Keep Your Funnel Full By Sharing Content Buyers Love

Let’s assume at this point you have started your social selling efforts. You have optimized your profile, strategically expanded your network, and know how and where to find potential prospects. Now it’s time to engage your prospects with relevant and timely content.

By sharing the right content at the right time, you can quickly establish yourself as a credible ally who will add value throughout the decision-making journey. The CMO Council reports that decision makers consume five pieces of content before reaching a decision, so it’s best to start sharing as early in the relationship as you can.

Prospects seek out different types of content at each stage of the sales funnel. By matching the type of content you share to the prospect’s preferences, your prospects are more likely to find your content valuable, making you both visible and credible.

Read on for social selling tips on which types of content to share at each stage of the funnel, from the prospect who drops by your LinkedIn Profile all the way to your satisfied customers.

Visits to your LinkedIn Profile

For someone who has only expressed casual interest, it’s best to share shorter content with a strong visual component. Someone who visited your profile due to your group activity may not be ready to commit to reading a three-page white paper.

Infographics are a perfect fit for this stage. They package relevant information in an easy-to-read format with a compelling graphic design element. Brief blog posts can also connect with these prospects, provided the writing is lively and makes its points with a minimum of filler.

With infographics and short blog posts, it’s worth checking with your sales leader and marketing department for assets that have already been created. A brief, visually striking, tantalizing bit of content at this stage can engage a casual browser and move them into your funnel.

Leads

Now is a good time to share your company’s white papers or other industry reports that make a solid case for your relevance. Buyers at this stage also show interest in webinars—they’re a good way to showcase the industry conversation around your solutions. Provide your leads with specific, actionable information and they’ll be more likely to convert into prospects.

Prospects

Once you’ve qualified prospects, you can focus on specific solutions that speak directly to their needs. Case studies are a good asset at this point; the more relevant they are to the prospect’s current pain points, the better.

Blog posts can be crucial at this stage as well so long as they help to establish your credibility and authority with the buyer. Show them that you are a source of insights and answers by sharing long-form blog posts about issues that affect their bottom line.

The case studies you share can demonstrate your solution’s effectiveness, while the long-form articles help bolster your reputation as a problem-solver. Strategically using both can help turn a prospect into a customer.

Customers

After the buying process is over, it’s important to keep your customers engaged to build a lasting relationship. You can continue to provide value with more instructive content, like “how-to” themed articles and videos. Customers show a preference for webinars as well, most likely to stay abreast of how best to utilize the product or service.

The right content shared at the right time can help turn a lead into a prospect and a prospect into a customer. Stick with visually strong, easy-to-digest content for the top of the funnel. Introduce heavier, data-driven content mid-funnel, and follow up with personalized solutions for your lower funnel prospects. Then you can nurture your relationships with customers by sharing assets that help them get the most from you and your solutions.

To help keep your funnel full, download our eBook, “6 Steps to Accelerate Your Sales in 2015.”