name: social-selling description: | LinkedIn engagement ladder and weekly social plan for warm-path account progression. Use when: planning LinkedIn engagement for an account, building a warm path before cold outreach, creating a weekly social selling plan, or identifying content-based conversation starters. Triggers: linkedin plan, social selling, engagement plan, warm path, content plan, weekly plan, linkedin strategy, social outreach, engagement ladder. version: 1.0.0 user-invocable: true
Social Selling
Purpose: Warm up accounts before cold outreach. Turn strangers into familiar faces. The engagement ladder runs 2–4 weeks before your first direct message.
Rule: Every engagement must reference something real and relevant from research. Generic likes and comments get ignored. Specific, thoughtful engagement gets remembered.
STEP 0 — Confirm Scope
- Single account: "Social selling plan for [company]" → Build engagement ladder for 1–3 target contacts at that account
- 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 fileaccounts/{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 MCP is available)
These are the raw material for authentic engagement.
STEP 2 — Engagement Ladder
For each target contact, build a 2–4 week engagement sequence:
The Ladder (low → high commitment)
| Week | Action | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Follow + Like a recent post | Appears in their notifications — zero friction |
| Week 1-2 | Comment on a specific post (see below) | Visible to their network + shows you read it |
| Week 2 | Share/repost their content with a relevant comment | Highest signal — you amplified their work |
| Week 3 | Warm DM (1–2 sentences, reference the content) | Now you're familiar, not cold |
| Week 3-4 | Connection request (after DM or engagement) | Much higher accept rate |
| Week 4+ | InMail or Email (after connecting) | Now genuinely warm |
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 your research]."
STEP 3 — Content-Based Conversation Starters
For each warm signal found in research, create 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:
Types of warm paths:
- Mutual connections — someone who knows both of you (check LinkedIn MCP if available)
- Community overlap — same Slack groups, Discord, industry forums, event attendance
- Content engagement — they commented on your content, or vice versa
- Event path — attending the same upcoming conference or webinar
- Referral — someone you know can make an introduction
For each path found:
- Document the path in
accounts/{account}/account-brief.md→ Key Contacts section - Add to
memory/account-intel.md→ Warm Intro Routes
STEP 5 — Weekly Territory Social Plan
Output format for weekly plan:
# Social Selling Plan — Week of {YYYY-MM-DD}
## This Week's Focus Accounts
[Prioritized by ICP tier from memory/icp-matrix.md + 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 (not generic)
- 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 and account-intel.md
- Weekly plan is ICP-tier-weighted (Tier 1 accounts get more attention)
- Output file saved with today's date