Subscribe
    Subscribe to The Art & Science of Complex Sales

    Look at this cute dog! Why some salespeople share dog pictures on social media.

    New Call-to-action

    I got annoyed recently at a post that went viral on LinkedIn. It wasn’t something I disagreed with or found problematic. It was just that I was jealous.

    My team and I put a lot of thought and time into the content that we share on that platform and elsewhere, yet we rarely go viral.

    But when I logged in recently, it felt like everybody in my feed was sharing this post. It had over 30,000 reactions, and well over 2000 comments.

    And it was just - a picture of a dog.

    barney

    Yes, the dog is REALLY cute :)

    But - it’s just a dog. A photo captured in a moment and shared on a professional platform.

    When I got over my irritation, I got to thinking about what had made that post go viral, and realized that there are a lot of important lessons to be learned from a viral photo of a dog. Here are 4 of them.

    1. As much as the world is changing, some things never change
      The growth of the Internet over the past twenty-plus years has accelerated the rate of change across almost all aspects of life. That includes marketing and sales. Every week, there are new tools, new tactics, new approaches. Old ways of doing things grow stale, new ways arise.

      Yet in all the time since the advent of the World Wide Web, one thing has never changed:

      People love pet photos.

      Today, we carry devices in our pocket capable of storing every book in the entire world, thousands of photos and videos, transmitting those materials from one side of the world to the other instantaneously via signals bounced off objects orbiting the planet, and sharing them with the entire world in a searchable format with a few taps of the screen. And we use it mostly to look at photos of cats.

      Aaron Santos, physicist, estimated in 2010 that there were approximately 1.3 billion cat photos on the internet at that time. I’d be willing to bet it has grown exponentially since then.

      We could analyze the psychology of this (and I’m certain someone somewhere already has), but to me what it demonstrates is the importance of recognizing that not everything changes. And when we understand and utilize the core truths that do not change, we have a better chance of weathering the things that do.
    2. Humans crave connection
      One of the core truths that never changes is that humans crave connection. We are social animals, and we like to socialize. In fact, we need to socialize.

      As a professional platform designed for networking, LinkedIn can be a little on the dry side. People talk about their business, they talk about tactics and processes and systems and tools. They put their best foot forward and come to the table to talk shop.

      But in the end, a single photo of an adorable pup can upend all that.

      Why? Because humans crave connection, and even professionals are human. Sometimes, the key to reaching the very people you need to reach is not to talk more about your features and benefits and brilliant ideas - but to share your humanity.

      And, for better and worse, cute dogs are a part of humanity, and have been ever since they decided to partner with us in domestication.
    3. Emotions drive engagement
      Some social media platforms have optimized their algorithms to reward content that gets a lot of engagement by promoting it further. And companies that specialize in getting a lot of engagement capitalize on this - often by posting controversial material or videos that pull on the heartstrings.

      Controversy drives emotion, which drives engagement. Sure, a few people may want to engage with a dry conversation about methods and features from time to time. But if you really want people to care, and to engage with you, your salespeople, and your company - you have to engage with their emotions.
    4. Sometimes stepping outside the box is exactly what you need
      There is no end of professionals who will look down their noses at a person or a brand for sharing something “unprofessional” like a dog or a piece of life advice. We have this idea that some platforms are appropriate for some things, and other platforms are appropriate for other things, and the two should never intermingle.

      But very few people ever did anything truly great without stepping outside the boundaries defined by others.

      If you’re looking for engagement and attention, it can be worthwhile to examine the artificial boundaries you’ve put around how you engage with the world, and consider changing it up.

      For a sales team, this works best when it’s strategic. You don’t want rogue salespeople running off and posting truly embarrassing or unprofessional material. But you shouldn’t be afraid to have conversations within your organization that encourage marketing and sales to try out new ways of engaging.

      And it probably won’t hurt to throw a dog photo in there from time to time.

      Like this adorable little girl, whose name is Ruby:

      ruby

      Yes, she really is smiling at you.
      Yes, I really do want you to share her photo.
      Maybe it’ll go viral.

    Subscribe
    George Brontén
    Published February 16, 2022
    By George Brontén

    George is the founder & CEO of Membrain, the Sales Enablement CRM that makes it easy to execute your sales strategy. A life-long entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the software space and a passion for sales and marketing. With the life motto "Don't settle for mainstream", he is always looking for new ways to achieve improved business results using innovative software, skills, and processes. George is also the author of the book Stop Killing Deals and the host of the Stop Killing Deals webinar and podcast series.

    Find out more about George Brontén on LinkedIn