Get Your Prospective Clients’ Attention Using Social Media

We have been living with social media platforms for quite some time now, and the research shows that you and I spend quite a bit of time on them. But some of us spend time consuming content while others create it.

It is rare to find a salesperson creating content for their prospective and existing clients. Those who fail to create content may as well as be invisible to the contacts they are trying to reach.

Before you suggest that sales reps should create opportunities using the phone and email instead of social media, know that nothing here suggests that social media should be the only, or even primary, method of communication. You want to show up on your contact’s phone, email, and, if you want a wider audience, social media feed.

Prioritizing Content on Social Media

If you want to attract the attention of your would-be client, the content you should create should answer the question: “Why change?” You might worry about sharing the forces, factors, and trends driving your clients’ challenges and problems.

You might believe that your contacts already know about anything you might share. This is unlikely. There is one big reason why you should not be concerned about discussing potential headwinds: Many of your prospective clients are “head down” doing their work, unaware of the challenges that you are helping your business like theirs to address.

Your social media content should provide data, citations, and a short narrative about the forces, factors, and trends that you want to describe. Citing data and sources shows that you are not simply posting conjecture.

Using LinkedIn to Acquire Attention

You will find people using LinkedIn to share their client’s results. This is a better strategy than sharing your success. Too much focus on you causes others to scroll past, looking for content that is relevant to clients.

Good content must be relevant and interesting to the audience you want to attract. The more your content creates value for the consumer, the more you will be known for your ideas and what you care about.

If your company creates content, LinkedIn is the best social platform. You can use text, images, video, or just about any other form of media. Even if you decide to create content yourself, you may improve your results by weaving in the content from the creators working at Galactic Headquarters.

Repurposing Other Social Platforms

If you post on LinkedIn and nowhere else, almost no one will see your content, even if it is exceptional. This means you can repurpose your posts for X, Facebook, Instagram, and, if you are brave enough to look into a camera lens, YouTube. These are all great ways to share information that you want your prospective clients to know now.

You may need to make changes for each social media platform, which have different structures.

The Challenges of Pitching on Social

There are some content types that don’t tend to do well on social. For example, on X, you will see big companies using their brands to gain engagement. They are playing for reach, as they want to be seen and considered. Their “Why us?” content doesn’t often hit the mark for the consumer because it creates no real value.

Most of these companies have large budgets and don’t seem to worry much about the consumer. Social media is native for ads, but it isn’t for straight pitching. In fact, this is one of the worst uses of social media when there is no value created before trying to sell.

Expertise, Credibility, and Authority

Instead of pitching, you want your content to identify yourself as an expert in your field or your industry. The goal is to prove you know your prospective client’s problems far better than they do. Too few sales reps are taught and trained to project their expertise, and social media content can help you with this important outcome.

Your content and your delivery may also help you gain the credibility you need for people to consume your content. There’s not much of a contest between an expert with high credibility and an unknown competitor who lacks expertise. You will find that very few of your competitors will decide to become authorities on anything, as this requires publishing ideas.

Conclusion

I am certain some who read this will find it difficult, as they believe that marketing should do this work. You may believe that a salesperson can do without a personal brand, but doing so can prevent the opportunities you want from entering your pipeline.

This work takes a lot less time than you might take. You can write a “why change,’ post in less than 15 minutes. This shows your potential buyers that you are engaged in your work and are doing good work. When you compare one doing this work with one that isn’t creating social media content, the one that is invisible and nothing to share will have a more difficult time acquiring meetings and new opportunities.

Spend a little time on the social platforms and studying the reps you find charing their content. Notice what works and what doesn’t seem to work. Then, write a post on one headwind your clients are experiencing.