There has been a steady rise in the amount of time spent on social media.
The pandemic has been a turning point; there has never been so much activity on social media as there is now. However, one fact that cannot be ignored is that by 2025, more than 4.40 billion people will be using social media.
Wondering if this applies to your B2B brand?
The answer is "yes."
While B2B social media marketing is often overlooked in favour of consumer-facing campaigns, that doesn't mean it has to be dull. Many B2B companies have shown that their digital presence can be engaging and effective by allocating 14.7% of their marketing budgets to it.
If there was ever a time to take advantage of B2B social media marketing agency and its tactics, that time is now.
Here is how to build a more effective B2B social media marketing tactics for increased effectiveness. So let’s begin!
B2B Social Media Goals and How to Measure Them
Business-to-business marketing (or B2B marketing) can be a tricky beast. However, it can be challenging to convert the number of B2B social media followers and "likes" into a monetary value without first learning how to measure the ROI of this strategy. It can take time to evaluate the efficacy of your campaigns. Here's what you need to do to stay on track...
It has always been difficult for B2B companies to calculate their social media marketing campaigns' return on investment (ROI). The difficulty lies in measuring actual ROI beyond simple metrics like likes and followers. These standards are inadequate; they rarely cover everything that needs to be covered.
Statistics show that over 80% of Facebook page likes are never followed up, but 80% of B2B social media leads are generated on LinkedIn. A B2B social media marketing campaign's success can be gauged, at least in part, by keeping track of engagement levels, audience size, and the number of conversions.
A recent study by Adobe found that 88% of marketing professionals do not adequately gauge the success of their social media campaigns. According to a similar survey conducted by CMO, many B2B companies are spending large sums of money on social media with disappointing results.
To maximize your return on investment in B2B social media marketing, consider the following...
1. Understand your goals
Using social media to promote your business involves more than just sharing content online.
Knowing where you want to go is the first step.
For what purpose do you seek to work?
How do you imagine a social media campaign that helps your company grow?
Spend some time outlining your objectives.
B2B social media marketing goals may include:
- Increasing sales – most B2B organizations aim to increase their leads and, consequently, their sales.
- Cost reduction – the objective here is to increase conversions at the lowest possible cost.
- Improving the customer experience – by making the customer happy, a B2B company increases its likelihood of receiving repeat business from companies with which it has previously conducted business.
Although the field of conversation intelligence is still comparatively new, it has already made significant inroads in the SaaS industry. Consider the exponential expansion of its total addressable market (TAM). Forecasts indicate that the global market for conversational AI will skyrocket from its current $6.8 billion in 2021 to $18.4 billion by 2026.
Ironically, the whole isn't always greater than its parts. Gong, the market leader in conversation intelligence, is valued at $7.5 billion, which is more than the total size of the conversation AI market.
There's no way that Gong is involved. Due solely to its first-mover advantage, Gong.io has reached the top, though competitors like Chorus, who began their crusade around the same time as Gong, have been giving it a run for its money.
When the differences between products are minimal, marketing and sales can work miracles, and Gong is a successful example of this.
By any measure, it's impossible to overstate how impressive Gong's success is, especially when compared to the tens of millions of dollars that its nearest competitor is losing every day.
2. Define metrics
To succeed in your B2B social media marketing goals; you must first define the metrics you intend to use. Some of these are
- Growing fan base
- Total impressions
- Number of downloads
- Buzz shifts in the marketplace
- Increase in the organic traffic to your site
- Number of social mentions of your brand
- Rate of retweeting and sharing
- Number of embedded or installed programs or applications
- Number of views for the videos
- Registration for your newsletters and webinars
Numerous indicators and KPIs warrant close monitoring.
In that case, how do you prioritize which metrics to keep an eye on?
Your choice here will be influenced by the nature of your business and the goals you have set for your B2B social media marketing attempt.
3. Keep an eye on reach
Quantifying the number of brands you have impacted with the content you have shared on social media is a good place to start.
Something is seriously wrong with your strategy if no one notices what you post on social media.
You can get a feel for how many people are interested in your business proposition by looking at the number of impressions your ads receive. The fewer people who see your social media posts, the less motivation they will provide you.
4. Start tracking campaigns and platforms
Set up tracking for your social media platforms and campaigns once you've developed all the tools you need. The analytics capabilities help you measure your return on investment.
