Business-to-business (B2B) social media is drastically different than consumer-to-consumer or even business-to-consumer. For example, “you” are not an individual; “you” are an organization or a brand.
How you write, when you publish, and what you discuss are ways in which you humanize your business but maintain a level of approachable professionalism. Social media marketing can be a powerful way to increase conversions and keep your brand top-of-mind. The catch is you have to manage and implement your marketing campaigns correctly. If you are on social media and not seeing the return on investment you expected, odds are you are excluding one or all of these B2B social media marketing best practices:
1. Create and Maintain a Schedule
Execute your social media campaigns in advance, on a six- to twelve-month schedule. This allows content managers to research topics and platforms that will be needed well before due dates arrive. It also provides a fallback for slow news cycles when you need to fill the content gap. However, approving a schedule is only step one; setting the standard for sustaining consistent social media marketing is necessary to successfully leverage social platforms. Intermittent Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn posts reduce the likelihood of your overall campaign resulting in lead generation and improved audience awareness.
2. Use Paid Social Media
The average Facebook user has about 338 friends, LinkedIn members at the CEO-level have around 930 connections, over 500 million Tweets are sent every day. There is a lot of noise on social media, and the only way to ensure your message is being received is to utilize paid social marketing. All three primary B2B platforms (Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook) include marketing options that require a low minimum budget. The functionality is similar to that of Google Ads; a user selects their campaign goal, bid strategy, and creative content, and the platforms essentially do the rest. As a result, ROI is significantly easier to analyze and improve.
3. Leverage Social Media Targeting
Ever wondered why you see sponsored brands and promoters you have not explicitly connected with in the past in your social media feed? This is due to powerful social media targeting that allows marketers to tailor their ads to reach you. They aim for a specific audience based on things like your browsing history, social network activity, and general interests. By targeting both advertisements and boosted posts, you can reach the right audience that is most likely to interact with your content and potentially convert in the future.
4. Engage Your Audience
Marketers sometimes forget that social media is a form of two-way communication. Rather than talking at your audience, start a conversation with them. Plan and execute a unique Facebook competition to generate buzz. Run a Twitter poll and learn more about user opinion on your product or service. Start a group on LinkedIn where you can talk with industry members and potential clients. With a strong strategy and innovative content, you can influence your audience to organically build brand awareness.
5. Optimize Social Performance
Most social media platforms include tools for analyzing new followers, interactions, and audience activity. Like any successful B2B marketing tactic, benchmarks should be set for social media marketing at which time the entire campaign is reviewed and improved. Creative should be updated at least every other week and calls-to-action should be rewritten based on the timeline of the campaign (month-long sale starts today vs. last day to buy discounted items). One of the most common ways social media marketing plans fail is the “set and forget” approach. This is when you activate a campaign and check back at the end to see how it did. Odds are, you missed out on several opportunities to better reach and engage your audience.
B2B social media marketing best practices are complex and are constantly evolving and adapting to how clients utilize their platforms. If you are struggling to keep up, or need holistic social media tips, contact Linda Fanaras at Millennium Agency.
About Millennium Agency
Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning branding, content/messaging and marketing strategy firm dedicated to the B2B technology and advanced manufacturing sectors. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding, storytelling and data analytics to accelerate your business growth. We unite your vision with our marketing expertise, and focus on increasing your sales opportunities and driving brand success. From strategic thinking to brand development, and concise messaging, Millennium Agency will optimize your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to schedule a call.
