Did you know four out of five LinkedIn members are decision-makers for their company? On a platform with more than 750 million users, that calculates to a lot of decision-makers.
Of course, there are millions of users on Facebook and Instagram, too. Social media is a must in today’s digital world. If you want your company to succeed, you must have a solid social media strategy.
Keep reading to learn more about how to make a social media strategy. And tips for succeeding with B2B social media posts.
An Overview of B2B Social Media
Social media marketing is a booming industry. Everyone who is anyone has a social media profile. And they usually have accounts on several platforms.
So, how does a B2B company leverage social media? There are a few ways:
- Build partnerships
- Generate leads
- Brand awareness
- Engage audiences
A B2C company may use its social media platforms to attract new customers through products and services. A B2B company often uses its platform to attract new customers through information or education.
How is Social Media Used for B2B Companies?
Social media can be used to engage with audiences, both prospective and existing. It’s also a great marketing tactic to promote your products and services to those who need them.
Social media platforms are full of decision-makers. This creates a perfect place for B2B companies to reach prospective companies. B2B companies can use their platforms for a variety of reasons:
- To educate and inform
- To engage
- Humanize the brand
- Build brand awareness
- Attract leads
- Cultivate relationships
- Discover what others are saying about the company
- Answer customer service questions
- Drive traffic to other sites, such as the company’s website
Social media can be used in so many ways! Once you craft a marketing strategy, you’ll be able to determine how to leverage your social platforms to maximize results.
Craft a Solid Social Media B2B Marketing Strategy
When defining your strategy for social media marketing for B2B, it’s vital you keep your customer as the main focus. No matter who your target audience is, engaging them should be a priority. There are a few things to determine when creating your strategy:
- Social commerce
- Your message
- Brand awareness
- How to build trust
Each of these aspects will contribute to the overall strategy. Continue reading to learn more about each area.
Social Commerce
Social commerce is where you apply user interactions and engagement on social platforms to help you sell products and services. This concept combines social proof and social media marketing to maximize your selling abilities.
People listen to those they trust. With this idea, you set up your social profiles to sell directly from the platform instead of sending users to an external site.
Using social commerce in your B2B strategy can increase user interactions. This is a key aspect of your overall social media strategy.
Define Your Message
Your brand message is how you communicate with your audience. And what you convey to them. Your message should invoke feelings and emotions in your audience.
When creating a message, you should ensure your brand voice is in alignment with the tone you’ve set. And each part of your social media campaign conveys the message accurately.
Brand Awareness
A huge part of your social marketing strategy is building brand awareness. How can audiences know who you are if you don’t tell them? When building awareness about your brand, you should:
- Show how your company is different
- Highlight what makes you unique
- Your company’s value
There are many ways to build awareness. You can share behind-the-scenes photos or videos to show how your company works. Or you could share content that educates buyers on your products and services.
Most businesses that buy from other businesses do extensive research before deciding on a company. It’s vital your company’s social strategy gives prospective companies the information they need to make decisions.
Building your brand’s awareness will make you more credible and known in the industry.
Build Trust
Another key element for your social media B2B strategy is to build trust with your audience. This can be by sharing your expertise or highlighting customer success stories.
You can also build trust by getting influencers in on the strategy. This allows audiences to connect with people they trust and will help to build the same trust in your products or services.
Get Help From Experts If Needed
If all else fails or creating an effective strategy is too overwhelming, you should outsource with an agency! Many companies offer a variety of packages to get your content ready for several platforms.
And they handle the entire process. You’ll save a lot of time and get faster results.
Choose the Right Social Platforms for Your Industry
Each platform has its pros and cons for different marketing aspects. And different industries. The best platform for your business is the one where your audience is.
How do you know? Well, you’ll survey them. And do a lot of testing.
Each platform has the ability to benefit your company, just some more so than others. The platforms will only be as useful as you make them. That’s why a strong social strategy is necessary.
We’ll break down each social site below. And help you understand the benefits of using the platform.
Facebook has billions of daily users. It’s doubtful your target audience isn’t on Facebook. You just have to find them.
Facebook has a selling capability called Facebook Shops. This allows you to sell directly to customers from the Facebook app. Having a Facebook page profile also allows you access to the advertising feature.
With the right targeted audience, Facebook ads can be very successful for many businesses. The platform is also great for engaging audiences or sharing content.
