B2B social media differs from B2C social media. It’s often conflated as the less interesting marketing method, the sales processes take longer, and it can be a tedious process to make a B2B brand’s product glimmer. However, this more “technical” type of marketing can be fun, and it can be good.
Bad B2B marketing doesn’t get high engagement because it doesn’t spark interest, so it’s often overlooked. You might not even have noticed it because you scrolled right past.
But that’s the exact opposite of what you want to achieve. Your B2B social media strategy should capture interest, encourage engagement, and build trust with your audience. Those are the marks of an effective B2B social media strategy.
Want to know if your B2B social media marketing strategy is any good (or if it’s falling flat)? Let us tell you how.
Run a B2B social media audit of your audience.
Determine if your audience matches your ideal customer profiles (ICPs). If you aren’t reaching the right people, it’s time to assess how you’re using social media for B2B. To know if you’re reaching your audience, consider this assessment checklist:
- Identify the goals for your brand and align them with your larger business goals
- Set social media key performance indicators (KPIs) related to those goals
- Ask questions that analyze your audience:
- How does this content serve my current audience? Is it the audience I want to reach?
- Is the content relevant to the audience’s interests?
- What content is rockin’, and what content isn’t doing so hot?
Performing regular social audits can improve brand visibility online. Remember that B2B social media posts encounter different user interactions in comparison to B2C social media posts. What works for B2C marketers may not work for you. Even other B2B methods may not be your brand’s answer.
You don’t know which B2B social media campaigns will prove successful, so it’ll take a combination of variables and a lot of trial and error to get there. Don’t compare apples to oranges!
Related Reading: 9 Harsh Truths About Your Social Media Marketing – and What to Do About Them
Assess your B2B social KPIs.
KPIs look at engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, click-through rates, follower growth, website and social foot traffic, adjacent conversion rates, reach, impressions, and overall customer and brand sentiment across socials and are really dependent on the goals of a brand. KPIs help to gauge if brands are on the right platform.
Conduct social listening.
Social listening is another huge aspect of an effective B2B social media strategy. Simply put, social listening means tuning into relevant industry conversations on digital channels to get a better understanding of your audience and your brand’s perception in the marketplace.
Here’s an example of social listening:
Threads, Instagram’s new real-time public conversation app, quickly gained traction with over 45 million users within 24 hours of its launch, including Zen Media.
We saw a lot of the same questions on that first day: What is Threads? Should we bother signing up? Will it really replace Twitter? How can I increase my Threads followers?
We took advantage of the trending topic in the news cycle and answered those questions in social posts on other platforms to engage our audience in a conversation they were already having and provide real value.
Keep an eye on the competition.
There’s nothing wrong with comparing your brand to your competitors. It’s important to understand how people are relating in B2B industries. Try to address shared industry concerns in a unique way that sets your brand apart from the others.
Looking to others in your field is a great way to determine your B2B social media marketing best practices. These conversations are necessary in determining whether or not you are competing effectively. Consider these questions when comparing your brand to your competitors:
- Are our B2B social media posts relevant?
- Do we consistently post?
- How do our competitors’ posts compare in terms of engagement?
- What works (i.e., what’s seeing the most engagement)?
- What doesn’t (i.e., which posts are people ignoring)?
- What trends do we see across competitors’ channels?
- What can we take from this analysis and apply to our brand?
Remember your audience.
What generation is the majority or the minority you and your competitors serve? Depending on the age range, try to recognize who of which generation will use what.
Think about it this way: TikTok is Gen Z’s Google. Baby Boomers aren’t on TikTok—but they’re probably on Facebook. Different generations use social media differently, so building awareness around who you serve will help you better provide them with excellent service and even better products.
Begin by searching out consumer insights on all possible platforms. See what each generation likes and what they don’t. Who knows! You might discover an audience you didn’t know existed.
Related Reading: Gen Z Isn’t “Googling” Anymore: Social Media Is The New Search Engine
Find the right platform.
You don’t have to be on every platform; it’s more important to find the right platform, which may only be one or two social channels in a sea of social media to consume. Focus your attention on where your audience lives on the internet. Maybe they’re on Twitter. Maybe they’re not. Maybe this platform doesn’t make sense for your brand, even if your audience is on it.
Your social media should serve your brand first and foremost. You can’t force a platform to work just because everyone else is on it or because it’s new and shiny. For example, some companies thrive on TikTok because they can make video content, but perhaps your brand doesn’t have access to video assets (yet); it just wouldn’t jive!
If a platform works, it works. If not, move on to the next one!
Related Reading: Social Media Marketing in 2023: What You Need to Know
Be B2B social goals.
Yep, your brand visibility on social media should be goals—what someone admires and aspires to achieve!
So, set the precedent now. Where do you currently stand versus where do you want to be? Tell a story with your brand. Build rapport with your audience and engage with them in the comments. Be creative. Be innovative. Be fresh. Create benchmarks for your social media strategy so that you have something to compare and contrast with down the line.
Related Reading: Top 11 Free Social Media Tactics for Promoting Your Brand
Testing…1, 2, 3.
Congrats, you’ve made it through the toughest parts of revising your social strategy. It’s not the most glamorous process, but aren’t you glad you did it?
Let’s put your updated strategy to the test! Go through this final checklist before you start to record and further analyze your updated metrics for round two:
- Did you try sharing different types of content?
- Did you change the way you write social copy?
- Did you research optimal post times and adjust your posting schedule?
- Did you answer all the other questions listed earlier in this blog?
If so, you’re off to the races. If not, check back after you finish playing with these variables.
So, now that your strategy is adjusted, it’s maintenance from here on out. Regularly audit your channels, follow along with the trends (algorithms are constantly changing; keep up and you’ll be fine), make changes when changes are needed, check up on your competition (more often than you’d like to), and be of the best B2B brands across social media.
Related Reading: Ultimate Guide to B2B Social Media Marketing
Ready to dive in? We can’t wait to help you! Contact Zen Media today for more information on B2B social media marketing services.
