Are you sure you are getting your B2B social marketing right?

Let’s face it, even though B2B social media marketing is nothing new, digital marketers are still struggling to develop and successfully implement a relevant and well considered B2B social media strategy. But why exactly is effective B2B social media marketing so tricky to get right? Or, to put it differently, what are the specific nuances of B2B social media marketing that we are still struggling to get to grips with as marketers and business owners?

?The cost of B2B social marketing

If your B2B social media content is not supported by a well-researched audience segmentation strategy and a relevant paid media spend, then there is really very little chance of any noteworthy success in the B2B social media space. B2B marketing necessitates a clear and descriptive picture of who your ideal target audience is. Based on this clearly defined persona, you then need to ensure you actually reach that audience by amplifying your social content via relevant paid media tactics. The niche nature of B2B target audiences also has a noteworthy cost implication, as access to high value B2B leads can result in expensive advertising bidding wars.

?Forgetting about emotional appeals and being too professional

One of the biggest misconceptions of B2B social media marketing is that functional and highly factual messaging appeals are always the most effective way to approach your messaging. The reality, however, is that people are still people. Although B2B messaging should always be backed by credible proof points, it can’t be to the detriment of including an emotional appeal in your messaging. If your messaging does not include an emotional layer, you are missing out on a valuable opportunity to leverage the community-centric benefits of social media to shape brand resonance. An example of an emotive B2B social media campaign conceptualised and managed by Wunderman Thompson is the Sage ‘Boss it’ campaign, which was centred around small business’ owners emotional need for control: https://www.wundermanthompson.com/work/boss-it

?A balancing act of influencer reach vs credibility

Where B2C influencers can be assessed largely based on the size of their reach alone, B2B influencers should first and foremost be assessed based on their credibility and their expertise in a certain defined business niche. Less is usually more when it comes to B2B influencers, so don’t fall into the trap that you need to spend massive budget on influencers that are good for reach purposes. Focused partnerships with trusted industry leaders are usually the most effective way to drive credible earned reach in B2B social media arena. Companies that have successfully managed to achieve this include Monday.com, Salesforce, Shopify, and Miro.

Creating your own influencers

In many cases, a well-considered internal brand advocacy programme could be a highly effective alternative option to influencers when it comes to cracking B2B social media. In many cases, B2B companies are dealing with complex products and services that require those with hands-on experience to be able to confidently promote and endorse the business offering to others. It is for this reason that there is massive value in ensuring your internal specialists or experts are geared to act as your brand endorsers via social media. Ensuring that your employees’ LinkedIn profiles are purposefully optimised and actively utilised are examples of easy ways to start nurturing your very own internal squad of influencers.

?Keeping your social accounts in order

Do not underestimate the impact of keeping your social accounts in order on B2B lead generation success. During the research phase for new business prospects, you might be surprised how many potential business partners review your brand’s social media pages to get a sense of the degree to which your brand is committed to customer service excellence and how you deal with existing customers in general. Companies regularly overlook the reputational impact of customer service excellence on social media. It is therefore very important to ensure your B2B social media strategy is supported with an effective and brand-aligned approach to social media community management.

?Understanding and appreciating social media’s role within lead generation

Although we are long past the days where one could argue that social media channels cannot be leveraged as an online sales tactic, it is still very important to ensure that social media content and social advertising formats are used in a relevant manner to support lead generation. This is especially important in the context of B2B social media, as some ad units that would work well in a B2C selling context, could fail miserably when it comes to B2B social media. B2B social media sales tactics usually require a content marketing-centric approach which means that selected social ad units need to be able to accommodate more descriptive and sequential online customer journeys that allow leads to be nurtured over time.

?A tech-forward, data-driven approach

B2B social media marketing has a highly complex nature, and it becomes even more complex without the backing of a relevant and well-integrated digital tech stack that supports the various social media activities of you and your team. Make sure that your martech strategy is well thought out and leverages the latest developments in automation, AI, machine learning and data integration. Equally important is ensuring that you adopt a data-driven approach that ensures you are constantly optimising your strategy and content. Social media listening software is but one of example of highly advanced martech software category that can provide highly valuable audience and competitor data.

?As this discussion highlights, B2B social media is no walk in the park and companies need to be hyper aware of its nuances to ensure they can utilise the full potential of social media for B2B lead generation.

Win or lose, share your B2B social media stories in the comments and let’s discuss.?