From 'likes' to leadership. Transforming your organisation's social media activity from 'visibility' into profit centres.

In today's rapidly evolving commercial landscape, businesses are increasingly recognising the imperative to master their processes and activity across social media platforms.

However, many still perceive social media as an additional ‘thing to have to do’ rather than an integral component of their commercial strategy - a perspective that often leads to poor, ineffective outcomes.

This isn't about chasing the latest LinkedIn algorithm tweak or leveraging new features, it's about embracing a fundamental business transformation, even if you have no understanding of social media and its workings.

I often ask business professionals who have a negative opinion about social media or, question their desire to take social media seriously…

“You say you don’t like social media….do you like revenue, profit and ebitda...?”

In many cases this brings the focus required to allow preconceptions to be put to one side.

It’s about commercial transformation

Transforming your team's social media presence into measurable outcomes like revenue and EBITDA requires a scalable restructuring of both mindset and processes.

It's about rethinking past practices, adapting to current demands, and setting a strategic trajectory for future growth. When the foundation is set, you are equipped to filter through the noise….the endless stream of tips, hacks, and tricks. There are no tips, hacks and tricks that will transform a business, this is about rewiring your commercial future.

Common pitfalls in Digital B2B Strategy

Organisations often fall into the trap of re-purposing outdated methods for social media platforms. Recently, an in-house marketing specialist shared a strategy centred around "visibility" and "lead generation."

While this approach sounds promising, it often results in marketing teams celebrating increased engagement, while sales teams grapple with weakening pipelines, finance observes declining order intake, and the board sees dwindling forecasts. In a world where B2B commercial dynamics have shifted, clinging onto outdated practices, in the hope that ‘maybe they will work this year’, is a recipe for disaster.

We find that organisations where the leadership team accept that they need something new and different are already changing the internal language.

Common terms that now cause more confusion than results...

Lead Generation

“When is a lead a lead and when is it an opportunity – is it an MQL or an SQL…?”

The term "lead generation" has become synonymous with outdated practices.

If someone pitches "lead gen tools" or strategies, it sets off alarms. The term has been overused and diluted to the point of irrelevance.

Instead, evaluate your CRM and have a candid discussion with your team about what the word "lead" means in your company, what they mean, and the maths and process involved and associated with conversion….and, how they directly contribute to your pipeline.

Visibility

The term visibility is suffocating modern B2B commercial activity.

The continual and often immeasurable pursuit of “just being out there” is now becoming the main driver for marketing activity in the B2B space.

“You are telling me you can’t tie any of the activities you do with your marketing spend to your bottom line….so why do you do it?

“It’s good for visibility….we have to be out there”.

We hear this a lot and it’s no longer acceptable.

Investing in "visibility" without tangible commercial outcomes is a misapplication of resources.

Visibility alone doesn't drive sales, we can’t make payroll with visibility.         

It's time to move beyond nebulous metrics and focus on those directly tied to pipeline growth and meaningful engagement.

We find we help organisation move from ‘visibility’ to ‘qualified relevance’, things change.

Qualified relevance means that people that have never met you – perhaps never even heard of your company, are now considering you as the solution/partner/specialist that they want to know more about.

Marketing materials

Reassess your spending on traditional marketing materials.

Would reducing this expenditure affect your order intake?

Often, these materials serve as a security blanket, offering comfort rather than results.

Every dollar/pound/euro spent on marketing should be traceable to pipeline impact…if it's not, it's wasted (chasing visibility – see above).

Modern alternative thinking (at least to consider)

Technical and Commercial Influence

Shift your efforts toward becoming the leading technical and commercial digital influencers in your sector.

By owning the "share of voice," you establish yourself as a trusted advisor, driving pipeline growth, recruitment opportunities, employee engagement, and a shared sense of purpose across your team. Notably, 78% of social sellers outperform peers who don't use social media. (EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY | GAGGLEAMP)

Create Demand

Stop chasing leads and start creating demand.

Understand your prospects deeply and position yourself as the digital answer to their questions. Show them you fully understand their business challenges and demonstrate your value in a way that feels natural and compelling. Demand creation builds a desire to work with you, not because of a hard sell but because it simply makes sense.

Qualified relevance

Replace the futile and expensive race for visibility with a focus on being qualified as relevant and valuable before the first tender or proposal. Your goal is to be on your prospects' radar as a trusted expert—even before the conversation begins. Notably, 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions. (DIMA)

The critical missing link….Pipeline attribution

One term we don't hear often enough is "pipeline attribution."

Ask yourself, "Can we map all our marketing efforts to a percentage of our pipeline?"

This exercise reveals gaps, threats, and opportunities, offering a clear path to optimising your strategy and making a meaningful impact to your commercial growth.

In today's world, it's no longer a question of whether strategic social media works. The data is clear, it drives revenue and EBITDA, it drives growth.

The real question is often a personal one, it's whether you have the mindset to embrace change, the culture to welcome diverse perspectives, and the hunger to succeed.

More and more we are seeing business professionals who have had no interest in social media get in touch with questions and curiosity.

Those who get this now see that their engineers, leadership team, HR, accounts, operations, technical, HSEQ can lead the way in this modern B2B commercial world

Training that cross-discipline team in Digital B2B Influence and allowing them the environment, culture and resources to flourish on digital channels, may seem concerning to a leadership team who are not aware of this commercial transformation, but it’s all about strategy, training and internal steering.

Ultimately, its all about growth…growth in revenue, profit and ebitda.

Eric Doyle (F.ISP) Consult Crux

Eric is the founder and Managing Director of Crux, a company devoted to creating leading technical and commercial influencers who together, make a measurable, scalable improvements to their businesses.