You should consistently evaluate your progress across various social media platforms. Compare the traffic volume to your site from different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Don't just skim over the social media campaigns. Think about how you can use the information you're collecting to make future efforts even more successful.
If engagement is low, examine the current strategies to determine where they can be improved. Keep in mind that it's crucial for B2B enterprises to network with high-level corporate decision-makers. If this audience is not responding positively to your message, you will need to find a new approach.
5. Quantify the value of traffic
Not every traffic is of quality and equal. Some of the traffic is more valuable than others for advancing your B2B social media marketing goals based on the outcomes they bring to your business.
It is essential to monitor the cost of your company's pay-per-click marketing campaigns and how they compare to the revenue they generate.
You can also benefit from this information because it sheds light on the current cost of conversions and provides guidance on achieving higher numbers via social media.
For instance, if you believe that paying for tools will speed up the development of a company's Instagram page, boost traffic from this social site, and still cost less than the current pay-per-click marketing initiatives, you may decide to implement such tools.
6. Implement closed-loop analytics
Many professionals in the field of social media advertising now have access to cutting-edge tools that make closed-loop analytics feasible.
If you have adopted this strategy, you have a better grasp on the results they are getting from their social media campaigns, despite the novelty of the phenomenon.
Companies can use closed-loop analytics to determine which of their advertising campaigns are producing the best results. This is why you may be asked how you heard about the company when you sign up for a free eBook or the company newsletter.
7. Track conversion
To maximize the effectiveness of your B2B social media marketing plan, use your website as the central location of your social media content.
To gauge the effectiveness of your social media posts in luring readers to your website, you can use this feature. You can track the conversion rate by having unique landing pages that users are directed to once an action has been completed.
How to Build a Better B2B Social Media Plan
A B2B social media plan lays out the specifics of how a business will use social media to reach its target audience. If you're posting on social media every once in a while without tracking your progress (KPIs), you won't be able to tell if you are :
- Reaching your target demographic,
- Maximizing your marketing budget, or
- Meeting other KPIs
If you want to succeed at B2B social media, here are nine steps to creating a well-documented and comprehensive strategy.
1. Determine KPIs
Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) is the first step in building a social media strategy. Quantifiable and time-bound key performance indicators are essential. A few examples of KPIs are
- Increasing one's Twitter following by 200 people per month
- A 20% uptick in Facebook post engagement (views, clicks, shares, and comments) in just 60 days
- Achieve a 15% boost in social media-driven website traffic in 30 days.
- Boost first-quarter social media sales by 10%.
Identifying your desired Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is essential to planning the steps you'll need to take to achieve those KPIs.
2. Determine how to track KPIs
You should decide ahead of time how you will measure the success of your social media posts using analytics. There are many different tools available to monitor social media metrics, such as BuzzSumo, CoSchedule, Google analytics, HubSpot and many others.
HubSpot Social social media scheduling and analytics tool that tracks social media activity and compares the efficacy of various channels, strategies, and posting windows.
3. Decide which social platforms you'll use
Locating the most efficient channels is crucial to any well-documented B2B social media tactics . In contrast to the general applicability of platforms for B2C transactions, a few shine when it comes to conducting B2B.
- One of the most popular social media sites among Fortune 500 companies is LinkedIn. Over half of all social traffic to B2B blogs and websites originates from LinkedIn, making it the primary platform used by B2B marketers to disseminate content.
- If you're a marketing executive looking for high-quality content, Twitter is your second-best bet after the industry leader, LinkedIn.
- 89% of marketers say they prefer to do content on YouTube. Aside from email, LinkedIn, and print, it is the fourth most effective B2B channel.
4. Optimize your social media profiles
After settling on a platform, you'll want to polish your profiles to perfection. Put your logo and some eye-catching cover images on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Create a thorough "about" section with relevant links to your website and social media profiles.
Make sure a potential client can reach you if interested in learning more by including your contact information. For instance, a LinkedIn company page with all the latest and updated information attract 30% more views and viewers as one without.
If you want to attract the attention of potential employers and clients, you need to ensure that every section of your LinkedIn profile is complete. You'll see a boost in your profile's visibility in LinkedIn search results, and the credibility of those who might be interested in connecting with or following you will increase as a result.
If we talk about the above profile the profile picture is aptly optimized with a clear profile picture, justified header, and a strong cover image. These basics of optimization of profile will help users get a clear picture of what you do and offer.
Next, comes the about section and the work experience where you tell your professional story and companies you have worked with so far.
