Best of LinkedIn: Social Selling CW 35/ 36

00:00:00: brought to you by Thomas Allgeier and Frennis.

00:00:02: This edition highlights key LinkedIn posts on social selling in ranks thirty-five and thirty-six.

00:00:07: Frennis supports enterprises with enablement and insights, providing data-driven sales intelligence, flexible support, team augmentation, and data quality improvements, so social engagement turns into measurable pipeline.

00:00:21: Welcome back to the deep dive.

00:00:23: We've spent the last while sifting through a ton of LinkedIn content from weeks thirty-five and thirty-six.

00:00:28: Yeah, quite a bit to go through.

00:00:30: Definitely.

00:00:31: And I'm actually really excited about some of the core trends that popped up around social selling.

00:00:34: So our mission today, as always, is to cut through all that noise and just bring you the most impactful, actionable insights we found.

00:00:42: That's right.

00:00:42: And we really tried to look past the, you know, the quick hacks or tricks.

00:00:46: We focused on the, let's say, disciplined execution strategies that seem to be making a real difference.

00:00:52: What's actually driving pipeline?

00:00:54: What's building real connections, not just chasing likes?

00:00:57: OK, good.

00:00:58: So let's unpack our first big theme then, strategy and mindset.

00:01:03: What really jumped out at me here was this pretty significant shift, moving away from just pushing messages constantly towards actively building a presence that's consistent that people actually trust, less hard sell, more becoming a reliable resource.

00:01:20: That's a really key distinction and loads of creators were hitting on this like It's off the tail putting very clearly Social selling isn't about spamming people's DMS, right?

00:01:31: It's about consistently showing up adding value until people actually trust you enough to sort of raise their hand and say, hey, I need your help.

00:01:39: He sees it as a habit, you know, not just another sales channel.

00:01:42: It's fundamental.

00:01:42: And that connects perfectly with what Richard Vanderblom found, right?

00:01:45: After working with, what, over a thousand companies?

00:01:46: Yeah,

00:01:47: huge sample size.

00:01:48: He argues pretty strongly that LinkedIn isn't just a content platform.

00:01:51: It's actually a revenue engine that just looks like one.

00:01:54: Yeah, disguise is one.

00:01:55: Exactly.

00:01:56: And his advice, stop trying to be an influencer.

00:01:59: Instead, aim to be investable.

00:02:03: Focus on authority, credibility, solving real problems out in the open.

00:02:08: But what does investable actually mean there?

00:02:10: It's not just about cash,

00:02:11: is it?

00:02:12: No, not at all.

00:02:13: Being investable on LinkedIn, in his view, means building such a solid reputation that people are willing to invest their really valuable stuff, their time, their attention, and ultimately their trust in you.

00:02:26: Ah, okay,

00:02:27: makes sense.

00:02:27: Yeah, it's about creating this consistent feeling of like real value and insight.

00:02:32: So when you do speak or offer something, people listen because they trust your expertise, not because you're yelling the loudest.

00:02:38: That

00:02:38: idea of building credibility before the sale, that really comes through.

00:02:42: Anna Bertoldini mentioned it too.

00:02:43: She asked, you know, what can celebrities teach us about social selling?

00:02:46: And she pointed to Taylor Swift.

00:02:48: Interesting comparison.

00:02:49: Yeah.

00:02:49: She promotes constantly, obviously, but people see her as this marketing genius.

00:02:54: Why?

00:02:55: Because she shares stories, she builds these connections, she genuinely seems to believe in what she's offering.

00:03:00: It's like treating visibility as a service, not just performance.

00:03:05: Yeah.

00:03:06: Fits right in with being investable.

00:03:08: It's a great parallel, actually.

00:03:09: It boils down to that authenticity, doesn't it?

00:03:11: Like with an artist like Swift, fans feel connected because she shared her journey.

00:03:15: Right.

00:03:16: In B to B social selling, it's similar.

00:03:19: When you share your expertise, your wins, even your challenges sometimes, you're inviting people into your professional story.

00:03:25: So, okay, if we're aiming for this authentic, investable thing... How do we actually present ourselves?

00:03:31: Because Dustin Howard had an interesting take.

00:03:33: He kind of pushed back on the idea that being authentic means just, you know, unfiltered oversharing.

00:03:38: Yeah, TMI territory.

00:03:39: Exactly.

00:03:40: He argued it can actually wreck your personal brand.

00:03:43: He says real authenticity is about being aligned.

00:03:46: Aligned.

00:03:46: Yeah, aligned with your brand, your audience, your message.

00:03:49: It's more about like choosing which parts of yourself are right for your audience.

00:03:53: A subtle point, but important.

00:03:56: It really is.

00:03:56: It's about being intentional.

