You see it on LinkedIn daily, as an ever-swelling spam tsunami floods your homepage.
Although they do themselves no favors, the buffoons behind the flood damage their brands more than themselves. Where they once had opportunities to drive away only handfuls of prospects in the past, now they possess a weapon of mass destruction.
It need not be that way, says LinkedIn strategist Kristina Jaramillo.
Social selling experts insist social selling is a lead-gen "volume play," Jaramillo says.
But it isn't.
Social selling's purpose should be lead qualification and nurturing.
"The focus should be on prospect development," Jaramillo says.
Simply posting about your product, your team, yourself or even your industry doesn't make you relevant to buyers.
You have to drill down to value; and, on LinkedIn, that comes in form of challenges to the status quo.
You need to publish "disruptive" content that drives changes in thoughts and actions, and, most importantly, "give prospects a reason to change," Jaramillo says.
