For B2B companies today, social media has become your new “front door”. Because it’s now a gateway to your business, it’s important to look at the different challenges and opportunities that are specific to a B2B.
How are you maximizing your social media efforts, following a clear marketing strategy and meeting your business goals? We’ve got a few ideas.
7 Simple Steps To B2B Social Media Marketing Success
1. Make It Mobile
When planning social media content, especially graphics and video, make sure that they look good on a mobile device screen (AKA smartphone). Planning ahead takes a little front-end research, but it’s worth it.
“More than 90% of B2B buyers reporting a superior mobile experience say they are likely to buy again from the same vendor compared with only about 50% of those reporting a poor mobile experience.” – How mobile is reshaping the B2B landscape for growth via Thing With Google
2. Be Helpful
Create and post content that is helpful to your audience, whoever they are. Social media shouldn’t always be about the hard sell.
Use it instead to build trust and highlight your accomplishments. Find customers and partners that love your products and showcase their enthusiasm. Share how much you love your B2B business.
Potential customers need to see how your business can help them and their business right now.
3. Get Employees Involved
Your employees can help with everything from providing social media content (when they take pictures at events or write up answers to FAQs) to sharing current posts. Get them involved in helping you identify customer stories, product features, and community involvement.
All are things that you should be posting about anyway.
“People are 16 times more likely to read a post from a friend about a brand than from the brand itself.” – Bambu
4. Engage With Customers
For a B2B, creating customers means building relationships.
Engaging with vendors, partners, customers, and thought leaders in your industry can put the social into your social media strategy. Look for ways to connect with people and then do it as often as you can!
5. Listen Online
Find out what people are saying about your business and industry by “listening”.
Listening is accomplished by using a monitoring tool or dashboard for keywords or phrases. This will help you figure out what problems your potential customers are having.
You can also find out what people are saying about your competition!
6. Advertise
Social media platforms have robust advertising options that can get your content in front of a target audience. That target audience may be a potential new staff member if you’re hiring or a potential customer that looks like your existing customers.
Create an advertising sales funnel to reach them with the right message at the right time.
Note – If that last sentence sounds complicated, it is. It’s why folks like us are hired by B2B companies to manage their social media advertising. It’s way more involved than boosting a post.
7. Keep Up
Keep up with B2B marketing practices. You can do exactly what we do, which is identify and read/listen to blogs, podcasts, and webinars that are current and up-t0-date.
Here’s a great place to get started: The 50 Blogs Every B2B Marketer Should Follow – Jason Miller.
B2B businesses can achieve success through social media. And even though these tips are simple, putting them into day-to-day practice will take some work. It’s worth it!