00:03:58: We often think authenticity means just letting it all hang out, right?

00:04:01: Mm-hmm, but professionally, it's more strategic curating the parts of you that really click with your goals and who you're trying to reach.

00:04:09: It's the difference between being genuine and just being sloppy.

00:04:14: Okay, that brings up a big question though.

00:04:16: How do you even start?

00:04:17: Especially if you're not, you know, a natural online sharer or you feel like you don't have these huge insights every single day.

00:04:23: Yeah, the what do I post problem?

00:04:25: Exactly.

00:04:27: Verena Bender had some great advice here.

00:04:29: She basically said, don't wait for perfection.

00:04:31: Good advice.

00:04:32: She gave three simple ideas, share something you learned recently, answer common questions you get from customers all the time, or highlight things you just take for granted but might actually be valuable to others.

00:04:42: Your expertise is kind of useless if nobody sees it, right?

00:04:45: That's so practical.

00:04:46: So many people are sitting on gold mines of useful info.

00:04:49: Yeah.

00:04:50: But they hold back because they think, oh, it's not groundbreaking.

00:04:54: But for someone else, just explaining a term or fixing a common headache, that's super valuable.

00:05:00: It's about reframing your own normal into something useful for others.

00:05:04: And ultimately, it all circles back to consistency, doesn't it?

00:05:07: Curtis Chey said the biggest killer of social selling isn't lack of skill.

00:05:12: It's inconsistency.

00:05:13: We've all done it.

00:05:15: Get excited, post for a week then.

00:05:17: Life happens.

00:05:17: Oh,

00:05:18: yeah.

00:05:18: The enthusiasm dip.

00:05:19: But his framework, especially that one percent rule, you break that down.

00:05:23: It's not like a really smart way to tackle inconsistency.

00:05:26: Absolutely.

00:05:26: The one percent rule is great because it fights that feeling of being overwhelmed instead of trying to make massive changes overnight.

00:05:33: Right.

00:05:34: It's about.

00:05:35: tiny, almost invisible improvements every day.

00:05:38: Like, spend one extra minute thinking about a comment or tweak your headline just a tiny bit.

00:05:43: These small, consistent efforts add up, they compound, it makes getting better feel, well, almost automatic rather than this huge chore.

00:05:52: I like that.

00:05:52: Small steps.

00:05:53: Yeah.

00:05:54: And he pairs that with scheduling, like, fifteen, thirty minutes a day, maybe focusing on one theme per day and finding someone to keep you accountable.

00:06:02: It makes being consistent feel actually doable.

00:06:05: It makes total sense.

00:06:06: Okay, so building on that mindset piece, let's talk about the profile itself.

00:06:11: Your LinkedIn profile is a key asset.

00:06:13: It's way more than just a CV these days, right?

00:06:16: Oh,

00:06:16: absolutely.

00:06:17: Your digital shop window, your personal landing page, really.

00:06:20: People are checking you out online way before they ever jump on a call.

00:06:23: Karen Tricket really hammered this point home, called it your shop window in B to B. Yeah,

00:06:28: good analogy.

00:06:29: And she stressed that people buy you first, then your product.

00:06:32: So clarity is key.

00:06:33: Who you help, how you help them, plus consistency and showing credibility through results and experience.

00:06:39: It's about turning that profile from maybe a static page into an actual business development tool.

00:06:44: And loads of experts agree.

00:06:46: Will McTig even suggested that spending just like, sixty minutes optimizing your profile could potentially ten X your results.

00:06:53: Wow, ten X?

00:06:54: That's bold.

00:06:55: It is.

00:06:56: But he gives concrete steps.

00:06:58: Clear banners, good profile photos, headlines that spell out who you help, how, and maybe some proof.

00:07:05: Custom buttons, a reader-focused about section with bullet points, clear outcomes.

00:07:10: It's all about getting that value across

00:07:12: instantly.

00:07:13: But it's not just the content and the profile.

00:07:15: Nournel Berry pointed out how B-to-B teams often overcomplicate LinkedIn, right?

00:07:19: Getting lost in these complex funnels.

00:07:21: Yeah, analysis paralysis.

00:07:23: She boils it down to just three things.

00:07:25: Clarity on who you help.

00:07:26: consistency in showing up and conversation.

00:07:29: That's it.

00:07:30: And your profile is obviously ground zero for that clarity piece.

00:07:33: Prospects need to get it in seconds.

00:07:34: Exactly.

00:07:35: Before any chat happens, your profile has to tell that story, state that value clearly.

00:07:39: It's that first glance that decides if someone clicks connect or just scrolls past.

00:07:43: And then Alex Colhoun highlighted three sort of hidden features, things that can boost your visibility and search results.

