Social Media For B2B Companies: 5 Tips For A Successful Strategy
Life without social media is hard to imagine for many people these days. Information is accessed in seconds on social networks, photos or videos are shared with friends, or products and offers are found. B2C brands are more frequently represented on social media; however, B2B companies are encountered less frequently.
But why is that? Because the statement that social media is only suitable for business-to-consumer communication is completely outdated. Find out in our article how you can develop a successful social media strategy for your B2B business with just a few tips.
What are the advantages of social media marketing for B2B companies?
The question of why social media marketing is worthwhile for your B2B brand is easy to answer — the Internet and social media are already an integral part of our society and dominate our everyday lives.
It’s not just employees who are active on social platforms, but also corporate decision-makers. You should keep the following tips in mind when developing your social media strategy for your B2B company.
1. Set SMART goals
For the success of your social media strategy, it is essential to set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time sensitive. The goal of gaining new subscribers and building reach is too unspecific in social media marketing. Instead, formulate a concrete number of subscribers and additionally define which characteristics they should fulfil.
Furthermore, it is important that you define criteria for the measurability of your goals, so-called KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). For example, if you want to generate more hits on your website, you should regularly check the website statistics. Make sure that you do not set unrealistic or unattainable goals. You should also set a specific date for reaching your milestones.
2. Target the right audience
Think carefully about who you want to reach and where you can best pick up your target audience. Beyond your product or service, every target group has needs and desires that you should explore in detail for your digital strategy.
At the latest when you want to run ads for your B2B brand, you should know the needs and interests of your target companies more precisely. Because almost all social networks offer a variety of targeting options to address the characteristics of your target group.
3. Select the ideal platform
The statement that social media are only used privately is no longer true. Because in the social media landscape, people are busy searching for potential employers, cultivating their professional network or sharing expert knowledge.
Especially for small and medium-sized companies, social media marketing offers great potential to become visible and to assert themselves as an attractive company on the market. The key to success here is to determine the ideal channel to reach the decision-makers at the target companies.
But which platform is the right one?
The clear favourites for B2B marketing are, of course, LinkedIn and Xing, as many decision-makers are on these professional networks. However, in addition to business networks, Facebook and Instagram can also be interesting in B2B marketing.
4. The right content
Now that you know which target audience you want to reach via which channel, you can start creating exciting content that is relevant to the target group. Many companies face the challenge of winning the battle for the attention of the target group in the social media jungle.
Basically, you should keep in mind that people who are active on business platforms are more receptive to professional and job-related content. Innovative topics, current industry trends, specialist topics or exciting controversies paired with professional images or video material can increase your brand awareness. When it comes to content marketing, always make sure that the content is informative and offers users added value.
5. A/B testing
For a successful social media strategy, you should also never do without A/B testing. So-called split tests help you to refine your advertising strategy and show you in real time which content works with your target group and which does not.
It is also worth testing different campaign setups in order to refine your targeting in the long term and thus minimize wastage. The motto in B2B social media marketing is — clean testing and perseverance always pay off in the long run!