Instagram is a great site for engaging audiences. Most users on Instagram aren’t looking to purchase items but having a profile can be a great way to build awareness.
Instagram also has an ad capability. In fact, when you make a Facebook ad, you can check a box to show it to Instagram users, too. On Instagram, you can share thought leadership topics with compelling graphics to grab your audience’s attention.
It’s also a great place to share updates or drive users to download content. They also have an Instagram Shops feature much like Facebook’s.
LinkedIn is the social media site for professionals. B2B companies really need to leverage the advantages of using this platform. The decision-makers you need access to are right there!
When selling to businesses, you have to gain the attention of the decision-makers and buyers. What better way to do that than on a site specifically for business professionals?
On LinkedIn, you can share articles, position yourself as a thought leader, and generate leads. The platform’s advertising abilities are extensive. B2B companies could have a lot of success by including LinkedIn in their social strategy.
YouTube
YouTube is great for companies to educate their audiences. And B2B audiences love to learn! Educating and informing your audiences is a key element of a strong social strategy.
You can create videos demonstrating products or educating on industry-specific topics. Videos create an emotional response with viewers, a vital component for building brand awareness and trust.
Videos are a hot trend in social media marketing. So, jumping on it and using YouTube could reap many benefits.
B2B Social Media Tips
You may be wondering how exactly to increase engagement. Or what kind of content to share. Or how to maximize social media marketing. Below are many B2B social media tips that can help you get the most out of your posts.
The below content outlines how to increase engagement through innovative ideas and activities. When launching a new product or implementing a company initiative, it’s important to align your social strategy.
This will help to maximize your results while using all resources available.
Engaging Content
The first step in engaging audiences and getting the most out of your social platforms is to have engaging content. And the content should be relevant to your target audience.
Creating cat posts is great for engagement, but unless you’re selling some sort of product to a business selling cat products, it won’t result in much of a return.
The great thing about social media marketing is you can easily find this information. All you have to do is create a poll or questionnaire. You’ll know exactly what your audience wants.
Your content should also provide value. Educate the reader about something. Or talk about how your business can solve a problem they have. There are a few things to consider when creating and posting content:
- Posting strategically
- Your brand voice
- Giveaways: yay or nay?
- How to educate
- Make it easy to digest
- Ask questions
- Use hashtags
- Share company highlights
- Share successes
There are so many different ways to create and use content to your advantage. Learn more about each consideration below.
Post Content Strategically to Get the Most Out of It
This one ties back to what time to post to each site. But also, it goes a bit further to include connecting content to your current campaign.
For example, say you just released a new product. You’ll want your content to be relevant to it to keep the hype going about it. The same goes for other marketing or PR campaigns.
Create a Compelling Brand Voice
Your brand voice is what audiences will expect each time you post. Are you witty and sarcastic in posts? Or do you stick to professional and informative?
It doesn’t really matter what your brand voice is as long as it’s true to your brand image. And make sure it stays consistent across all platforms.
Giveaways!
Giveaways can be a great way to gain followers and increase engagement. And a strategic giveaway can help you learn more about what audiences want from your brand.
Giveaways could be as simple as a gift card to the company. Or as complex as having entries be a design for a new product. You can make giveaways whatever they need to be for your company.
And you can leverage them to build hype around a product or awareness around your overall brand.
Be Helpful and Educational
It’s important for B2B companies to educate their audiences. By being helpful and educational before your ideal clients are actual clients, you set a great first impression.
By sharing content like this, you are helping them to solve problems instead of selling something. And this resonates with audiences. It also helps to initiate conversations and relationships with intended audiences.
Make Content Easy to Digest
You want your content to be easy to digest so more people will want to engage. Long-form posts or posts with a lot of steps to get to what they really want to know leave audiences frustrated.
And many just won’t work to get content. So, you want to make your content easy and quick to read. If sharing a blog post, only post the highlights to intrigue the reader into clicking for more information.
If you have a report or something with a lot of data to share, make an infographic covering the key points. You want users to engage with your content and you have to make it easy for them to do so.
Ask Questions
Ask your audience what content they want. Ask them to vote on the next giveaway you post. Or you can even create a poll to get insight on what kinds of products or services they need for their business.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags help your content get seen by larger audiences. When using a hashtag, pick an industry-specific term or topic. This will help your content to show up to anyone who searches for that specific keyword.