Bonus: You can request recommendations, though they won't carry as much weight as they once did in LinkedIn's early days. They'll be an add-on to your personal brand visibility.
5. Look at your competitors' posts
It would help to first research your competitors' business to business social media strategy before creating content or posting. Examine their media choices, the platforms they use, the number of followers, the frequency with which they post, the tone they adopt, and the percentage of their promotional (paid) posts instead of organic.
Put together a report detailing the competition's performance on social media and distribute it to your staff. While it's not a good idea to post the same things as your competitors or copy them directly, you can use your report to learn the most successful elements of their strategy and incorporate them into your own.
6. Create content for social media
You need material for your B2B social media sites. To create effective B2B content, you should:
- Create content targeting specific personas at various buying cycles. To be successful, you must ensure that you can communicate with your customers at every point in their journey.
- Add content from the top and the bottom of the sales funnel. Blog posts and white papers are examples of content for the top of the funnel, while demo videos and customer testimonials are examples for the bottom of the funnel.
- Utilize visual aids such as videos, photos, memes, charts, etc. Include engaging media with your posts because social media is where people go to be visually inspired.
- Promote your group and associates. Giving your business a human face like this can do wonders for customer loyalty. Team biographies, forthcoming office events, and leadership Q&As could all be featured.
- Maintain a steady stream of industry reading material and company updates. To establish credibility, it is essential to address recent events and popular discussions within your field. It's always a good idea to network with influential people in your area, as their approval boosts your authority.
- Put out a blend of original content (such as blog posts, white papers, ebooks, product videos, and webinars) and curated content from authoritative sources in your field. The optimal ratio is 50–75% links to external sources and 25–50% original work.
- Maintaining an active following on social media requires daily posting. Alter the time and frequency of your posts to see what works best. Research shows that the best time to post on social media overall is 10:00 AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and 3 PM PST is the safest time to post on social media. However, your fans may have varying routines, so you should try various approaches to see what attracts the most attention.
7. Schedule your posts
Once you have all of your content prepared, you can go ahead and schedule your updates. HubSpot, CoSchedule, Hootsuite, and Buffer are just a few of the tools that make bulk scheduling of social media posts a breeze and provide valuable data about the best times of day to make these updates.
8. Measure your results
It is time to check in on the success of your social media marketing initiatives. How well did you do in meeting your key performance indicators? You can check metrics like engagement, follower count, shares, and more on your analytics platforms to get a sense of this for your next campaign.
If your key performance indicators still need to be met, analyze the reasons why and determine the necessary adjustments to your social media approach.
A well-defined business to business social media strategy can help you achieve your business objectives, increase revenue, and secure your company's future. And with the proper monitoring tools, you can ensure your strategy keeps working and reaches your target demographic.
9. Repurpose your old content pieces
No doubt, the primary advantage of content repurposing is that it makes content much easier to scale. In other words, you do not need to create every single post, video, and infographic from scratch. Instead, you can use a new piece of content as the foundation for blog posts, videos, social media posts, and more. This allows you to maximize your content creation investment. Repurposing content for a different format frequently involves presenting it on a different distribution channel. This allows you to reach an audience that may not have seen the original content and increase website traffic.
Which Social Media is the Best for B2B?
Social media is one of the best ways to increase product exposure and sales leads. However, it can take time to determine which B2B social media platforms to prioritize, given the sheer number of options.
To help you focus your efforts, we've compiled a list of the top five B2B social media platforms.
LinkedIn is the best social media platform to use if your business focuses on B2B interactions. The professional networking and lead-generation website LinkedIn has over 875 million users.
According to research, 79% B2B marketers believe LinkedIn to be the most effective tool for generating high-quality leads. Here are some things to remember as a B2B marketer using LinkedIn to connect with potential buyers and nurture them through the buying process:
When should LinkedIn be used?
LinkedIn is great if you're looking to network with C-suite executives, VPs, and Directors.
The other important aspect is personal branding, which helps you build an audience, position yourself as an expert, and begin attracting clients for your business.
Building your personal brand makes perfect sense when you're the face of your company. Having a personal brand is what distinguishes you from the competition and helps to leave a lasting impression on your audience and clients. You may find it difficult to build a profitable and sustainable business if you lack an enticing personal brand that attracts your target market.
As a result, creating an audience for your personal brand can help your company gain exposure.
Elon Musk, for example, has more Twitter followers than all three of his companies combined (Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity). Having a strong personal brand value at Linkedin helps you gain more exposure and customers for your businesses.
