Why You Should Offer All Of Your Channel Partners Social Media Training

Olivier Choron

So in my previous blog posts, I have discussed; the key issues your partners face which prohibit your social media posts from being effectively shared, and the resolutions to these issues. I have also briefly touched upon the importance of providing training to your channel partners. But what sort of training would be adequate for all of your partners? After all they each have varying levels of capabilities.

Here I will describe a full training program that I recommend you implement, not only for your channel partners, but also for your brand advocates. It works for everyone! It is vital they are all equipped for everything social media has to offer, so you can effectively start social selling and reaching a wider audience.

Get all your partners up to speed

At purechannelapps, when we deploy our software to clients who operate within a channel, to ensure our software is effectively utilised we conduct extensive training. This is not only to get everyone up to speed with the software, but also to explain why social media is such an effective way to increase their exposure. It’s a great way to ensure everyone is on the same page, and aware of the benefits of what you have to offer.

How your social media training should look

1. Let’s do some research

I would first of all advise you to conduct some research on your partners. This will entail looking at their social networks, and also their website. You should be looking at; how often do they post onto social media? What language do they post in? Do they have many connections? Are the post titles interesting? Are there social media accounts visible on their website? You can then start to decipher the level of training that is required.

2. Get partners on board

It’s crucial you fully inform partners’ way in advance about the training program you will be offering. Information included in this email will include the type of training you will be running, as well as when it will be occurring. Send them an email every week to remind them of this fantastic opportunity. Get them excited. This is hugely important as you want a good turn out and to get as many individuals on board as possible. Let’s be serious, you don’t want to have to organise this again too soon just because some individuals were unable to attend.

3. Let’s start at the very beginning- Introduction to social media

I would suggest conducting a series of brief webinars. It will not only be a cost effective method of conducting your training, but you will also get more partners on board as they will not need to take as much time out of their busy schedule to attend. And it also works really well too. Your first webinar should be introducing your partners to social media, explaining the true benefits of them fully embracing it. You may think everyone already understands the rewards, but I wouldn’t be too sure about that.

Further webinars should include:

• Which social networks they should focus on
  
• Recommendations to improve their current social presence (these webinars could occur individually so you can address each partners areas to improve)
  
• Your social media strategy for the future, and their active role in ensuring you achieve this
  
• How often content will be pushed to them, and what they will need to do
  
• If you decide to adopt a social media programme, further training will need to occur to show them how to use this.

So I imagine you have gathered that this will not be an easy, or quick solution to implement. It will take time, but my goodness it will be worth it. It’s essential that your partners are on board, and the best way to achieve this is to support them along the way. Understand their capabilities, and make it easy for them. Simplicity is the best policy. And if you haven’t already done so, try a social media management program. You won’t regret it.

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