“Attention versus intention. That’s the point.”

So explained Jay Busselle in his afternoon Education Day session at The ASI Show Fort Worth titled “Intention or Attention: Sharing Targeted Content on Social Media.” The distinction as explained by the managing partner of FLEXpoint Social Selling and regular ASI Show speaker is that distributors make repeated mistakes on social media to gain attention, but instead they end up driving customers away. Meanwhile, with an intentional plan of several relationship-building techniques on social, distributors can consistently curate 20 leads per month. “You need to build more trust,” Busselle said. “Trust will lead to sales.”

ASI Show speaker Jay Busselle led two sessions on Education Day at ASI Fort Worth, including one in the morning on the art of differentiation. In both sessions he expressed his love for tacos.

First the mistakes. Busselle listed a number of them, both general and specific to the promo industry. These included “vaguebooking” (intentionally vague posts), like and share campaigns, oversharing personal details, aggressively trying to sell and simply blind link sharing or repeating what others say without adding your own thoughts. “Please share your opinion; please share your insight,” said Busselle. “No more blindsharing. It’s not good and it never was good.”

By contrast, Busselle shared a variety of actionable ideas for posts that will resonate with prospects and clients and help distributors build relationships. These included customer testimonials, educational content, behind-the-scenes looks and unsolicited user-generated content. Things like testimonials (“The best thing you can do right now,” Busselle stressed) require distributors to take the initiative. Tell your best customers that you’re thinking about them and drawing up great ideas just for them, and while you’re meeting with them, ask for that testimonial. “Customer testimonials are great,” said Busselle. “Video testimonials? 10 times better.”

Meanwhile, unsolicited props from people on social don’t require being proactive. Rather, it’s like found money – and the impact can be big. “If somebody posts [something great about you] online,” he said, “grab that. That’s gold, that’s magic.”

Our friend of ASI @JayBusselle emphatically explaining the worst mistakes we make our social: clickbaiting, oversharing, blind link sharing, and being a very pushy seller. #ASIFortWorth pic.twitter.com/SEtWofUxpE

— C.J. Mittica (@CJ_ASIMedia) March 4, 2024

Busselle offered additional robust strategies, including teaching your audience something, giving value first without expectations (such as white papers), shining the spotlight on your staff and customers, and sharing your personality. The underpinning of his suggestions is that distributors need to differentiate themselves. Be creative with how you pitch yourself and explain what you do. Find niches where you thrive, position yourself as an expert and bolster your reputation through accreditations and testimonials.

“You have to differentiate,” Busselle said. “You have to step out. You have to have a plan that says here’s what makes me tick. Here’s why I’m rare. Here’s what makes me different. Then show, and then tell.”

Busselle said the best social media platform is “wherever your community is most likely to be,” though he recommended Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube as three strong options. He also walked attendees through an easy way to narrow down qualified prospects on LinkedIn for free. “What, you don’t have 10 minutes to do this? C’mon, you do,” remarked Busselle. “You have 10 minutes every day. In fact, you probably have a half hour every day to do this.”