5 inspiring B2B social media pages and what makes them great

Content is key – regardless of your industry, business and position, we are all essentially out to market ourselves personally and our companies through content. If you’re a student fresh out of uni and on the hunt for a job, what you put on your CV is important; that’s content right there. And from start-ups to MNCs looking for partners, followers and leads on social media, content is crucial. I have looked at 5 companies that have hit that sweet note with their company pages, across various social media platforms (not just LinkedIn).

LinkedIn: IBM

Let’s start with my favourite LinkedIn. While Facebook and Twitter are great for B2C, there’s no denying that LinkedIn is the perfect platform for organisations to position themselves as thought leaders in a business context. Through professional networks, followers, sponsored posts using content and the largest publishing platform in the world, it’s easy to see why LinkedIn is the name that comes to mind the minute you put social hub + professionals together.

So what’s one of those leading the pack here? With over 2.52 million followers on their company’s LinkedIn page, IBM tops the ranks in numbers, even muscling out tech giant Microsoft and HP.

Their not-so-secret key to their success is two-fold, first of which is rich content. They post a variety of media and jump on the visual train with videos and infographics. Their latest video takes you behind the scenes at the US Open Tennis Tournament. Their second is the number of staff who are on LinkedIn as well, sharing their content. With 412,433 employees on LinkedIn to date, their reach on their main page and 9 showcase pages is far and wide.

Instagram: CBRE

A newcomer (on this list) as a B2B social media platform, Instagram has definitely paved a path for those who dare to take their brands here. Most are still sceptical and fail to see the relevance they may have with this photo sharing platform, but here’s a great example of the most unlikely of partnerships – CBRE.

Riding on the trend of wonderlust (different from wanderlust), where one posts pictures of beautifully captured images of travel, landscapes, nature and more, the commercial real estate giant has built a treasure trove of photos. Their Instagram account is a glorious testament to the architectural majesty of the modern cityscape, with awe-inspiring photos of skyscrapers, skylines and more. Historical facts add substance to the images, sealing their positioning as experts in their field, minus the hard-sales pitch.

Pinterest: GE

Yet another visually rich medium is of course, Pinterest. What started out as an online digital pin-board, it now has over 70 million users from around the globe, and has gone beyond the usual “fluff” that one might find online. And savvy companies have known this for a while now.

One of those extremely savvy companies that’s using their Pinterest board to the fullest, is General Electric (GE). And who’d have thought that tech and innovations from this conglomerate could ever be made accessible to other businesses AND the average consumer through visuals? But this is exactly what they have done with clever use of hashtags and their 37 GE boards, ranging from fun science factoids, DIYs, infographics and even tongue-in-cheek geeky quotes (check out their Hey Girl board).

Facebook: CISCO

Since its launch in 2004, there are now 1.18 billion active Facebook users globally. Now take 75% of that number, and you’ve got the statistic for how many B2B buyers use social media to influence their decision-making process globally (not all of course are on facebook). So it’s no surprise that 43% of the companies that use Facebook specifically for B2B see leads from their efforts on the social media site.

And one of those is yet another tech company – CISCO. With over 728,000 likes and a rating of 4.5 stars, how exactly did CISCO manage it? One of the important elements for corporations to succeed in this social space is to one – “humanise” their brand and two – engage the audience. The company has done this brilliantly with several FB campaigns and initiatives, such as their “Superfan Program” that puts the spotlight on top community members, and seamless integration of all other forms of media on their page. From blog posts to YouTube videos, all their content is timely (trending) and engaging, encouraging “shares” of their posts that ensures a broad reach, even among non-followers.

Twitter: Hootsuite

Restricted to 140-character messages (tweets), Twitter has taught us the importance of being succinct and to the point. While originally extremely popular amongst youths to make their favourite idols and celebrities more “accessible” to them, it now has 316 million users, across the world and beyond just fan girls and boys; it helps put opinions and important news across for companies as well if in a western world rather than in Asia.

And one of these companies is Hootsuite, with over 7 million followers on their Twitter account. Which is great news for them, given that they are a social media management platform that positions themselves as gurus of the industry. Providing tips and news on social media, Hootsuite mashes entertainment and assistance, with even a dedicated help page called Hootsuite Helpers. Not hard to see why 744 of the Fortune 1,000 companies use their services.

It’s interesting to note that the majority of companies that do well in applying B2B via social media are within (or at least related to) tech. Given that social media has generally been known to be a “fun” and entertaining arena, what makes these companies inspirational is how they’ve changed the perception of their brand as “serious” and dry.

Perhaps it’s time for other industries to realise that with a bit of creative thinking, and a sound content marketing strategy tailored to various targets, social media can and should be used beyond just B2C, especially if their competitors have yet to jump on board the B2B social bandwagon.