Running a business to business (B2B) company comes with a unique set of advantages. Unlike business to consumer (B2C) companies that have to monitor the ever-changing consumer behavior, the consumption habits of business buyers change slowly.
However, B2B companies also face their fair share of challenges. Competition for clients is fierce, so your marketing department has to be on fire.
One of the most effective marketing platforms is social media. Do you have a B2B social media strategy? If not, it’s high time you crafted one. Social media isn’t only for B2C companies.
Continue reading for a complete guide on how to create a killer social media strategy for your company.
Understand Your Industry
Although anyone is free to use social media, the truth is usage varies from industry to industry. There are industries where companies invest heavily on social media and there are others where companies give little attention to social media.
For example, many B2B companies in the tech industry have a strong social media presence. However, those in industries like sewage and water treatment and nuclear energy have a low social media presence – if any at all.
Quick question: when did you last see a nuclear energy company on social media?
As such, understanding the nature of your industry is the first step to developing an effective B2B social media strategy. If social media use is rampant in your industry, then you know you’re bound to face a lot of competition. As a result, social media ads are going to cost a lot more than if you were in an industry where businesses rarely use social media to advertise.
If you’re in a competitive industry, you must adjust your budget accordingly. You might also need to hire a social media marketing expert if you don’t possess the right knowledge and skills.
Know Your Goals
What do you want to achieve from your social media marketing?
Perhaps you just want to build your social presence. Or you want to increase customer engagement. Or you want to boost sales or keep up with your competitors.
Having a firm grasp of your goals is key to crafting an effective social marketing strategy. The methods you would deploy for building a social presence, for instance, would be different from that you would use if your objective is to increase sales.
Building a social presence mostly requires an organic approach while boosting sales needs an aggressive strategy, such as running ads on various social networks.
In addition to having a goal, it must be measurable and time-bound.
Look at these two examples:
- My goal is to increase customer engagement
- My goal is to increase customer engagement by 10 percent within 3 months.
The first is an example of a goal that won’t get your business anywhere. The second is an example of a smart goal.
Also, your goal should be realistic. If your business doesn’t have any social media presence, for example, it’s not realistic that you will build its presence in one or two months. Building a solid social media presence can take several months or even years.
Know Your Target Audience
Wait, we haven’t forgotten your target audience is other businesses!
However, you’re not targeting every other business, right? This is why you need to know your target audience.
Do they spend time on social media? If yes, which are there favorite social media platforms?
Having a good understanding of your audience will help you identify the social media platforms to focus on.
If your business targets recruitment agencies and staffing firms, for instance, you have no business building a presence on Snapchat. You need to focus on LinkedIn and other career-focused networks.
To really understand your target audience, look at the people behind the businesses. Are they millennial-owned business? Are they run by boomers?
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
What are your competitors doing on social media? Are they crushing it?
Keeping on eye on your competitor’s social media doesn’t mean you’re going to copy what they’re doing. It’s to get an idea of their strategy. You can spot weaknesses, strengths, and gaps.
If you can better their strategy, you’ll have a good chance of getting closer or even beating them at their social game.
Determine Your Brand Voice
As a social media user, you can tell a lot from a social post. A happy person will mostly post happy posts while a negative person will post negative posts.
What voice do you want your brand to project? This will determine the tone of your social media posts.
If your business has been in existence for a while, you probably already have an organizational culture. Your social media posts should be reflective of this culture.
If your business is brand new, now is the time to develop a brand voice. You can hire a branding specialist to help you do this.
Work with a Social Media Marketing Expert
Without social media marketing knowledge, there’s only so much you can do when it comes to creating an effective B2B social media strategy. Hire an expert.
Sure, bringing in an expert means spending money, but the return on investment is worth.
An expert will evaluate your business and existing social media presence, and craft a strategy that will yield positive results. Plus, experts know how to use social and influencer marketing platforms such as SocialBook.io.
What’s more, you don’t have to hire an in-house social media marketing expert. You can outsource the work to a social media marketing agency, which is far cheaper and more effective than having an employee.
Create an Effective B2B Social Media Strategy
As more and more companies embrace social media, B2B companies must move to develop an effective social media strategy. With this guide on how to create a B2B social media strategy, you now have all the information you need to get started.
Stay tuned to our blog for more marketing tips and insights.
