You can position yourself by sharing professional and relevant content on LinkedIn. One method is Social Selling, which is useful for getting new, relevant connections and building trust towards your network. If you are a regular reader of our articles, you probably know that Social Selling is a discipline that we care about. In this article, we review the importance of the strategic use of content for your Social Selling effort on LinkedIn.
Why share content?
If you want to succeed with the Social Selling discipline, it is important to create awareness and confidence in yourself as a professional person, as this helps to support interest, sales, and loyalty from current and potential customers. In addition, by sharing relevant and valuable content, you can create awareness of yourself and give the receiver a positive impression of you, and thus indirectly your company. The content you send and share is crucial to your Social Selling outcome.
Use content strategically
The content you share contributes to the perception of you – think about how you can work strategically with the content you share and engage in. What image do you want to create? What skills do you want to show? Why should people connect with you?
Enrich your network
You should send, share, and comment on content that creates enrichment among your network and connections. Enrichment is the ability to create value that does not necessarily cost anything – it could be articles, studies, analyses, tips, videos, or event invitations.
You should:
- Share enriching content (others as well as your own)
- Have your target audience in mind and create value for them
- Comment on and engage in posts where you believe that your expertise is relevant and useful.
- Consider whether the content should be shared with your entire network or if it is only relevant to a few of your connections. If that’s the case, a personal message is more useful.
Share different types of content
It can be your own, content from your company or a third source.
1. Share your own content
Are you used to writing content, or do you have a dream to start doing so? You may want to write about your field of study, industry or make guides and advice. By writing LinkedIn articles, you can position yourself within a specific area, increase awareness of yourself (and your business), and highlight your skills.
Read more about how to position yourself here: The value of visible experts within your industry.
2. Share content from your company
If your business produces content that is industry-relevant or relevant to your connections on LinkedIn, you may want to share this content from your own LinkedIn profile. However, start by looking at your company’s Company Page – maybe there is content of enriching quality that you can share right away.
3. Share someone else’s content
Do you often find a relevant article – maybe on LinkedIn, social media, or somewhere else? Help enrich your connections by sharing the content further. Do not worry – it is allowed as long as you are loyal to the source.
See an example below:
However, remember to assess whether the content should be shared with your entire network, shared in groups, or with selected connections in your network.
Participate in groups
Groups on LinkedIn can be of great value – both for your knowledge, position, and personal brand, but also for the company you represent. Therefore, you should find out which groups your potential customers are in, join them, and start enriching them, both in terms of sharing content and comments.
Networking and sharing knowledge
Often, LinkedIn groups are good at sharing knowledge, discussing, and networking. Many users seek specific answers in groups where content, individual users, or members represent companies that can answer or help with industry-specific questions. Maybe you can answer some of the questions? This would signal that you can help them solve their challenges, potentially bringing new customers in the future.
Positioning yourself
Many people use LinkedIn to search for answers, find products and services, but in addition, buyers are also researching in advance. It may be beneficial for your Social Selling efforts to be represented where they seek their information. Take action in the groups you are a member of and look for new potential groups you could participate in. Share quality content, engage, and show your expertise.
Search for possibilities
Gaining insight into current and potential customers’ challenges and preferences requires a sincere interest, and thus, succeeding with Social Selling can be time-consuming.
Various tools can help you find out what content your customers find relevant and engage with. You can use LinkedIn’s own searching tool or Buzzumo, which shows which content performs best on social media.
Use LinkedIn’s own searching tool to identify your audience’s needs and use this information to send them a private message (if you are connected) or respond directly to their content, which shows your expertise.