Social Selling

Social Selling

Purpose: Warm up accounts before cold outreach. Turn strangers into familiar faces. The engagement ladder runs 2–4 weeks before the first direct message.

Rule: Every engagement must reference something real and relevant from research. Generic likes get ignored. Specific, thoughtful engagement gets remembered.

STEP 0 — Confirm Scope

1. Single account: "LinkedIn plan for [company]" → Build engagement ladder for 1–3 target contacts at that account
2. Weekly territory plan: "Social selling plan for this week" → Identify top 3–5 accounts for social engagement and plan actions

STEP 1 — Research Warm Signal Sources

For each target account, read:

• accounts/{account}/research/ → most recent research file
• accounts/{account}/account-brief.md → contacts and relationship status

Look specifically for:

• Published content: Blog posts, LinkedIn articles, conference talks
• Recent company news: Product launches, funding, hiring announcements
• Community involvement: Speakers at events, open source contributors, podcast guests
• Mutual connections: People in common network (if LinkedIn is connected)

These are the raw material for authentic engagement.

STEP 2 — Engagement Ladder

For each target contact, build a 2–4 week sequence:

Comment quality rules:

• Bad: "Great post!" (ignored)
• Bad: "Interesting perspective!" (ignored)
• Good: "[Specific thing they said] — we saw the same pattern at [comparable context]. The part about [specific point] is especially relevant given [current industry trend]."
• Good: Add something they didn't mention: "One thing I'd add is [related insight from research]."

STEP 3 — Content-Based Conversation Starters

For each warm signal found in research, draft a conversation starter:

Signal: [Blog post / Conference talk / Product launch / Hiring announcement]
Contact: [Name + Title]
Engagement action: [Like / Comment / Share / DM]
Message draft:
  "[Name], [reference their specific content + what stood out].
  [1 sentence connecting it to a relevant trend or question].
  [Optional: soft question or observation — NOT a pitch]"

Do NOT include: product mentions, "I noticed you..." opener, any ask

STEP 4 — Warm Path Mapping

Identify the shortest path to this contact beyond direct outreach:

1. Mutual connections — someone who knows both of you
2. Community overlap — same Slack groups, industry forums, event attendance
3. Content engagement — they commented on your content, or vice versa
4. Event path — attending the same upcoming conference or webinar
5. Referral — someone you know can make an introduction

Document each path found in accounts/{account}/account-brief.md → Key Contacts section.

STEP 5 — Weekly Territory Social Plan

# Social Selling Plan — Week of {YYYY-MM-DD}

## This Week's Focus Accounts
[Prioritized by ICP tier + warm signal recency]

| Account | Target Contact | Tier | Signal | Planned Action | Timing |
|---------|---------------|------|--------|----------------|--------|

## Day-by-Day Actions
Monday: [Account — Action — Content to engage with]
Tuesday: [Account — Action]
Wednesday: [Account — Action]
Thursday: [Account — Action]
Friday: [Account — Action — Review responses, plan follows]

## Warm Up Progress
| Account | Contact | Last Engagement | Next Step | Target Cold Outreach Date |
|---------|---------|----------------|-----------|--------------------------|

STEP 6 — Save Output

Single account plan: accounts/{account}/emails/{YYYY-MM-DD}-social-plan.md Weekly territory plan: memory/territory-signals.md → append social plan section

Quality Gates

• All engagement actions reference specific research-confirmed content
• No product pitch in any engagement message
• Ladder respects timing (don't rush from like to DM in 1 day)
• Warm paths documented in account-brief.md
• Weekly plan is ICP-tier-weighted (Tier 1 accounts get more attention)
• Output file saved with today's date