Social media might not be the first thing that comes to mind as a marketing strategy for your B2B business.
In fact, most people relate social media marketing as a B2C strategy, but B2B companies can also benefit from using these platforms. Twitter and LinkedIn are just the tips of the iceberg.
As more and more business interactions occur online, social media can serve as a valuable tool for establishing connections and securing valuable contracts.
Without a solid social media plan, your B2B company risks missing out on the opportunities to build your brand and connect with your target audience.
Here are eight ways B2B companies can improve their social media marketing strategies and get better results.
Let’s dive in.
1. Understand your target audience
It’s crucial to understand your audience while using social media to market your B2B business, and defining your target audience is the first stage of this process.
To launch a successful social media marketing strategy and launch, you’ll need to know who you are trying to reach.
Fortunately, there are several tools available to aid in this endeavor. One of these tools is Google Trends. You can quickly look up a keyword to learn how much search volume it gets, where it’s trending, and ideas for related queries.
For instance, if you’re in the dental business, you can use this tool to create a profile of your target audience based on this data. You might assess keywords like “how much do veneers cost” or “how to avoid turkey teeth.”
2. Establish a goal
Gone are the days of posting and praying. When you publish on social media, it should add value towards reaching your desired goal. Post with intent.
As you create your strategy, think about what viewers can take away from each piece of content. What do you want viewers to feel? Is the content intended to convert viewers to followers or followers to buyers?
Currently, there’s a trend of sharing content that breaks the metaphorical fourth wall and gives your audience a raw and real look at your brand. Even though this content appears less curated, you should still post it with some intention.
Jeremy Moser, the CEO at uSERP, posts helpful SEO content on LinkedIn to establish himself as an expert in his niche while simultaneously sharing valuable content with his audience.
3. Keep it on brand
As you create and distribute content on social media, it’s important to keep your brand at the forefront.
Brand consistency helps you create a more solid persona for your business on social media, which aids in becoming recognizable by your target audience.
Not only should content match your brand from an aesthetic perspective, but the language you use should reflect your brand’s authentic voice, values, mission, and so forth.
4. Post across multiple platforms
Leveraging various social media platforms for various objectives is a terrific method to market your company.
For instance, Matchr is a business that meets HRIS software solutions with companies’ HR requirements, employing different communication channels and various communication tactics.
They use Facebook more casually while using LinkedIn professionally. Even though the audiences on each platform are extremely diverse, the objective is the same: to get acknowledgment from their target audience.
As an example, this is what a LinkedIn post could look like:
And this is what a Facebook post from the same brand could look like:
5. Study the competition
As the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So why not take a peek at what your competition is up to? Use them as your springboard to get one step ahead.
That’s where competitor analysis tools make a world of difference. These tools allow you to track mentions of your brand and competitors, track engagement levels, and analyze the performance of your social media campaigns.
One of the key benefits is the ability to gain insights into what your competitors are doing well and where they may fall short.
For example, you can see what type of content resonates with their audience, what times of day they’re most active, and which social media platforms they focus on.
This can even help you in hiring specialized content writers. If you know what kind of content your competitors are putting out, you can go into a freelance writing jobs site and look for a specific writer specializing in that area.
You can also use these tools to track the performance of your own social media campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve them.
Funneling raw data from your social platforms into a report creator can help you visually identify emerging trends. These insights about which types of content are driving the most engagement will help you adjust your strategy accordingly (and feel confident in doing so).
2023 is all about working smarter, not harder.
6. Use video
Videos are one of the most successful forms of content for driving social media engagement.
However, since different social media platforms have different styles, video content should align with each platform. For instance, Instagram and TikTok are the perfect platforms for short-form videos, while YouTube focuses on long-form videos.
As a niche company, YouTube is the ideal platform to post videos to connect with their audience. You can post how-to videos, product demos, and behind-the-scenes stories.
Take Honeycomb Insurance as an example. They made a detailed video explaining exactly how their Landlord Insurance works. That way, customers can know the added value of using their products compared to their competitors.
7. Leverage influencer marketing
Social media presence is a must if you’re looking to build your brand recognition. Investing in influencer marketing can expand your presence beyond your existing followers.
One effective strategy is to partner with influencers on YouTube to get customers interested in your products, for instance, if you run a cleaning business that sells car cleaning products.
In this case, you could have a car influencer post about a specific floor mat cleaner or leather cleaner you sell. The video amassed almost a million views.
But don’t sleep on the power of other platforms, as well. You can turn this video into an Instagram Reel.
Why? Influencer marketing is particularly popular on Instagram, where there are currently 1.478 billion active users in the United States.
And there’s a ton of online information about top influencers that advocate cleaning services, so finding the perfect promoter for your products should be easy as pie.
8. Repurpose content
Creating content for social media can be labor-intensive. A lot goes into the process, from strategy and brainstorming to design and copy.
One hack for cutting down on time spent on content creation without sacrificing your content’s value and quality is repurposing content. This looks a little bit different depending on the type of content you’re creating and where you’re distributing it, but this often looks like taking a large piece of content.
LeadsBridge, for example, is a tool that facilitates hundreds of integrations to CRMs. They have a large collection of blog content that’d make excellent social media posts.
Their “5 Top automotive marketing strategies & ideas” blog could be broken down into five social posts detailing each strategy.
The other sections of the article, such as “Tips for automotive digital marketing” and “Tips for social media marketing for the automotive industry,” could also be individual TikTok videos.
Social media marketing and PR
Social media is a major player in business communication in this digital age. Even traditional media has pivoted towards social media, converting press and editorials into social-friendly content.
Social media is the ultimate hack for PR because it allows you to control your brand image and spread important information (with minimal effort).
Of course, traditional PR methods for additional media coverage are still very important. Still, social media marketing enables brands to take control of their image and show their personality.
How will you use social media to your advantage in 2023?