How effective are LinkedIn's retargeting options?
In addition to a user's job title, LinkedIn also lets them narrow their search for a potential employer by the type of business they are looking for, the size of the company, the location of the business, and more.
Which topics tend to do well on LinkedIn?
The platform may be a good fit for content offerings that target audiences will find helpful, such as those that offer business insights and advice. If, for instance, your audience is chief information officers (CIOs), your content should emphasize how your product or service enhances IT for the target audience's businesses.
Best practices to improve your LinkedIn marketing strategy
- Build your network and connect with potential clients through LinkedIn Groups.
- Promote your business and website with LinkedIn Ads and attract more potential customers.
- Create and share content on LinkedIn Pulse that is both unique and useful.
- Find potential clients by using LinkedIn's targeting tools.
- Develop relationships with influential people in your field.
Twitter is another robust social media platform that facilitates real-time conversations and is used by over 486 million users every month (and growing). Because of this, it's an excellent place for marketers to contact potential customers in real time and start a dialogue that can lead to sales.
Twitter is now a part of the social media marketing strategy for 54% of B2B companies. Here are a few things to consider if you want to use Twitter:
For whom does Twitter work best?
Those who want to reach a large audience in real-time, participate in trending discussions, and share actionable insights should use Twitter.
What kind of targeting options does Twitter have?
You can narrow down your audience on Twitter by using targeting options like interest targeting, behaviour targeting, and lookalike audiences.
Where do you find the most success on Twitter?
Twitter users are more likely to interact with content that provides timely advice, tips, or news updates. Live updates from a conference, for instance, can be tweeted. Doing so will help you build rapport with your target demographic and establish credibility as an expert in your field.
Learn how to maximize your Twitter strategy with these tips:
- Use relevant hashtags to reach a broader audience.
- Listen to your followers and competitors.
- Provide individual responses and honour engagement.
- Use Twitter Lists to segment your audience and target them effectively.
- Use Twitter Ads to drive traffic to your website or landing pages.
- Focus on trends that fit your niche and retweet.
- Use Twitter Analytics to track your performance.
YouTube
YouTube hosts and streams videos to more than 2 billion users every month (currently). YouTube's popularity isn't limited to the younger generation; B2B companies are increasingly using it to reach and engage with their customers.
Making informative videos for YouTube is a great way to reach your target audience, gain their trust, and find new potential customers. 36% of marketers say they will increase their YouTube video marketing efforts in the coming year. If you want to use YouTube to market your B2B software, you should think about the following.
YouTube's sweet spot for?
Video content appeals to people of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and regions of the world, making YouTube a truly global platform. Because of this, it is one of the most effective channels for promoting software.
Exactly how precise are YouTube's re-marketing tools?
YouTube allows users to narrow their focus on specific demographics like age, gender, location, interests, and user activity.
Which topics tend to do well on the video-sharing platform?
Since most YouTube users are searching for information, the most successful videos serve as educational resources while also answering the questions of the intended audience. Your videos should serve a purpose, impart useful information, and hold the viewer's interest.
Follow these guidelines to improve your YouTube marketing strategy:
- Make sure your videos are SEO-friendly.
- Drive traffic to your videos by sharing them on multiple platforms.
- Design captivating preview images to entice readers to click.
- Include a descriptive video that is both interesting and long enough to hold the reader's attention.
- Your videos should end with a call to action.
- To find out how well your video is doing, use analytics.
Final Note!
It is essential to develop well-thought-out B2B social media tips centered on increasing engagement and boosting conversions. It covers everything from selecting the most appropriate social networks to establish and maintain brand profiles to producing tailored content for each social platform.
You can expect social media to continue to play a significant role in your campaigns. As a result, it's a must to have a well-designed strategy that routinely reassesses the efficacy of ongoing campaigns and shared content, allowing you to make the necessary adjustments for enhanced performance.
Optimize your use of the analytics dashboards offered by each social media platform, and keep an eye out for other cutting-edge methods of measuring the efficacy of your social media marketing.
Gauge your B2B company's social media success most accurately by employing various measurement strategies and techniques.
Need a B2B social media marketing agency to handle your B2B marketing needs?
Look no further.
TripleDart, a b2b performance marketing agency, offers multiple services to increase your company visibility. To learn more on a B2B marketing plan for your business get in touch with our experts today. Book your call now!
