, Gartner, CEB and Aberdeen are among the gold standards for credible industry research. If you can get a report on something relevant to your industry, share it with your prospects. As the Challenger Sale states, in order to ‘reframe’ the situation for a buyer, you need to present their problem in a way they hadn’t thought about it before. Lead in with key insight from an industry report, and you’ll really get your prospect thinking.
4. Third Party Content
I make an effort to ensure 30-50% of everything I’m sharing in a day to third party content. The goal here is to come across as unbiased and not simply sharing your own proprietary content (which a prospect can mistake for being self-serving). Furthermore, if your marketing department doesn’t have the bandwidth to create 15-20 blog posts a month, there’s plenty of awesome third party content you can share with your networks to help buyers along their journey.
The Bottom Line
If you want your sales reps to become social selling rock stars, they have to be having conversations with buyers on social. In order to spark those conversations, ensure the content you are supplying them with will be intriguing to buyers.
