If you’re like most businesses, you probably have some type of social media presence. However, you may wonder if it’s truly working—or even if your strategy is right. Businesses classified as B2B can benefit greatly from social media—even if you’re a not a tech savvy B2B business. To chart the proper course, you might want to have a strategic approach and follow a few basic steps.
Target a Social Channel
Understanding your target audience will help you decide which social media channels to leverage. Facebook and Twitter both have large audiences with a broad range of interests. Pinterest is mostly geared towards women. In fact, over 85 percent of Pinterest users are female. So, if you own a spa or salon, you will want to leverage Pinterest. Meanwhile, Facebook continues to have the largest network of over 1.79 billion users—which you’re bound to find some followers. Choosing which social media to leverage is similar to selecting a publication for advertising. Since you only have so much time and money to invest, choose your audience wisely. Many social platforms will allow you to filter based on demographic and psychographic data to help you narrow your focus. If you are geared towards a younger audience, SnapChat might be the perfect social media network to incorporate into your marketing plan. Try to match up your buyer persona appropriately.
Address The Pain Points and Challenges of Your Customers
If you hear a lot of the same questions from customers in person, post or tweet about it. Keeping your audience engaged will continue to keep them following you. Although it’s great to post about upcoming sales or the latest product launch, just make sure that you give some time to real issues and topics. Actual issues like directions on how to solve a problem or instructions on how to perform a task usually get high engagement rankings. Videos and case studies also work well and gain a lot of attention.
Use Targeting
One of the best ways to grow your audience is by targeting an ad campaign. Even if your promoting a B2B business on social media, you can still target an appropriate audience. Most social media sites have job titles or employment information along with topics of interest. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook can all target appropriate audiences. Remember, it’s a user that you’re targeting—not a company. If you sell industrial widgets, look for an operations manager within the appropriate industry to target. You’re still likely to catch their attention even if it’s during the weekend.
Mark Your Calendar
Utilize features that help gain traction. Leverage social media tools like events. Here you can post your event, invite attendees, and promote it to users. Furthermore, you should also post at peak times. Review your insights and determine which posts are getting more traction. After you do some analysis, you’ll find what times work best for your business.
Gain Insights on Competition
The great thing about social media is that you can follow and track your competition. Use your insights to get an idea as to how you stack up against the competition. While you can’t get detailed statistics, you can get the number of followers and engagement results. Plus, if you follow them, you’re more likely to see updates. Social media listening allows you to get market data, information regarding new product launches, and even value proposition.
Drive Traffic Home
If you’re truly a small business, you may only have a social media presence. However, if you do have a website, utilize social media to drive traffic back to your website. Always list your URL in the about us section of your profile. When you post, include links to specific landing pages. When balanced appropriately with other content, linking your social content with landing pages that can convert visitors into leads is a fantastic way to trigger lead nurturing through marketing automation.
Promote and Attract Talent
One of the best ways to grow your business is by attracting top talent. Having a good social media presence allows you to engage with potential employees. Plus, you can always use social media to post for positions or to promote your current staff. Employees like to have fun and showing teamwork while enjoying daily activities is a great way to help promote your company’s culture.
