Do I need social media for my B2B business?

For B2B businesses it’s especially important to get into the mindset of your target audience so you can authentically share your company’s story and drive traffic to your website. When you consider whether a social platform is right for your business, it’s important to understand who is connecting on a specific platform, and for what reason.

But before you dive in, you need to answer two important questions:



• What are your company’s business objectives?
• How will social media marketing help to achieve them?

When B2C businesses use social media they are often focused on selling, but in B2B it’s more subtle. The focus is on creating brand awareness, educating audiences, and building credibility and trust. It’s also important to ensure your social media strategy ties in with your broader content marketing strategy.

Creating brand awareness

Successful B2B enterprises need to spell out who they are, what sets them apart from their competitors, and what they value as a company. For many, social media is a great place to achieve this by providing a place to share content that highlights these three things.

Educating audiences to increase credibility

The majority of B2B buyers do independent research on the businesses they deal with and want to ensure that the companies they support are credible. One great way to show your credibility to potential customers is to educate your audience, and social media channels are a great avenue for sharing.

Building trust

In the business-to-business space, the critical outcome is building trust. Things like testimonials, positive reviews, and accolades are all great for sharing via social media.

It doesn’t matter if your product or service is very technical or niche, customer engagement can make your brand feel more personable.

Focus on the most B2B-friendly platforms

It’s important to understand who is connecting with you on a specific social platform, and for what reason. Not every social channel is going to work for your business, so choose your social media channels strategically; don’t feel like you have to use every social media platform just because it’s available.

Here are some recommendations for how your B2B business can use each of the most popular social platforms:



• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the number one channel for most B2B social media programs. It should be a core component of your B2B lead generation and content marketing strategies. It is the one social platform catering to connecting business professionals.

• Twitter: You should consider Twitter in your B2B social media mix because its short-message style can help companies provide quick morsels of information. Twitter can also be an integral component of customer service communication.

• Facebook: Facebook is primarily used to connect with family and friends, but it can also be used to help businesses communicate with prospects and build their community. However, be aware that just because your customers and potential customers use Facebook in a personal capacity, that doesn’t mean they want to focus on business while using it. There is a place on Facebook for B2B marketing. It just requires a little more nuance.

•  YouTube: YouTube should be considered in your social media plans because content marketing on YouTube leverages the sight, sound, and emotion of video to strengthen your brand and engage your audience. This is the perfect social channel for how-to tutorials, interviews, presentations, and video advertising.

• Instagram & Pinterest: Instagram & Pinterest can also play a role in the social media mix for certain B2B businesses, particularly if your business has strong visuals because both platforms are focused on images rather than words. These channels are fantastic for your more visual content – eye-catching images and short, engaging multimedia content.
  

Social media and Icon Visual Marketing

The social media landscape changes rapidly, and the most important thing is that no social media strategy should be set in stone. Icon Visual Marketing’s content and creative teams work together to define and execute social media strategies that deliver results for B2B businesses. Read more about the work we do for our clients, or call us on 1300 138 984 for a chat.