Of all the tools available to marketers, social media is perhaps the most versatile. It's an effective vehicle for all types of marketing - Business to Business (B2B), Consumer to Consumer (C2C), Consumer to Business (C2B), or Business to Consumer (B2C). It has millions of users, a simple interface, and tremendous reach. In this blog, we will concentrate on B2B marketing.
By 2027, global B2B e-commerce is predicted to reach a whopping £15 trillion, according to a report by Grand View Research. Harnessing this potential can however be difficult for digital marketers due to the challenges they face in generating the right type of traffic and brand awareness. This is where social media can help. Channeling your B2B marketing efforts on social media apps like Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter could provide a major boost for your brand in the year ahead. This blog will take you through nine essential tips and tricks that can turbocharge your B2B marketing activities:
The biggest mistake B2B marketers make is choosing the wrong channel. Start by closely studying your audience demographics and determine which social channels they are already using. That's where you need to be. Tools like Hootsuite provide stats on the platforms that bring the most amount of organic traffic. LinkedIn takes the top spot when it comes to purely organic reach. On the other hand, for most B2B companies, paid ads are ranked most effective on both Linkedin and Facebook. Attracting organic traffic is not just about content. Choosing the right place to interact with your customers can be just as important.
A brand voice is a way you communicate - it needs to tie in with your brand image and persona. Your tone and style on social media can be anything - serious, playful, joking, urgent - the important thing is that it remains consistent with your brand and reflects the identity and principles of your company or organisation.
Stay away from promotional posts on your social media channels. Your target audience is looking for useful content that helps them make informed decisions. They don't want to be overtly sold to. Your social media posts will generate organic traffic only if they provide some value to your audience. Here are a few examples:
If you use social media to provide your customers with interesting and useful information, they will reward you by engaging with your content.
The single biggest advantage B2B brands have on social media is the enormous scope for collaboration. Almost every brand has a social media presence, and collaborating with B2B/B2C/C2B brands in other niches can give your brand a real boost. Working with other brands and providing content such as interviews or podcasts can dramatically improve your organic reach and brand awareness.
Trustworthiness is the one thing potential customers will look for before contacting you. If your brand looks good and is trusted, potential customers will find it much easier to opt for your products or services. Here's an example.
Business 1 - Has a spartan, low-effort website, minimal presence on social media, and testimonials and customer reviews dating from a long time ago.
Business 2 - Has a well-designed, responsive website, regular interaction on social media, and regularly shares customer reviews and experiences.
The second business clearly has a higher degree of trust and credibility. Here are a few ways to make sure your social media posts build trust in your brand:
Analytics tools such as Google Analytics provide powerful insights into how well your social media marketing is working. Every popular social media app tracks factors such as user metrics, post-performance, brand reach, and engagement - all useful for social media success. Tracking and studying these metrics will inform and guide your future marketing strategies.
Before implementing your marketing strategy, you should create both short-term and long-term marketing plans with built-in goals. Setting goals gives structure to your social media campaigns and provides milestones that help track progress. Short-term goals can be monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly depending on your brand's needs. Long-term goals, on the other hand, are usually annual.
Once you have determined which social media channel is best for you, the next step is to spread out across other channels. Limiting your activities to just one social media platform such as Linkedin, Facebook, or Instagram means you miss out on the enormous potential the others offer. The easiest way to do this is to interlink your social content across different apps.
For example, a post on your Linkedin page may direct your audience to a campaign you're running on Facebook. Or your Instagram posts may direct users to an insightful blog you've published on your Linkedin profile. A diverse social media presence means you reach people a single channel would never reach.
Put simply, good social media practice involves using your brand's channels to engage and connect with people before you try to sell anything to them. Here are some common mistakes you should avoid:
Simply avoiding these mistakes is a great step towards creating powerful social engagement for your brand.
We hope these tips and tricks will help you to scale up your social media presence and boost audience reach and brand awareness. It's a never-ending job - you should be constantly checking, editing, and updating your social media presence. It will take time, but it is time well spent.
by Hazel Raoult | 27 Sep 23