For most of my Linkedin life, I was amongst the corporate brigade or on the outside of what I could post, share, and say on this incredible platform.

From dabbling with corporate fluff, posting a job, or sharing an article on the latest awards the product or service was recognized for. All with little to no engagement and no idea of where it was being screened, stared at or shared.

In the summer of 2020 all that had changed.

We were in full lockdown mode, the sun was out and I was in the garden of my flat in Perth and all I could think about was where I was, why I was here, what I was going to do next and how I was going to do it.

With these thoughts, came an array of stories or post-it notes that were churning out of my mind.

Can I share that, is that interesting, will people think that is real, what if they don't like it.

With the sense of urgency, and countless more thoughts running through my head I turned to the computer and just started writing on OneNote, what was coming out of my head.

Now, granted for the first few months, what I was writing was a bit messy and not properly thought out. I was posting about things I liked, things I was doing, what I was up to and still sharing a few work things that didn't really fit what 'I wanted to be famous for'.

I still wasn't sure about the engagement, the interaction, and the audience that my posts were intended for.

Fast forward to the winter months and into October, a chance call over some interaction on a post which was around 'social selling' and the idea behind what businesses and the people within the business should be aiming to get out of being social, online, turned my head and the path I am now on a full 360.

It wasn't about just blasting anything out anymore, I had to become the person that I wanted to be and the person whom people could trust, and shape my content around who I am, where I am going, what I am doing and creating some insight into my life and my career as I now know it.

So, what did this look like:

• Creating a content plan (weekly) 👆
• Sharing insight into my chosen area of expertise
• Researching other sector insights to tie-in with my learnings
• Being more personal about who I am and allowing people to see me.
• Establishing a trusted network and audience who wanted to see my content.
• Engaging with other content that interested me both personally and professionally.

From these shifts in my workings, I am now more comfortable in what I write, what I post and share, and with that comes the knowledge that when people are reading this, they get a sense of who I am, what insight I can give them, and if they want to interact and engage.

As we stand in 2021 with what we know about social media, and a digital life working from home, we should all be comfortable and empowered to embrace this platform as a place to 'SHARE YOUR STORY'.

This is not a simple as just posting content without the right mix and flow.

Content should be enjoyable, it should bring insight into what you can tell us about your role and business and why you do what you do.

• What challenges you are seeing and how your business addresses them for any potential prospects researching your market for an answer.

• What hiring patterns your business is undergoing, what are the staff feeling like, how has working from home affected the teams and the emotion of your employees.
• Who are your people, what do they like about working with your business?
• What do they get up to outside of the 9-5 and working from home life.
• What do we not know about them as they step outside of the working hours?

But how do we get there as a business and a leader with ideas?

Leadership and trust are two areas coming to the floor right now in how business can adapt and drive digital transformation throughout the organisation and allowing them to be led into the social world of B2B interactions as buying processes change and decisions on such journeys are made.

Gartner

has laid the foundations for what the new buying and sales motions look like.

This can be a scary time but in the same breath very enjoyable for growth, employability, debate, influence and insight into your people and your passion for getting up in the morning.

We coach multiple businesses who have embrace the social journey and they have seen a huge shift in confidence, ownership and have built up a trusted network of people who allow them to share, engage and influence the sectors they are wanting to be known in.

They are rising about the competition by letting us see them for who they are.

There is no going back to the old ways of sales and martech. The ROI has been proved.

They are enjoying the social selling with influence DNA and this is now in place of all other outreach and inbound processes that did not get the same return or the same sense of fun and achievement.

Your business can have all of the above opportunity. Commitment, resilience, effort, consistency, trust, leadership and a passion for 'strategic social selling and influence'.

The startline is here.

Enjoy Tuesday and ask me anything.

Kev

#socialselling #content #digitalsales #leadership #b2b #ownership #logistics #print #translation #smallbusiness