Social media is a key component of an integrated digital marketing strategy. It’s a place where you can create your own space to engage with your target audience in a way that feels less like a sales pitch and more like a natural conversation. However, breaking through the platform’s different algorithms can be tricky, even for seasoned social media marketers! To help your chances, we’re dispelling 5 common B2B social media myths.
Myth 1: Social Media Is Only for B2C
While B2C companies may seem to dominate the marketing efforts conducted on social media, it doesn’t mean that a B2B company can’t find success as well. Social media is a key component for a truly integrated marketing strategy for any B2B business. Your social media platforms can help you build brand awareness and can be used as outlets to easily share whitepapers, case studies, webinars and any other lead-generating content with an audience who already has an interest in what you have to say. Many B2B companies have also noticed success by utilizing their social media accounts for public relations and customer service outlets as well.
Myth 2: I Have a Facebook Page, What More Do I Need?
As the popularity of social media marketing began to rise, many B2B companies rushed to create a Facebook page and then stopped there because simply being on social media was enough, right? Wrong! An active and engaged social media presence is critical to both gathering new customers and nurturing existing customers. While many B2B businesses find success on Facebook, platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can also be important information hubs for engaging with your current and potential customers. You’ll want to have a firm understanding of your buyer personas to determine which social networks are worth your time.
Myth 3: My Customers Aren’t on Social Media
It’s hard to think of someone these days who does not have at least one social media account. That’s why social media has quickly become one of the key channels for B2B companies to reach their target audience. LinkedIn is one of the most valuable platforms for your B2B social media strategy. Many of the business world’s decision makers actively use LinkedIn to find new industry-related content and solutions. LinkedIn says it has over half a billion monthly users, of which 40% are logging in daily. So if you aren’t sharing your content on LinkedIn, you might be missing out on an opportunity to engage customers and establish your company as a source for quality industry information. Twitter is the second most used social media platform for B2B social media marketing behind LinkedIn. It’s the perfect platform to share industry-related news and content offers, connect and engage with influencers and provide excellent customer service. In fact, 75% of B2B businesses market on Twitter, which likely includes your competitors. And, of Twitter’s over 300 million monthly users, 80% are not American, which makes Twitter a key platform for connecting with a global audience.
Myth 4: We Should Only Be Posting About Our Company
While posting frequently about your business’s new and exciting offerings is a critical aspect of a well-rounded social media strategy, it is not the only component. Direct marketing posts should be carefully balanced with other, relevant industry-related news. These “general interest” types of posts help your brand become a thought leader within your industry and build valuable connections with other like-minded businesses, publications, and organizations. General interest posts can also help to break up your messaging so it seems more like a conversation and less like a constant stream of sales pitches.
Myth 5: The More Posts, the Better
Each social media platform has its own algorithm that dictates when and how often to post. Twitter, for example, moves extremely quick. According to Hubspot, a Tweet will get just about all of the engagement it is ever going to get within an hour of the post going out. This means that in order to effectively communicate your message via Twitter you should be tweeting several times per day. Facebook and LinkedIn, on the other hand, have a more viable lifetime for their posts though cracking their algorithms can be challenging. In 2018, Facebook announced a major shift in their algorithm, placing more emphasis on content generated by friends and family and less on businesses. This has challenged B2B marketers to continuously develop highly-engaging content that their audience will find meaningful. Many marketers have integrated a “less is more” Facebook strategy by putting out 2-3 high-quality, engaging posts per week instead of posting daily. There’s no denying that social media has become increasingly competitive to reach your target audience. But with the help of a great strategy and quality content, your social media presence will quickly become a pillar of your integrated digital marketing efforts for your B2B business.
In B2B tech marketing, tactics should be thought of as part of a larger whole, rather than separate pieces. By strategically integrating new and traditional marketing tactics, your marketing program become more effective and cost efficient. To learn more about how you can increase your lead generation and overall marketing, download our free eBook: Modern Integrated Digital Marketing—A Better Path for B2B Technology Marketers.