You Need to Try these Social Media Strategies for B2B
Well-crafted B2B social media strategies have changed the game for many companies. If you haven’t achieved game-changing results in your business using social media, you’re probably not doing it right. Your creation or implementation strategy is probably off. But don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
Many B2B companies are ineffective at social media marketing. The seriousness of their business often impacts their online presence resulting in overly product-focused or sterile posts that don’t truly engage social media users. These failed attempts bring much less of an impact than expected and lead to the wrong conclusion that social media is a B2C marketing playground.
The truth is that B2B social media strategies can be as effective as B2C campaigns, but you need to apply a slightly different approach. In B2C social media strategies, you can be all about your top offers for a compelling product. This is because B2C consumers are (for the most part) impulsive buyers and the decision-making process is relatively short.
The B2B purchase process is longer, more complex, and wrong decisions can mean wasting a lot of money. B2B buyers are fewer, but they are more informed about the industry. Therefore, B2B social media strategies should be focused on building lasting relationships with the buyers. These are relationships based on trust, reliability, and credibility.
How to build effective B2B social media strategies
Social media is an extremely effective tool for B2B marketers. It can help increase brand awareness and establish the company as a thought leader. It gives marketers an opportunity to humanize B2B companies. In this way, social media eases the process of connecting with prospects, clients, and industry influencers. If you put enough time and thought into your strategy, social media can bring you incredible results.
Invest in the right channels
Many B2B companies are trying to be present on all the relevant social media platforms. While this should be the perfect solution, it doesn’t work that way in real life. Being omnipresent takes a lot of time, energy, and resources to achieve quality presence on all channels. The point is not just about being there, you need to give your followers valuable content, and keep giving it out consistently.
Therefore, if you can’t ensure quality multi-channel presence, it’s really important to carefully choose the channels that are most relevant to your business. Then, check which ones provide opportunities for showcasing your offers. And finally, do the research about which channels are most attractive for your target audience and their participation. Based on these insights you’ll know where to focus your efforts.
Make use of employee advocacy
Sharing employee quotes and pictures can be an extremely powerful social media strategy for strengthening both internal and external reputation. This shows that you value the individuals that make up your company and add a human voice to the brand. It helps you share your brand messages through people with whom customers can relate to.
Employee advocacy will also help you fill in the gaps when there’s no new relevant content to share. As social media followers demand consistency in order to engage with a brand, these kinds of posts can help you stay on track.
Present your partners
Show your partners that you appreciate your shared professional association. Post about new or ongoing collaborations. Engage with your partners by commenting, liking, and sharing their posts. Create joint offers that will bring followers and customers to both your business and your partners.
Inform your customers how they can benefit from your new collaborations. Show them that you actively do work on creating better offers and opportunities for solving their problems. Even when you’re not involved in a related project at the moment, post something about your partners every now and then. They will probably return the favor.
Listen and engage
Make sure that you always have someone standing by on your social media profiles. Ensure that your customers and prospects get timely and helpful replies to their messages and comments. Make sure this is all done in your brand’s voice.
Don’t limit yourself to just your social media profiles. Keep an eye on people who are looking for answers on social media, blogs, and forums other than yours. Follow relevant hashtags and help people by answering their questions and doubts. Listen to your competitors, too. Their social media profiles can give you some valuable insights about the interests of your target audience.
Embrace content
B2B social media strategies that are based on strictly promotional messages are usually unsuccessful. Consumers are overwhelmed by the plethora of advertisements and they are looking for content that is relevant to their needs. They need solutions instead of fun and witty brand messages.
Therefore, content-based marketing is a great tool for distributing your brand messages in a way that meets consumer demands. Some B2Bs avoid it only because they have difficulty developing engaging content. To be honest, it can really be challenging, but it is a smart investment.
For a start, you can re-purpose existent materials and turn them into valuable content. Go through your trade show materials, magazines, e-newsletters, and product/service videos. Adapt the content for social media and see how your audience reacts. The insights that you’ll get will help you create new, engaging content. You can also use insights from your sales and customer service departments since they know customer pain points.
Show your expertise
Social media is becoming one of the top sources of information. Companies use it to get the latest news and industry trends, track the markets, and interact with potential customers or collaborators. This is a chance for you to increase your visibility and subtly sell your offerings without the pressure of actual selling.
Create content and participate in communication that is relevant to your field of expertise. Demonstrate what you know and offer to solve dilemmas. It will help you position yourself as a thought leader and industry expert. This way you’ll strengthen the brand image and attract your target audience with knowledge.
Try social integration
B2B social media strategies involve a lot more than setting up a fancy Facebook page and spending some money on advertising. If you want exceptional lead generation results, you’ll have to experiment with different tactics across multiple channels.
Today, companies in all industries have social media profiles. Some of them may not use Instagram, but it doesn’t mean you won’t find them on LinkedIn. Try to connect with as many potential and existing customers as you can. Use your resources such as trade show leads, dealer or distributor lists to inform customers of your social media presence. Then, give them a reason to find you there.
Integrate your marketing and sales tools to get the best results that you can. This is exactly what we do at DemandZEN. We integrate our lead generation campaigns with your existing business tools, and get new leads to flow to your existing CRM, email, and marketing services. This enables you to benefit from increased demand while maintaining the convenience of your existing workflow.
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DemandZEN specializes in Account-Based Demand Generation and solving the challenges around finding, engaging and converting target accounts into real opportunities for B2B Technology and Services companies.