00:07:49: Oh yeah, the quick wins.

00:07:51: setting followers as your primary connection display, customizing your URL so it looks professional, and making sure your profile visibility is set to full for public view.

00:08:00: Little tweaks, but they can make you easier to find.

00:08:03: Definitely

00:08:03: easy wins many people miss.

00:08:06: Yeah.

00:08:06: Just imagine a potential client searching for exactly what you do.

00:08:10: Yeah.

00:08:10: And those little settings could be the difference between you showing up or not.

00:08:15: Just removing friction, basically.

00:08:16: And for anyone looking for an even faster way to optimize, Charlie Hills shared something interesting about perplexity AI.

00:08:22: Oh yeah, the AI angle.

00:08:24: Apparently it can analyze your whole LinkedIn presence, suggest improvements, even generate copy for you in minutes, and maybe even execute the updates.

00:08:32: Sounds like a massive time saver for busy folks.

00:08:34: Could be, yeah.

00:08:35: Anything that lowers the barrier to having a strong profile is probably worth looking into.

00:08:40: Okay, so moving from the profile itself to how you actually interact.

00:08:43: Let's dig into engagement and pipeline activation.

00:08:46: The big message we kept hearing was, likes feel good, sure, but conversations are what actually drive business.

00:08:53: Absolutely.

00:08:54: Rick Adler put it, pretty bluntly.

00:08:56: How

00:08:56: so?

00:08:57: He basically said, if you're still just focused on posting content on LinkedIn, you're probably not making sales.

00:09:03: Sales happen in the comments and the DMs in actual sales conversations.

00:09:08: He reckons he spends about eighty percent of his LinkedIn time on those direct interactions.

00:09:13: Eighty

00:09:13: percent?

00:09:14: Wow.

00:09:14: Yeah, building trust, finding problems.

00:09:16: That's a big shift from how many people use LinkedIn, isn't it?

00:09:19: Just posting and hoping.

00:09:20: It really is that post and pray approach.

00:09:23: And it connects directly to what Marina Ponova was saying about growth on LinkedIn.

00:09:27: She argued that just pumping out more content isn't real growth.

00:09:30: Right.

00:09:31: Volume isn't everything.

00:09:32: The hard part, she says, is managing the relationships.

00:09:35: She emphasizes things like tracking conversations, setting follow-up reminders, segmenting your network, auditing it weekly.

00:09:42: It's not about volume.

00:09:43: It's about systems for quality interaction.

00:09:46: Exactly.

00:09:46: Systems.

00:09:48: It's not about being chained to LinkedIn in twenty four seven.

00:09:51: It's about smart tracking using those reminders talking meaningfully to the right people by segmenting and then looking back weekly to see what's working.

00:09:59: quality interactions Scaled smart.

00:10:01: and speaking of those initial interactions Connor Paulson had this amazing insight with the

00:10:05: message links.

00:10:06: Yeah

00:10:07: He sent a thousand messages got like a four percent response rate pretty standard maybe even low ouch.

00:10:12: Yeah,

00:10:12: then he changed one thing Shorten his messages to just sixty-seven words, focused only on the recipient's biggest pain point.

00:10:20: His response rate jumped to thirty-one percent.

00:10:23: Thirty-one,

00:10:23: that's

00:10:24: huge.

00:10:24: Incredible, right.

00:10:25: He says short messages whisper confidence instead of screaming desperation.

00:10:30: Game change.

00:10:30: Those

00:10:30: numbers really show it, don't they?

00:10:32: Brevity plus real understanding of their problem.

00:10:35: It works, respects their time, gets straight to the potential value.

00:10:39: And that fits with needing targeted outreach.

00:10:41: Matt Legagev gave a step-by-step for booking like five meetings a week.

00:10:45: Starts with sales now to find the right people.

00:10:48: Then sending personalized connection requests that lead with a relevant result or insight.

00:10:54: Offer value immediately, don't just pitch.

00:10:57: Yeah,

00:10:57: show you've done your homework, that you get their world.

00:11:00: That personalization, even just in the request, makes the whole conversation start off better.

00:11:05: Now, a bottom brought a dose of realism too about the hard parts of social selling.

00:11:09: Yeah,

00:11:09: it's not all easy wins.

00:11:11: He points out, you know, prospects check you out, algorithms change, your first hundred messages might get ignored, building real relationships takes

00:11:19: months.

00:11:19: True.

00:11:20: But, and this is the interesting part, he says, those hardships, the competitive advantage.

00:11:25: Because most people give up.

00:11:26: Uh, the filter effect.

00:11:28: Exactly.

00:11:29: So the ones who stick it out get to build those deeper relationships that actually convert better later on.

