For B2C companies, or businesses that market directly to consumers, it’s easy to see why social media is an essential component of an effective marketing strategy. Why is social media important for B2B companies, or those that primarily sell to other businesses? If you’re not sure or not convinced, here’s what you need to know about incorporating social media into your marketing mix.
Build Brand Awareness
It’s important never to forget that the businesses you’re marketing to are made up of regular people. They may not always have their work hats on while scrolling social media, but most of us don’t disconnect entirely from our jobs during our off hours. In other words, your customers are on social media either professionally or privately, and building brand awareness can happen at any time or any venue.
Along with customers, you will also have the opportunity to let potential vendors and partners become familiar with your brand on social media. As people learn more about your business, what you do, and what your company stands for, they may become more interested.
Plus, businesses use social media for various activities, including building relationships, coordinating events, and more. In fact, Facebook found that business decision-makers spent 74 percent more time on Facebook pages compared to the average person!
Customer Care on Social Media
Handling customer service on your social media platforms has two distinct benefits. The first is that your customers will appreciate you meeting them where they are. They’re already on social media, hopefully interacting with your brand’s pages and content, and it’s natural for people to bring questions and concerns to a familiar place. Instead of redirecting them to your customer service phone number or webchat, keep it simple.
The second benefit is allowing others to see how you handle problems. No matter how much we try, all of us will make a mistake or have problems result from things that are out of our hands. What potential clients, partners, and vendors want to see is not an absence of complaints; instead, they want to know that you’ll be professional, considerate, and committed to making things right when they go wrong.
Defining Yourself as a Thought Leader
Thought leadership is demonstrating your knowledge and expertise in your industry. It shows customers and partners that you know what you’re doing and that you’re not simply following along with others. Social media is the perfect outlet for sharing insights, industry news, and educational opinions.
Defining yourself as a leader in your industry is critical for establishing long-term trust and credibility. By giving valuable and accurate information, others in your industry will build respect for you and your brand, and your customers will be more likely to trust your products or services.
Generate Leads & Boost Sales
All businesses are concerned with the bottom line, and increasing lead generation and assisting sales are the best way to give your bottom line a boost from your marketing efforts.
Positioning
By understanding your niche and what your target audience expects from you, you’ll be able to distribute highly targeted content marketing to that group. This content will help people understand your value proposition and demonstrate why you are distinct (and better!) than your competitors.
Social Engagement
Building relationships is the foundation of every successful B2B business, especially those that need a list of repeat customers to meet sales targets. Most customers in the B2B market are looking for vendors that will provide a high level of ongoing service, not a one-and-done transaction. In fact, one survey found that B2B buyers want their vendors to be a partner in their buying journey, and social media provides an excellent platform for nurturing new leads and developing existing relationships.
Along with search engines, social engagement is also an important way to get more traffic to your website by sharing links to articles, resources, special offers, and more. Your website is where people can learn even more about your company, products, and services. The more traffic you can send into your sales funnel, the more people you can convert into leads and paying customers.
Event Amplification
Whether you’re promoting an event that you’re hosting or want to boost participation in industry events like tradeshows, social media channels are among the best outlets for raising awareness, excitement, and ultimately attendance. From increasing your reach by encouraging your audience to share event content with their followers to boosting registration by using built-in registration processes provided by social media networks, social media is the new word-of-mouth.
Proven B2B Social Media Methods
Now that you’re convinced that social media is right for your B2B company, the next step is to establish or improve your social media presence. If you’re unsure where to start or how to make the most of your social media budget, we can help. Our B2B social media marketing methods are proven to get tangible results for our clients, and we’ll do the same for you, too!