I don’t want to post personal content on Social Media…
We hear this a lot, but it’s a distraction and you’ve missed the point.
An organisation that has taken the first step in understanding and accepting that their commercial world has moved to digital and that it is accessed through Social Media.
They are beginning to understand the power of profiles, constant and activity.
They are beginning to see how to turn all this around to valuable commercial activity.
They understand the framework and process and can see how this is changing their company.
But they stumble and fall when it comes to posting personal content.
So why should they bother, why is this important?
Its not...its a red herring.
It all comes back to the basic principles of networking.
When I was a young salesperson, I was allowed to shadow some specialist salespeople to see how they worked.
I shadowed some of the best networkers I’ve seen to this very day.
People who could meet a new prospect and have them completely tuned in and conversing as friends in a few minutes.
People who understood body language, nuance, tone of voice, NLP, language, empathy, reciprocation and more.
All the while they were gathering information and commercial cues without ever forcing it – and at the same time dropping information and commercial cues without ever forcing it.
They weren’t winging it, they were specialists and knew exactly what they were doing.
Sometimes I would leave these interactions and say to the networker “it doesn’t seem like there was very much there” and they would respond “you have to be joking, that was perfect…we are in”.
Within the next few weeks, we were in meeting with this new prospect and forming relationships with their team.
In the modern digital commercial world, the same basic rules apply but there is a conversion to be made. We can’t just do what we did in the analogue world on digital and social, it must be converted.
⭐We know that buyers are making decisions about us and our competition on social media.
⭐We know that buyers want thought leadership content
⭐We know that simply posting brochures and job adverts won’t help us
Take LinkedIn, it promotes itself as a professional networking site. The clue is in the description.
So, we must bring in the tried and tested principles of networking, convert them and put them to play in the digital world.
Once you have the foundations in place, you need a content mix that will allow people to see:
You are a technical/commercial specialist who knows their business and doesn’t try to sell to us...
⭐You are the solution; you seem to care, and you are just like me…
⭐You are someone who helps their network
⭐You are someone with the same hopes, fears and desires as us…
Think of the people that you really trust in this world.
What is the one common thread that runs through them…?
…you know them.
These days it's all about building digital communities and ecosystems in your sector of industry.
In order to do that we need to create trust and belonging.
We can’t do that with brochures and job adverts, we must show ourselves.
I see people talking about ‘professional posts’ and ‘personal posts’…this is nonsense and confuses people.
What we need is your team publishing a regular content mix that shows the blend of their specialisms and personalities – it’s a blend, not one or the other.
Instead of personal content…simply add ‘ITY’….your personality.
Why is this important?
Because of the trust element mentioned earlier, we only trust the people we feel we know.
In modern digital commerce building that level of trust in our communities and sectors requires us to show our personalities so people can really see us and decide if they like and trust us.
Think of the people in your social media networks that you like and have some trust for…perhaps you’ve never met them, but you have a feel for them and know exactly what they do and what they stand for.
…try trusting a brochure.
“This is not Facebook”
I really feel sorry for the people who comment with this. There are less and less of them as they fade away into obscurity but. some of them are still around.
Evey single one I’ve ever seen has a tiny network, rarely post content and when they do it’s a reshare of someone else’s work and the saddest thing….they have no idea how to network and are fading away into irrelevance.
They are holding onto a set of policies that even the platform owners don’t support. This is where ‘professionals’ network’, networking never was shouting about jobs adverts and holding up leaflets, it’s an art and a science which is now more developed and nuanced on digital.
It was always about making a real and solid connection with people.
So, how do we build upon this with our content?
You may be looking to...
✅build a digital community,
✅have more conversations with people in your markets
✅attract new investor
✅attract new hires
✅build on your organisations 'Digital Dominance' in your sector
Understanding what you want to achieve is key, then we can define your 'Digital Identity'....what it is you want people to know about you as a professional, as a human.
Not what you do for a living, what you love and what's interesting about what you do for a living.
Then we craft this into the A.B.C and create your content mix....
👉Assistance
👉Belief
👉Core
A – Assistance
- What are you giving to your network?
- Coaching, mentoring, help, useful information.
➡️25% of your content
B – Belief
- Giving proof that you know what you claim to know.
- Your unique thought leadership and reference on relevant industry topics and trending subject matter.
➡️25% of your content
C – Core
- Deep insight into you as a professional with a personality.
- Your history, experience, specialism, knowledge, likes/dislikes.
- Lessons you’ve learned and how you put them to work.
➡️50% of your content
When we factor in the types on content available to us (articles, newsletters, short from content, video, lives etc) it gives us around 200 options for content on any given day.
This mix does 3 things when repeated consistently over time:
👉It shows you as the technical/commercial specialist you are without selling 'at' us.
👉It shows your network that you are willing to help and support
👉It gives some insight into your personality and that shows us you are just like us...
When we get this right, everything starts to grow...real connection, trust, communities, ecosystems, conversations and valuable interaction.
We are Digital Commercial Advisors, and we are here to help you.
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