Social media plays a critical role in the buying process for company purchasers today, with 75% of business-to-business (B2B) buyers citing the platforms as crucial in decision-making. They’re using these sites to discover potential solutions and conduct more research into the companies behind them.
Keep reading to learn more about B2B social media marketing, why it matters, options beyond LinkedIn and X, and how to maximize your business’s potential on the platforms.
What is B2B social media marketing?
B2B social media marketing is the use of social media sites to reach potential business customers, interact with decision-makers, and persuade them to consider your company’s products or services as a solution to their challenges.
How is B2B social media marketing different from B2C?
Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing differs from B2B marketing in two primary ways.
The purchasing time frame is shorter in B2C transactions, so these campaigns frequently focus on faster conversions and short-term objectives, like seasonal sales and giveaways. Promotion in the B2C sector alsoleverages emotion, which drives most individual buying decisions before reasoning takes place.
Conversely, B2B marketing concentrates on building long-term relationships with customers likely to make repeat purchases and generate more revenue. B2B buyers typically rely on logic when determining the best solution, so the information they seek and the language that resonates with them differ on multiple levels.
Due to these factors, B2B marketing strategies often involve emphasizing practicality, efficiency, and economy.
Why does B2B social media marketing matter?
B2B social media marketing is vital to your company’s success in generating qualified leads and converting them into long-term, loyal customers. Here’s why:
You can be more creative with content. By nature, these platforms allow you to create more interactive content that engages users and fosters conversations.
You can deliver content in many formats. Different platforms are ideal places for showcasing varying content formats, from videos to blog posts to white papers.
You can effectively build your brand. One of the primary goals of an active social media presence is to grow brand recognition, and these platforms are perfect for building larger audiences because of their reach.
You can reach your target audience outside traditional business hours. Buying agents and members of purchasing committees are still individuals when the workday ends — and are likely engaging with social media outside the workplace. These platforms provide an excellent opportunity to get in front of your prospects after they’ve left the office.
Social media platforms for B2B marketing other than LinkedIn and X (Formerly Twitter)
Fortunately, your business has lots of options for social media marketing beyond LinkedIn and X. Here are several popular platforms to consider:
Those numbers represent an excellent opportunity for increasing brand awareness for your company.
Paid promotion on the platform is essential due to the site’s algorithm, which makes organic reach more challenging. A well-developed Facebook strategy can help ensure your content gets in front of decision-makers.
YouTube
While it may not be the first platform that springs to mind when someone mentions social media, YouTube fits the criteria. The site offers good reach for promoting your offerings with paid advertising or marketing your long-form video content, with 2.4 billion active monthly users.
TikTok
Social media platforms consistently evolve to meet the expectations of their audiences. TikTok is the one that’s most successfully executed on an opportunity to give users what they wanted — more short-form video content. Since its international debut in 2017, the platform has grown to over 150 million monthly users in the U.S. alone.
3 awesome strategies for B2B social media marketing on these platforms
The following strategies provide a great starting point for harnessing the power of social media for B2B marketing beyond LinkedIn and X.
Do some research
Thorough research forms the foundation of a well-crafted B2B social media marketing strategy.
Start by asking yourself who your customers are. What businesses do you specialize in serving? Are they in a particular industry or of a certain size? What professional roles do your contacts frequently occupy? Which social media channels are they using?
The answers to these questions can help you develop your ideal customer profile, which makes it easier to find and target them on social media.
Similarly, you can perform a competitor analysis and see what social media strategies seem to be working for them. Campaigns that are successful for them may prove equally so for your business, especially if you have a well-defined competitive advantage.
Tailor your content type to the platform and audience
So, you know who your customers are, what platforms they’re using, and what your competitors are doing to reach them. Now, it’s time to post the right content to the right platform.
Your leads likely won’t engage with identical content across all your social media accounts, so it’s important to differentiate the length, type, or format between channels.
For example, you can post a short video clip on TikTok and encourage users to view the extended one on YouTube. You can also use different sites to drive traffic to other platforms through links — just ensure you’re not posting the exact same content to each platform.
Continue the conversation
Engagement is the cornerstone of effective social media marketing. When a prospect interacts with your company, keep the conversation going, since these activities represent another touchpoint. You might respond to their comments and replies, thank them for sharing or tagging other users, or create content that asks for their input.
Create your B2B social media marketing strategy with the experts
WebUp has a team of experts who have the knowledge, resources, and experience to help you develop and implement a successful B2B social media marketing strategy tailored to your unique business goals and needs.
