If you’re heading the marketing efforts for a B2B business, you might be hesitant about heavily incorporating social media marketing into your digital marketing strategies. After all, establishing and growing a strong portfolio of social channels would consume time and resources you could be spending on more traditional and reliable marketing approaches, right? That logic might have held up a decade ago, back when social media platforms were struggling to attract users and turn cash flow positive. But in today’s world, social media saturates the daily lives of consumers and business leaders alike, making it one of the most effective ways for B2C and B2B companies to connect with their target audiences. Put simply, if you want your B2B brand to remain relevant in 2018 and beyond, you can’t afford to ignore social media any longer.
At Snap Agency, we develop comprehensive digital marketing strategies that deliver maximum ROI. We’ve been helping B2B businesses thrive in the social space for years, leveraging cost-effective social media strategies to drive website traffic and leads. Our overarching goal is to empower your company with the knowledge and support it needs to understand and utilize digital marketing to its full potential. That’s why we’ll be taking a few minutes today to chat about the importance of social media in B2B business—and provide a few helpful strategies you can use to generate leads via social channels.
The Importance of B2B Social Media Marketing
Did you know that social media is one of the top three lead sources for B2B companies? Or how about the fact that 65% of B2B brands acquire business through LinkedIn alone? Those nuggets of information should give you a pretty good idea why it’s worth your time to invest in social media marketing.
Social media marketing is a series of techniques businesses can use to spread brand awareness and promote products or services via social networks. And yes, B2B brands can leverage these techniques just as effectively as B2C ones to attract social followers and drive sales. Regrettably, most B2B companies could do a better job of conveying how valuable their brand is through social media. And that’s a huge shame, especially when you consider how useful social channels can be in generating traffic and qualified leads.
About 64% of B2B businesses take advantage of social media, and many of these brands are seeing great results, despite the fact that most of them have no strategy whatsoever to guide their efforts. So imagine the success your business could achieve by leveraging a combination of dynamic content and strategy. In short, social media is a fantastic way to differentiate your business from competitors and establish strong relationships with potential leads.
Positioning Your B2B Business for Success on Social Media
Now that we have a solid grasp on why social media is such an incredible opportunity for B2B businesses, let’s talk about a few reasons why these companies struggle to thrive on social—and things you can do to avoid these pitfalls.
Lack of Social Strategy
As we mentioned above, most B2B businesses don’t put strategies in place to guide their social media activities. In many cases, these companies post content on each channel to garner attention and engagement among followers. And while content creation is a pivotal component of running a social media channel, it’s only one key piece of the overall puzzle. That’s where social media strategy comes in. A comprehensive social strategy can help your team develop compelling, highly shareable content that appeals to your specific audience and promote that content via influencers and real-time engagement. More importantly, a sound social strategy will ensure that you stay up to date and capitalize on the latest social platforms, trends and tools.
Failing to Define & Track Goals
Unfortunately, many B2B companies never take the time to sit down and define realistic goals for their social platforms, which makes it much harder to achieve and assess results. To find success on social, you need to set precise goals and establish timelines for reaching them. More importantly, you need reliable ways to track your progress towards each goal. Thankfully, there are multiple metrics you can use to measure the performance of your social channels, including engagement, follower counts, impressions, conversions and new leads generated. If you can identify the right metrics and track them correctly, it’s pretty easy to determine how well your channels are doing and make adjustments as needed.
Uninspiring Posts
Some companies are graced with more exciting subject material than others. For example, it’s much easier to develop engaging content for a brand that sells dog toys than one that provides managed IT services. That being said, with enough creativity and passion, you can build compelling stories around any type of business. Your business is only boring if you present it in a lifeless and bland way. And while it’s important not to compromise the personality of your brand just to appeal to social followers, there’s no harm in having some fun on your platforms. Even potential leads scoping out your social channels will appreciate a touch of personality and flair, especially if most of your competitors sound like robots on their platforms. A unique, likable brand voice and attractive content will go a long way in winning over potential customers.
Grow Your Social Presence With Snap Agency
Ready to break your B2B business into the future of digital with leading-edge social media marketing services? Then don’t hesitate to call or message Snap today. Our social specialists will work with you every step of the way to build and perfect your social media channels to bring in new business opportunities. You can also reach out if you have questions about how you can use a social media marketing strategy to align your business for continued success. We’re here to help with anything you need.