How can social media help B2B industries?

Getting social media right for B2B marketing is tricky, but not impossible.

In today’s Internet-driven marketplace, having an online presence is non-negotiable and has become an important part of B2B marketing for almost every business. When it comes to making purchasing decisions, your potential customers use social media sites and search engines to answer questions about the products/services you sell and to get an overall sense as to who you are, what you do and what others think about you.

Social media can help B2B companies by putting them in charge of their virtual identities. Far from being simply about status updates, social media is used most effectively as a brand shaper; a way to establish your company’s reputation and expertise, and to build a following based upon exceptional customer service.

Use social media to educate

For larger B2B businesses in particular, the question isn’t really whether people will talk about you, it’s more about what they will say. Social media gives your business the opportunity to be a part of that conversation and to illustrate the value and realities of your business in your own unique style.

Use your content to answer pertinent questions about your product or service, and to position your business within the industry you serve. Your ability to educate your audience about industry trends and to give them an objective overview as to what to consider when it comes to your offering can establish your business as credible, honest and professional.

Social media: a platform for effective B2B marketing

The ultimate value of your social media marketing efforts will be more leads, stronger customer retention and better engagement with your target market. However, a purely lead-driven approach has the potential to undermine your hard work. As any seasoned social media practitioner knows, when it comes to your social media services, your audiences want to be educated, inspired and engaged.

Establishing a presence and engaging with professionals and other businesses directly related to interests in your niche, should come first. It is wise to undertake a social network analysis to know where your existing and potential clients ‘hang out’ online. You can use this information to take a targeted approach to the content you provide and the budget you allocate to social media advertising.

B2B and B2C balance

As an example, LinkedIn describes itself as a social media network for professionals and is a favourite among the B2B community. A platform for making industry connections, LinkedIn offers businesses the opportunity to position themselves in the marketplace, by sharing content that reflects their professionalism and expertise.

More than half of the businesses that use LinkedIn say that they have found new customers as a result. Facebook, on the other hand, has been particularly profitable for B2C companies, as it has mass appeal and relies heavily upon visual content.

However, given its active audience of over a billion users, Facebook shouldn’t be overlooked by B2B companies, especially for brands that pride themselves on being accessible, fun and creative.

Social media as a brand shaper

When it comes to using social media to inspire interest and engagement in your brand, the more human the tone the better. Your audience wants to interact with and have their questions answered by real people. It helps to write blog posts and articles using first person voice and to have a face behind tweets and updates.

Social media etiquette requires that you be interested in and share other people’s content, and some experts suggest that it is beneficial to apply the 80/20 rule when it comes to sharing or retweeting. The 20% is for the promotion of your own content and the rest should be focused upon sharing other people’s content.

Consistency is also important, and adhering to a cohesive strategy will allow you to manage your social media presence more effectively, ensuring that you strike a relatable chord with each post you publish and each piece of third party content you share. Clients want to know what to expect from a brand and social platforms give you the opportunity to nail your colours to the mast.

Avoid over-thinking social media efforts

While growing a social media presence for B2B businesses is vital, it is important to recognise the innately disposable nature of this marketplace. The pace with which content is produced, shared and discarded has accelerated, as audiences hunger for faster access to the latest stories and hot takes.

This can leave some businesses in a state of perpetual procrastination as they attempt to craft the perfect tweet or status update and commit too many resources to what should really be a fairly straightforward process.

When it reportedly took the marketing team working for President Cheese a total of 45 days to craft an incredibly basic post about sharing Camembert with friends, it went viral for all the wrong reasons. And while, in classic social media fashion, the reality of the story was overlooked, it is an example that conveys a truth about the importance of not over-thinking social media and ensuring that people with plenty of experience are in the driving seat in order to streamline the posting process.

Social media best practices

So how can your business embrace social media and harness it effectively to promote your brand, engage with customers and deliver measurable ROI?

Firstly, it is wise to study the tactics employed by contemporaries and competitors, especially if you are waiting for inspiration to strike and need a good idea for your next content campaign. You can also gain an insight into the type of content most likely to earn shares based upon topics that are trending from minute to minute. Just make sure that the trends with which you associate your brand are relevant to your target audience.

Secondly, you should remember the benefits of social media when it comes to providing marketing collateral to your business partners and other brands that complement your organisation’s operations. This can be achieved in an actively promotional way, but should also be seen as a means of reinforcing relationships and earning a reputational boost by associating your business with established brands.

Finally, you should remember that social posts with multimedia elements generate significantly more engagement than plain text posts, even in the B2B space. So investing in the addition of images and videos to enhance content and earn more clicks and share is strongly advised.

Your brand needs to take a proactive approach to B2B marketing using social media by responding to negative feedback openly and honestly. This will have the effect of defining your brand as compassionate and client-focused.

Thanks to Samantha Long for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Samantha Long who is a Content Marketing Manager at Yoma providing SEO driven Content Marketing Strategy for leading UK brands.