Social Media has slowly become a vitally important aspect of any B2B marketing strategy, setting the trend for B2B companies to learn how to personalize and humanize their approaches in order to achieve a successful and lasting relationship with their customers.
Yet as social media platforms continue to prove successful with expansion of tool sets such as marketing automation platforms; there are still some B2B professionals who are refusing to embrace the digital age. Whether this is due to the certain barriers B2B marketers can face when trying to adapt social media into their marketing strategy, or doubting the success social media can bring to their company, these B2B professionals are still hesitant to welcome a new approach.
Due to previous perceived views of social media, B2B companies have unwittingly created barriers and have been slow to adapt to the social media age. But with the right marketing objectives and approach, social media provides an exceptional amount of power to B2B companies when approaching their target audience.
Social media has opened a digital two-way communication between B2B companies and their audience, offering marketing opportunities that previously would never have been possible. So, what are the must dos of social media? It is obvious that used right, social media can provide plenty of success; but what must B2B companies do to overcome barriers they face and ensure they are using social media to its maximum power?
- Have the Right Mindset
- Often marketers rush head first into using social media with the mindset of achieving leads. However, your first objective when integrating social media into your digital marketing strategy should be to gain a presence through engagement on social media. A plan to gain followers and build your online presence is step one in the journey to achieving leads.
- Position your Brand Right
- Social media can make the most ‘boring’ B2B products interesting. It is all about how you position yourself. Social media platforms allow you to promote your products from any angle, changing your customers perception of the brand. Enthusiastic and frequent posts can position your company as a leader in the market, resulting in a change of perception for your company.
- Humanize your Brand
- It is important to humanize your social media activity within your digital marketing strategy. Through marketing automations platforms, it can be easy to lose the personalization of your brand. This can easily be avoided by using the first-person voice when posting updates on your social media platforms, and writing articles. Using a brand front person to tweet and post updates is also beneficial, as it ensures you continue to add your personalised touch to each post or update within your social media platforms.
- The Power of Social Media Lies in Communication
- Every update, blog post, image, video and comment is communicating with your audience. Each of these activities can lead to a site visit and eventually a conversion, proving that actively communicating with your audience is vital to achieving your marketing objective. This is why it is important to build your followers online, as while they grow, so does the trust and credibility of your brand.
- Promote Content Within Your Social Media Activity
- Promoting your content within your social media updates across all platforms is vital to gaining online credibility within your market. People are always searching for content that interests them, and as such are willing to share this content with their fellow followers. This is a simple, yet essential element of using social media in the B2B industry.
By following these 5 simple tips, you will be able to stay ahead of your competitors and perhaps prove to someone that the power of social media in the B2B industry is real, and happening right now.
For more advice, why not download our Tip Sheet ‘Six Tactics to Maximise your Social Media Advertising Efforts’.