6 Tips To Succeed With Social Media For B2B Marketing

There are so many components to consider when planning your marketing strategy for your B2B business that it’s easy to let social media fall by the wayside. You may not use social media for much more than checking in on your family or following consumer brands, and if you don’t love LinkedIn, you’re likely in the 30% of people who use it at least monthly. If you narrow your focus to LinkedIn alone, you may not find that statistic stimulating enough to dedicate resources to building your social media presence.

But social media is essential for B2B businesses, and it can be done in a way that builds your following easily and seamlessly. Let’s take a closer look at why you should dedicate time to social media and strategies to start seeing success ASAP.

Why You Need Social Media for B2B Marketing

Here are the top reasons not to discount social media as a B2B business:

• Reach people on a personal level – people are typically using social media in their downtime; on their lunch breaks, on transport, and while relaxing in the evenings. This gives you an opportunity to reach them and connect with them when they’re looking for opportunities to do so.

• You prevent your competitors from having a monopoly – even if you’re not on social media, chances are, your competitors are. If you’re not on social media, any potential clients on those platforms will find them and start building a connection with them instead of with you.

• Build trust – active social media profiles are markers of legitimacy and authority. Not having them can often cause potential customers to question whether you’re still in business or a company worth working with.

• It’s an opportunity to showcase your best side – from your best work and championing your clients’ success to handling any queries and customer service issues with aplomb; your social media profiles are a great venue to show case what you’re most proud of.

• B2B customers use social media when making a purchasing decision – 75% of B2B customers are influenced by social media when making purchasing decisions.

• You can access essential insights – most social media platforms will give you access to analytics tools, but the real gold is in engaging with customers to gain insight into how they think and feel.

6 B2B Social Media Marketing Tips to Help You Find Success Fast

1.    Set Clear Goals

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when they start out on social media is doing so without any goals. When we use social media for our personal lives, we upload pictures whenever we feel compelled to, and the only constant in what we share is us.

That’s not how you should run your business accounts. Your business social media needs to have a strategy and goals that match your overall objectives. Remember that social media is apart of your overall marketing mix and should support your business, not be ad rain.

What targets or goals are you aiming for this quarter? How can social media support and help move you toward achieving these goals?

2.    Don’t Overcommit

It’s tempting to be all or nothing about social media – we often feel like we need to be on all the platforms, or it’s not worth doing at all. Fortunately, trying to be on the mall will likely do more harm than good. Why? Because your audience may not be looking to interact with you on all platforms. It is important to figure out which social platforms are right for your business and your products.

3.    Create All Content for Your Top Clients

Yes, you want to reach as many people as possible with your social media marketing – that’s why you’re doing it. However, it’s easy to cast a huge net and end up missing the clients you actually want. Look at your client list and find what they have in common. Create an ideal customer persona (if you haven’t already) and create all content as if you’re sending it directly to them.

When you create content that's peaks to your clients, you’ll attract more of them – you’ll show clients why you are the absolute best choice for them and not one of all the other businesses that are casting their nets wide. Having focus within your content will give your message clarity.

4.    Share and Create Content Worth Paying Attention To

If you’re doing the point above well, then this should follow inherently, but it’s so important that it’s worth highlighting. Don’t throw up content just to ensure you upload something that day. It’s easy to get caught up in how many posts need to be uploaded each day and certain times of day, but the content is what matters. You can nail all the perfect times of day to upload and get seen by the maximum amount of people, but if your content lacks substance, your audience will scroll straight past.

Return back to your ideal customers and consider what they might like to see from you. Do they want quick tips? Shared resources? Something funny to brighten their day? Try a few different things and do more of what they engage with. Continue to experiment over time.

5.    Feed Your Social Media Following into Your Advertising

Organic marketing is incredibly valuable and is well worth investing time and money in to build overtime. Its only weakness is that it often takes time to see good results. If paid marketing is a part of your strategy, then social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn offer you a huge opportunity to retarget and create custom audiences so you can advertise to those who are already familiar with you.

6.    Be Human

One of the reasons you haven’t been excited about B2B marketing in the past is the idea that it is going to be dry and boring. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter which industry you’re in or what you’re competitors are doing, you can be human in your marketing, and you can have fun.

Think about the B2Bcompanies you engage with; whether it’s Google, Adobe, Slack, or a small company you can’t wait to tell everyone about, you likely love to follow them because 1) they have great products or services and 2) they are approachable and conversational.

Once you’ve considered all the benefits and your time available, you may decide that you can’t possibly fit any other tasks onto your plate. If so, we’re here to help. We can help you manage your social media set up, offer templates, and more so you can succeed online. To find out more, visit our Digital Marketing Services page or fill out the form below

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