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Why Social Media is Crucial in B2B Marketing
Despite the mad dash to rush back to in-person events and “return to normal,” the pandemic has digitized business practices faster than ever before. While we thought we were digitized before, we quickly learned that there are still new frontiers to explore.
With this digitization, where people of all ages and backgrounds have been gathering online and blurring communication, social media platforms have become the new royal family to watch.
What it boils down to is that a growing number of your customers and potential customers are on these platforms already and if you’re not there, they’re having conversations without you.
The truth is that the conversations that happen on social media
Pick and Choose Your Platforms
Many would recommend at least claiming a handle for yourself and setting up your profiles across as many platforms as possible as millions of people already saturate the spaces.
However, there is no need to be active on all platforms, especially if you don’t have the manpower and time to. Instead, pick one or two platforms to focus on and build your business’s presence. LinkedIn and Facebook are popular platforms for the B2B space as they’re both platforms where people come to get things, such as job searching or asking about specific products or services.
Choosing Content
Both good and bad thing is that there is no right or wrong answer for creating content. Personal and professional accounts alike have found many diverse and creative ways of engaging others using the tools of their chosen platforms.
To help you narrow down the ways in which you engage, first look at your platforms or platforms. Each platform uses different formats and algorithms to entertain its users. Here are the most popular content types by platform:
- Facebook – Videos (direct uploads), live videos, and blog content appear to be the top-performing content types with a heavy emphasis on education and knowledge-sharing. You can see why this is a great environment for B2B marketing.
- LinkedIn – Information about jobs, careers, and people lead on LinkedIn. Behind that is also a thirst for educational content and industry knowledge. Another great avenue for B2B businesses to show off their culture and create a brand identity.
- Instagram – High-resolution photos and videos are popular on Instagram, in part because the platform has taken a photo/video first delivery approach. They’ve also more recently launched Reels or short entertaining videos (generally 30 seconds or less), inspired largely in part by TikTok’s social takeover.
- TikTok – This one is relatively straightforward, frequently posted entertaining video content that is generally 30 seconds or less. While TikTok is gaining fame even in the B2C space, it’s harder to nail down for B2B businesses as a primary platform. However, if you have the manpower it could be a great tool to simply engage potential customers in a more light-hearted setting.
- Twitter – Twitter is best for text-based news and quick delivery. This is a great platform if you have a good connection to an existing audience and know they have a Twitter presence already or your target market is especially active on the platform.
- Pinterest – Images, infographics, and step-by-step how-tos (in image form) do well on Pinterest. Because it is common for Pinterest posts to link out to another page, this platform is ideal for sharing educational content and industry knowledge.
Engage, Engage
Have you ever stood in front of a wall and talked to it about your product or service?
If you’re posting on social media and then closing out the app or browser, that is essentially what you’re doing. Social media is a strange digital interpretation of the interactions we have in life, full of various ways of sharing messages, making new connections, and having real conversations.
In order for your efforts on socials to be successful, you have to be active and engaged with others. This means following relevant accounts in your industry and connecting with customers directly. It also means liking, commenting on, and sharing content that is not your own.
Measuring Success
Social media is a long-term but rewarding investment, meaning that you’re not likely to see your desired results for a while. In fact, when goal setting, start with smaller, more realistic goals. Every business’s social media journey looks different.
The most important thing is for you to measure the progress for goals that make sense for your business, industry, and customer base.
If your focus is more local then naturally you’re seeking to engage a much smaller demographic than a national-based company would. You might find that local Facebook or LinkedIn groups are more effective.
If you have a business that operates internationally, Twitter might come in handy to help get the news out more quickly. In this case, there are often a lot of similarities between B2C and B2B businesses.
Then when you measure the success on those platforms, consider how well you accomplished your goal and what it did for your business.
About Our Guest:
Sam Riegsecker
Marketing Operations Manager - Double A Solutions
This month on Everyday Business Solutions we talked about navigating social media marketing as a B2B business. Some may disagree, but it seems that social media is here to stay and it’s almost a requirement to be on at least one or two.
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