Share Behind the Scenes or Company Photos
Not only does sharing behind the scenes or company photos humanize your brand, but it also helps audiences to feel like they are a part of the team. You can tell stories about your team or company with this strategy.
Storytelling through internal photos and stories builds a connection with audiences. It creates emotion and makes them feel like they know you.
This will help with selling because it builds trust. And it also builds awareness. Both are vital aspects of your social media strategy.
Share Success Stories or Testimonials
This concept can be expanded to also include customer spotlights. People like to feel valued. By creating posts sharing about the successes of customers, you’re showing everyone you value those who buy from you.
And what better way to gain new customers than by having existing customers tell them how great your product or service is? You can interview existing clients through surveys to create short clips and blog posts.
A good testimonial or success story can let audiences know how your products or services could also help their business. Hearing from someone who has used the product is a solid form of marketing that you can’t really beat.
Leverage Tools
There are many tools and plugins available to help you better manage your social media marketing for B2B segments. Some tools available include automation software and tools to give you advanced analytics.
When leveraging social media marketing, it’s important you measure the appropriate KPIs. Tracking success on social media can be difficult, so it’s important to measure the right metrics.
Automation software can make your day easier. And using a tool to automate posts allows you to plan content more thoroughly. With these tools, you can post automated messages, posts, and more.
Determine the Best Time of Day to Post on Each Platform
Each social platform has a certain time of day that is more optimal for posting than others. When you post is important because it can boost your organic traffic and engagement. And choosing the right time can trigger the algorithm each platform has.
The perfect time will depend on the demographics of your target audience and their behaviors. A few statistics surrounding when to post include:
- The average optimal time on Facebook is 9 am.
- Peak traffic on Facebook is between 1 and 3 pm.
- Instagram has a wider average time, ranging from 10 am to 3 pm.
- LinkedIn’s best time to post is during working hours.
- The best time to post on YouTube is Monday through Wednesday between 2 pm and 4 pm.
Of course, these times vary based on where you are located. And some days are better than others to post. It’s important to research the specific platform you are using for social media marketing.
Know Your Audience
It’s important to know your target audience before using social media marketing. Just like any other marketing strategy, talking to the wrong people won’t do your business any favors.
Thoroughly knowing your audience will let you know a lot of information necessary to create an effective strategy. Such as:
- What platform do they prefer?
- What kind of content do they want?
- What challenges do they have?
When you can answer those questions, you can reach the right people. And your social media B2B marketing will be much more successful.
Start a Community
LinkedIn and Facebook both have options to create groups. While you can create a community on any platform, using groups can really elevate your brands.
By having a group for your social media marketing, you get more one-on-one access to prospects and returning customers. You can get in front of them easier. And the setting makes conversation easier.
80% of decision-makers prefer to read several pieces of content to get information about a brand. They want to learn about the company and the products or services offered. But they don’t want to feel like they’re being “sold to.”
By creating a group and using it to share information, you could create a strong community. And who doesn’t love to feel like they are a part of something bigger than them? Or to feel valued by the company they are considering doing business with.
Learn and Utilize Videos
Social media marketing offers several ways to include video in your ads and posts. You can create stories, place ads in other videos, and share to your company’s feed.
On Facebook, there are several options to include videos in your strategy:
- Slideshows
- Stories
- Carousels
- Messenger
- In-stream video
- Collections
- Instant experiences
No matter how you decide to use videos, one thing is certain: they are a must for social media for B2B.
Position Yourself as a Thought Leader
Thought leadership is a huge piece of a successful social media strategy. Posting about your company and your successes isn’t enough to gain the trust of your prospective customers. You must position yourself as a thought leader.
This concept is when you share your expertise and new ideas for your industry. To develop a strong thought leadership strategy, you have to have a clear message. You also need to be able to translate and articulate that message to various audiences.
Get Help Creating Content
Does your company need help to create engaging and SEO-optimized content? Do you want to let the experts worry about research and post creation while you focus on other growth initiatives?
Thumbstop Media is here to help! Having helped thousands of companies, we are knowledgeable in how to make your B2B social media marketing strategy generate significant leads.
If you think our Content On-Demand package will scale your B2B social media marketing, contact us today to get started!