Our Social Media content has always been essential when playing out our Digital Identities and providing evidence that we understand the problems our industries and organisations face. 

We know that Social Media influence is created with head and heart, “This person knows their stuff and is also a decent person with the same hopes fear and desires as me….”.

The pandemic and associated lockdowns underlined just how important our content is. Buyers and people interested in our business had only our content to go by when finding new and making shortlists.

But what of the lasting impacts, has this really redefined how buying decisions are made or will things just go back to ‘how they were’?

The latest report from ‘Demand Gen Report’ suggests the former and provides evidence to support. Its an excellent report and is a must read for all trying to grow business in B2B (link below).

“55% of buyers said they now rely more on content to research and make purchasing decisions than they did a year ago”.

They go on to say…

“But digital channels are growing more crowded each day and breaking through the noise requires an adept content strategy carefully crafted with buyers needs and preferences in mind”.

…an adept content strategy…

Many believe that is purely in the domain of the Marketing department, those who get it now realise this means across the team.

If you’d told me in 2017 that we needed to have individual content strategies and playbooks for my quality, HSE, finance and technical people, and that we needed to train everyone so that they would understand how to pout all of this to work…I would have laughed…

This is where we need to be…

The Demand gen report goes on…

“62% of B2B buyers said they engage with 3 to 7 pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson. 11% said they consume more than 7 pieces of content, only 28% said less than 3 pieces of content".

So, lets take a minute. Buyers have moved to Social to find the truth about you and your company. We know that want thought leadership content that shows you understand what’s going n and can be of help to them and they are telling us the read between 3 to 7 pieces of your content before they get in touch or drop you….

This is laden with opportunity…

We need to be great at Social Media, how much is great? At very lease better than our competition.

This means getting it out of our heads that only Marketing does Social Media…. it’s now the domain of the specialist, the expert, the professional to lay down digital markers and breadcrumb trails of competence, culture and personality. 

You client base cant interact and build relationships with your corporate content, they can with your people.

Your people are more powerful than your brand…

Side note: 

Isn’t it interesting that you now see companies that sell cold calling training posting thought leadership content on Social Media?

Isn’t it interesting that you now see companies that sell bulk emailing systems now posting thought leadership content on Social Media?

Isn’t it interesting that you now see Marketing agencies that sell Websites and SEO programmes posting thought leadership content on Social Media?

Isn’t it interesting that you now see companies that sell Marketing tech posting thought leadership content on Social Media?

Using thought leadership and influence to get close to prospects in order to build relationships and sell in products and services which don’t work in any way as effectively as they process, they just used to make the sale….

Cut yourself a slice of irony and pull up a chair…🤔

Back to the Demand Gen report.

Buyers were asked what content they prefer, and the results are interesting.

• 67% said they had engaged with webinars in the past year.
• 55% said research/survey reports
• 56% said eBooks
• 54% said blogs
• 49% case studies

“Respondents also noted that they are consuming more community-based sources, such as newsletter (41%) and third-party analyst reports”.

“Another interesting discovery is that most buyers typically spend between five to 30 minutes reviewing nearly all content formats. The only exception is webinars, where 53% said they are willing to invest 30 to 60 minutes watching a webinar and an additional 19% said they are willing to spend more than 60 minutes with a webinar”.

This is gold…. buyers are telling us what they want. The question is, are you going to listen and adjust or ignore it and just keep on the corporate brochure track?

This report is studded with gems for all you Sales, Marketing and Business Development professionals out there….

“Of course, not all content is created equal. When asked what makes a piece of content memorable and triggers buyers to take a sales call, respondents again voiced the importance of research. More than half (51%) said the content should use data and research to support its claims, while 41% said the content itself should be research-based”. 

The quality, tone and fabric of your content is now as important as your pitch…perhaps more!

I’ve left this one to the end for good reason…

“A staggering 49% of respondents said the content must tell a strong story that resonates with their buying committee and 41% said the content should be packed with shareable stats and quick-hitting insights”.

Our Social Media content is now the leading edge of our brand…if our people know how to create the kind of content buyers want, it puts us in pole positions.

This is important so we have be able to have frank discussions without getting upset, we are looking at livelihoods and legacy here.

Most stiff, approval based, Corporate brochureware, Marketing controlled Social Media efforts are holding companies back.   Your people are more powerful than your logo placement and the colour palettes and fonts we use in documents…

Drop into your Quality department today and talk about their content strategy, so the same with the Finance team, then check in with Engineering and Operations on their content plans. 

Swing in past R&D and find out what their content strategy is this quarter, the same with HSE, logistics and the leadership team…

How did that go..?

Social Selling & Influence isn’t about Marketing posting corporate content on Social Media…. it’s about positioning you and your entire team as the leading Technical and Commercial digital influencer in your chosen sectors and verticals.

Live Social ‘22

Eric Doyle

CruxDLA Ignite

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