00:11:35: What do you think

00:11:36: of that

00:11:36: reframe?

00:11:37: I think that really resonates.

00:11:38: It flips the script completely.

00:11:40: Instead of seeing rejection or slow progress as failure, it becomes a filter.

00:11:45: The people who stick with it, who get that relationships, take time and effort.

00:11:50: They're the ones who win in the long run.

00:11:52: It kind of selects for the serious players.

00:11:54: Yeah, separates the sprinters from the marathon runners.

00:11:57: All right, let's shift gears slightly.

00:12:00: How can businesses scale this stuff using their own teams?

00:12:04: Employee advocacy came up a lot.

00:12:06: The feeling is, It's not really optional anymore, is it?

00:12:09: Not really.

00:12:10: It seems to be becoming a major differentiator.

00:12:13: And it really puts the spotlight on the power of your own people.

00:12:17: Ulias Blaska had this really stark stat.

00:12:19: Oh, yeah.

00:12:20: Employees drive eight times more engagement than company pages do.

00:12:24: Eight times.

00:12:25: Yeah.

00:12:26: Corporate pages are just losing reach.

00:12:28: While stuff shared by employees gets way more eyeballs.

00:12:31: Yeah.

00:12:31: It literally makes your team your best marketing channel.

00:12:34: That's a number you just can't ignore.

00:12:35: And Eva Blachova shared that great Dan Foss example.

00:12:38: Right, the inclusive approach.

00:12:39: Exactly.

00:12:40: When they launched their advocacy program, they didn't just pick the usual star employees, they went inclusive first.

00:12:45: Now it took more training, more hand-holding.

00:12:47: Sure, more effort up front.

00:12:48: But the result?

00:12:49: A huge diversity of voices, authentic stories, and this global community of over eight hundred ambassadors.

00:12:56: Like she said, exclusive gets you a campaign, inclusive gets you a culture.

00:12:59: That's such a brilliant way to put it.

00:13:01: It elevates it beyond just a tactic.

00:13:03: It's about building an engaged, empowered workforce.

00:13:06: When people feel proud of what they share, that authenticity just cuts through.

00:13:11: But how do you get employees to actually want to post?

00:13:14: Scott Bowling had some practical advice on the type of content that works.

00:13:18: Yeah, what actually motivated them?

00:13:19: He talked about things like pride content awards, company wins, knowledge content, expert tips from within the company, people content.

00:13:28: employee spotlights, team stuff, and purpose content, like mission-driven stories or sustainability efforts.

00:13:36: The trick is making it relatable, easy to share, and something they're genuinely proud of or interested in.

00:13:41: It's about giving them stuff they want to share, not just stuff they feel they have to share.

00:13:45: Precisely.

00:13:46: If it aligns with their own pride or values, they're much more likely to engage with the program naturally.

00:13:51: And for those experts inside the company... the SMEs who are always time poor.

00:13:56: Yeah, the classic problem.

00:13:58: Junicer pointed towards AI tools again.

00:14:00: Using AI-powered content creation to help them get their insights out there.

00:14:04: It bridges that gap, lets them share that valuable thought leadership, which Apparently, eighty-two percent of BWB buyers say increases trust in a brand.

00:14:14: It's about enabling them, not just nagging them.

00:14:16: Yeah, it's a smart way to unlock and scale that internal expertise.

00:14:20: Take away the content creation headache.

00:14:22: Let the experts share their insights.

00:14:24: It boosts the brand.

00:14:25: helps the expert build their brand win-win.

00:14:27: Okay, well that wraps up another deep dive into the very dynamic world of social selling on LinkedIn.

00:14:33: We've definitely seen that consistency, real engagement, focusing on systems and actual relationships.

00:14:39: That's what moves the needle, not just chasing vanity metrics.

00:14:42: Yeah, it's pretty clear.

00:14:42: LinkedIn is always evolving, isn't it?

00:14:44: And the people succeeding are the ones adapting, prioritizing trust, having meaningful conversations, and really leveraging their whole team.

00:14:51: The insights from these weeks definitely show that a disciplined people first approach beats the quick acts every time.

00:14:57: So if you enjoyed this deep dive, remember new additions drop every two weeks.

00:15:03: And definitely check out our other additions covering things like account based marketing, field marketing, channel marketing, MarTech, GTM and AI in B to B marketing.

00:15:12: Thank you so much for joining us.

00:15:14: And yeah, remember to subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

00:15:17: And as you go apply some of these ideas, maybe think about this.

00:15:20: How much more impactful could your own LinkedIn efforts be if you really treated every single interaction as a chance to build a genuine relationship?

00:15:29: And if you consistently thought of your profile not as some static resume, but as the most valuable dynamic landing page you actually own, definitely something to think about.