What Does Social Media Achieve for B2B Businesses?

When you think of social media, what’s the first thing that comes to mind??

If vacation photos, memes, and dancing videos popped into your brain – same. And sure, it can be all these things, but when it comes to B2B social media (B2B = business to business), your strategy serves as an integral part of your overall marketing plan.?

It might be easy to picture how social media can be used for B2C (business to consumer) sales –? a book, the hottest clothing trend, or a niche home decoration goes viral and suddenly it seems like everyone wants to buy it. But when it comes to B2B social media, it serves a slightly different purpose.

Accordingly, the strategy is slightly more nuanced.

Did you know that 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchasing decisions??

B2B social media typically uses different tactics than B2C organizations to be successful. Let’s discuss what they are in more detail.

Focus on Providing Value

This might not seem drastically different from B2C – after all, value is important for an engaged audience no matter what you do or sell. But B2B companies need to prioritize providing value to their customers and clients as a primary driver of their social media content. 59% of buyers prefer to do research online rather than work with a salesperson because they want to focus on solving a problem. This is why your social media strategy should help users solve a problem, and, in turn, show why your company is the best solution.?

But your social media plan can provide value to more than just users who are brand new to your company.?

B2B purchases are typically more expensive and complex than B2C purchases (e.g.,they have a longer sales cycle and multiple decision makers or influencers), which translates to more opportunities to engage potential clients during their buyer's journey.?

Additionally, 68% of consumers say they follow brands on social media to learn about new products and services. Ignoring these users in your social media strategy is a miss.?

So what can you post to provide value??

A good place to start is addressing the pain points of your customer. You can provide engaging information, showcasing your understanding of your customer base and then directing them to your website to discover the products and services you offer that address those pain points.?

This can be done in a variety of formats (e.g., an infographic, a long-form article, a blog post, etc.) This type of content is a win-win – you show you care about and understand what your B2B customer needs, and then, boom, you also offer a solution to their problem.?

Incorporate Human Elements

AI (artificial intelligence) is everywhere, which is why it’s so important to have a human element in your social media approach.?

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t use AI – in fact, I use it daily to streamline my processes and content creation. But I never (ever) let it serve as the be all, end all to my social media strategy. After all, if you’re copying and pasting AI content without adding unique elements and making it more brand-friendly, you’re missing a vital opportunity to add a necessary human layer to your social platforms.?

So, with this in mind, how can you use AI effectively?

AI can be a great tool to generate content ideas or captions. But there are some ethical concerns with AI and social media, especially with AI image generators. So if your organization is going to use AI, do so openly and honestly, and follow the most current best practices. My company, Conveyor Marketing Group, has established a set of AI Principles that we share with our clients and ask them to opt into (or out of, depending on their preference).?

Incorporating a human touch into your social media is important to building trust, which is crucial for B2B companies. And social media plays a big role in trust: one study found that 78% of consumers agree that a brand’s social presence has a big impact on whether they trust that brand.?

Thought leadership is a great way to add a human touch to your content – this approach highlights expert knowledge and novel ideas from subject matter experts (SMEs) at your organization, which is something that AI cannot do. In turn, this type of thought leadership social media helps build trust.?

There are numerous ways to showcase your thought leaders on social media. Link to blog posts they’ve written, publish articles directly on social media sites such as LinkedIn, share graphical highlights that explain who they are and what they have deep expertise in, or publish a brief video where your SME shares knowledge about a topic they’re passionate about.?

This is actually a great segue into my next point, which is…?

Utilize Video

Both short-form and long-form videos have become popular across social media platforms. 86% of social media users spend 25% or more of their time on social media watching videos.?

And video is not just for entertainment – 88% of marketers that use video found a positive ROI.?

Just make sure that the videos you create are providing value to your target audience. For example, you could create a video highlighting a new product or service (fun fact: 72% of users choose video over text for learning about a new product or service, so this could be a great starting point). You could also create thought leadership videos, sharing highlights or recordings of an event (perhaps one of your SMEs is speaking at an industry conference?), telling your company’s story, and more.?

Pick Your Platforms Strategically?

For B2B companies, LinkedIn is a great platform to start with. Everyone agrees: 50% of B2B buyers use LinkedIn as a trusted source for making purchase decisions, and 40% of B2B marketers say it’s the most efficient tool to generate quality leads. LinkedIn has a large, diverse user base that can help you reach your target audience.

While LinkedIn is a great place to start, social media is most effective if you figure out where your audience is.?

Yes, a lot of your audience might be on LinkedIn, but there could be other highly-used platforms that would allow you to interact with your target audience, or let you interact in different ways and with slightly different messages.?

YouTube, for example, is frequently visited by a wide range of age groups and offers both short- and long-form videos, while X is really popular for journalists who are looking for bite-sized information.

Some platforms that you could check out include:

• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X (Twitter)
• TikTok
• Pinterest
• Reddit

Are you ready to revamp your company’s social media strategy? Check out this comprehensive B2B organic social media checklist to see how you stack up.?

Need some B2B-focused social media content ideas to fuel your future strategy? Check out the most recent blog post on Conveyor Marketing Group 's website.