Sharing content on social media puts you in the consideration phase to prospects.
Once you're LinkedIn profile has been optimized, you will notice an immediate increase in traffic to your profile. However, after some time that traffic dies down. In order to increase and maintain traffic to your LinkedIn profile, it's important to share relevant and valuable content all of the time.
The image below shows traffic to my LinkedIn profile from December 2013 - February 2014. Notice the dip in traffic in February? This was caused when our family took an early Spring Break vacation and I stopped sharing content on LinkedIn.
There are many phases of the prospects's journey in the sales funnel and it's tough to know which phase anyone is in. During each phase, certain types of content can be shared to help guide them to you.
According to Brooke Ballard, Founder & Chief Strategist at B Squared Media, LLC, content sharing for purposed of fueling the sales pipeline can fall into three phases:
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Decision
Here's some guidance on the types of content you might consider sharing on social media site for each of these phases.
Awareness
- Executive interviews (video preferably)
- Content showcasing special events
- Press releases
- Community involvement or philanthropy
- Blog articles
Consideration
- Customer testimonials
- Case studies
- eBooks or white papers / guides
- Links to calculators or wizards
Decision
- Sales materials
- Product comparison charts
- Online demos
Reports
Content like this can be found on your company web site or on other reputable sites. Follow the weekly 4-1-1 social sharing rule which is to share four pieces of content from outside of your company, one piece of content from you that's self-serving and one that's valuable from the company.
When is the best time to share? There's a lot of information out there that provides guidance on when the best and most effective times are to share your content on social media sites. For LinkedIn, the days and times are:
Tuesday & Thursdays between 7-9 am or 4-6 pm (local time).