What brands are famous on social media? No B2B companies come to mind? They do exist, though. Maybe you think your industry’s too dull? With hundreds of millions of people on social media, there are potential customers: dig them out!
Here are some tips for developing a social media strategy to popularise your B2B brand and create leads.
Clarify your aims and how to measure success
What do you want to achieve with social media – lead generation, increasing awareness, etc….? You’ll know what to measure then and even what social networks to use.
You’ll also want an analytics platform for social media, so that you can track progress: it beats a self-made spreadsheet!
Write Your Strategy Down
You have your goals. You know how to measure their success. Now chart your course to get there. You need:
- The target audience
- The type(s) of content you will publish
- Where (on what social platforms) you will publish it
- What you want to achieve
- Measures of success against these goals
- How this measures up against your competitors
Best Practices in B2B Social Media Marketing
- Publish what your audience want to see, not what you want to push.
- Post with style: no boring or lacklustre.
- Be bold: say what you mean to.
- Write like you speak – relax.
- Respond to feedback – i.e. (again) speak.
- Don’t rely on just LinkedIn. Entertain a little using Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest etc.
- Learn from the competition – easy – follow the links on their websites!
- Employ the Right People – with social media marketing knowledge – whether new hires, your own developed workforce or freelancers.
B2B Social Media Marketing Tactics
Use battle tactics and real-life strategies that work:
- Employee Advocacy – enable your employees to champion your brand within their own circles.
- Learn the Art of Social Selling and use social media to introduce prospects into your funnel – use individuals, not your brand profile. Search out those who could benefit from your product: build relationships by providing helpful content and added value.
- With still few brands social selling, leverage this: set yourself apart – get known on social media.
- Find the right people
- Engage these with insights
- Build relationships with them
- Take advantage of User Generated Content. For example, send out titbits to those who share your brand to generate content from followers.
- Get your followers to use your branded hashtag when sharing content: use a Smart Inbox for your social team to collect up these posts and quickly reply to them.
- Host events and have attendees share their photos, or run a contest and have customers post about their experience.
- Come up with inventive ways for customers to talk about you on social: engage them.
So, Have You Got a B2B Social Media Strategy Yet?
You shouldn’t need telling that social media works for B2B companies by now – it’s clear. Just work out how to get it to work for you. If you don’t, you’ll be stuck in the slow lane. It’s time to take the express: use social media and win business and expand.
