Many B2B marketers struggle with their social media strategy. Yet, using social media for B2B business growth makes sense in 2022. It’s one of the best ways to generate results without having to spend a lot on advertising.
So, what do you need to know to get started or re-boot your B2B social media marketing?
Many companies fixate on the number of followers. Followers matter, but they only matter if they belong to your target audience and engage with your content. Followers do not equal paying customers.
Instead of zooming in on how many followers you have as a key metric, focus on engagement rates! Aim for increasing interactions with your content and your brand. Those increased likes, comments, shares, and clicks will bring you the connections and relationships you need for successful social media marketing.
Using social media as a sales channel will lead to disaster. As stated above, focus on building relationships and trust that sales will follow.
Think of it this way: would you rather pay attention to someone sharing interesting and useful information or someone shouting about how great their company is? The answer is obvious, right? Well, social media platforms function much like a crowded public space. Be relevant and socially acceptable!
What does your community look like in the physical world? What organizations and companies do you interact with daily and weekly? Who do you hope will pick up the phone when you call?
Those same people can be found online. Once you’ve located and followed them, look for others like them. Find and join existing online communities. Then, go about building your own brand community that includes your customers, strategic partners, and other stakeholders.
Of course, we can’t build community overnight. To nurture online relationships, you have to be consistent in engaging with others. For example, thank people for following your company page. Share relevant content from partners. Interact with their posts.
Over time, as you “show up” and participate online, you become a dependable member of the social fabric for your industry. More importantly, you become known by your customers and potential customers.
To reap rewards for your social media efforts, you need a solid content strategy. We have several posts that guide you through content marketing principles for manufacturing companies.
If you’re looking for more information on content marketing strategies, I recommend you start with learning about how to create personas. Then take a look at this post on personalization and AI in your content marketing strategy.
Here at StratMg, we support social media optimization for manufacturing clients because we see social media for B2B business growth as an effective, high-ROI solution.
Our philosophy is that buyers don’t buy from companies, they buy from people. Social media provides you and your team with opportunities to build trust in your brand.
Building relationships online with customers, partners, stakeholders, and prospects leads to deeper connections. Ultimately, these connections will lead to sales growth because you’ve gained trustworthiness and gotten your brand more widely known.
As I mentioned above, we recommend developing a content strategy that starts with buyer personas. Talk to the people in your company who know your customers and prospects well. Figure out what information buyers most want during customer journey.
Let your research determine the content strategy you develop. In the meantime, though, here are some content ideas to get you started:
For more about using social media effectively, see our post on best practices for social media for manufacturing companies.
What tips would you add on using social media for B2B business growth?
Let’s talk! Or, connect with us on LinkedIn or Tweet us.
–parin
Managing Partner
With over two decades of experience, Parin leads an expert demand-generation agency, StratMg, that helps industrial manufacturing clients achieve unambiguous and quantified organic sales growth across the US, EMEA & APAC.
Parin has built & positioned StratMg to be a value-added marketing services provider that strives to create a culture of quantified sales-driven marketing initiatives leading to sustained business growth through channel management, diversification, new customer acquisition and retention strategies and tactical execution.
