84% of C-level and VP-level buyers are guided by social media when they’re making purchase decisions. And that’s a statistic that should get the attention of every B2B company on the planet.
Even though social media marketing is more typically associated with eCommerce and B2C businesses, the truth is that B2B buyers are human just like anyone else, which means that they also browse social media and form opinions based on what they see.
Whether you want to introduce a new product, raise brand awareness, or nurture leads towards making a purchase, you can leverage social media marketing to your advantage.
But because B2B audiences are more sophisticated, you need to carefully evaluate which avenues to pursue and what strategies to use to maximize your marketing budget.
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the top strategies that will help you supercharge your B2B social media marketing efforts.
Collect and Analyze Data
Managing social media campaigns can be expensive. Whether you’re trying to grow organically or are running paid ads, the budget and effort it requires can become too large to handle quickly.
That’s why it’s essential to establish reliable processes for tracking, collecting, and analyzing data from all of your campaigns. That’s the only way to ensure that you make consistent improvements and adjust your strategies according to what’s working.
For instance, if you want to collect Facebook ads data, you could consider using a Facebook Ads ETL, which is an automated Facebook ads pipeline that gets your data into a data warehousing solution where you can then gain insights in a single unified interface.
Over time, the insights you gain will offer numerous benefits that will help you excel in your social media marketing efforts.
You will know what type of content works best, adapting the visuals, the medium, or the topics to match your audience’s interests, attracting only the best leads for your business that have been proven to turn into customers.
You can also learn valuable insights about your audience, figuring out what they like and what they expect from businesses like yours. That can help you not just on social media but also when developing your brand and voice.
Rethink Your LinkedIn Approach
Most B2B marketers know that LinkedIn can be a goldmine for high-quality leads. But with the social media platform becoming overrun by spammers and low-quality content, making yourself stand out and attracting the right clients requires rethinking how you approach marketing on the platform.
For starters, you should make sure that every minute you spend on the platform is productive. Using LinkedIn automation tools can help you streamline processes, automate lead generation, and conveniently export contacts into a CRM platform.
You should also carefully analyze your company’s LinkedIn page and ensure that it serves its purpose of a lead generation tool. Most companies have LinkedIn pages that are dry, empty, and contain little more than the most basic information useless to most people.
However, if you turn your company’s LinkedIn page into a landing page that showcases your brand’s value and directs people to your page, you might be surprised at how easier LinkedIn marketing can become.
When you reach out to leads, they will inevitably check out the company’s page to see whether you’re credible. Having consistent branding, a compelling pitch, and results-focused content will separate you from the majority of competitors and significantly increase the likelihood of receiving a response.
Utilize Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has been a hot topic in the business world for a while now. But while it’s primarily associated with eCommerce, B2B companies can achieve results that are just as powerful if they partner up with the right figures in their niche.
In fact, the integrations and cross-product possibilities are even better since many B2B companies can offer services that enhance one another, creating more value in the process.
To make influencer marketing work, you will first need to perform a thorough analysis of your best customers and figure out who they are more likely to follow. Explore some of the more prominent figures in your niche and think about which influencers have an audience that overlaps with your own.
In some cases, you might not even need to search far for a suitable candidate. Prior partnerships, companies in similar niches, or even former clients could all become excellent brand ambassadors that spread your message to their audiences.
Once you have a few candidates, reach out to ask if they’d consider working together on an influencer marketing campaign. If you’re able to agree on the terms, work together on creating a message and make sure to set up processes for tracking influencer marketing performance.
Whether you’re trying to make sales directly or get more followers on your social media platforms, having a way to measure performance is vital for making gradual improvements.
Systemize Your Social Media Marketing
Managing multiple social media platforms can prove to be quite the hassle. But if you’re going to invest time and resources into promoting your B2B brand on social media, you might as well make sure that you’re getting the most out of every campaign you run.
And for that to happen, you need to have a systemic approach to developing ideas, creating content and then distributing it throughout your channels.
If you set up processes for collecting data and measuring performance, you will have an excellent resource for generating content ideas. Because you’ll know what’s working, you can introduce more of that content, reducing types of posts that don’t get as much attention.
Ideally, you should have a tried and tested social media marketing schedule, where you plan in advance when you’ll post educational, branding, or promotional posts.
That doesn’t mean that every single post has to be on a schedule for months, but it does mean that you should seek to find a balance between different types of posts and look for a sweet spot of promotional versus educational content.
Final Words
Developing a B2B social media strategy isn’t easy. With most markets becoming crowded and buyers less keen on engaging with brands, you need to have a proven method to have a chance at standing out.
Luckily, by tracking performance, embracing strategies like influencer marketing, and tweaking your approach according to your audience, you can build a successful social media marketing strategy that will deliver you consistent returns for a long time to come.