An effective content marketing program is a top priority for B2B organizations. To reach this goal, implementing a solid social media strategy to support all content marketing activities is crucial to a company’s success.
In a survey of B2B marketers, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are the top four social media platforms relied on to distribute content and build an audience that will read, share and engage with that content.
Though each social platform has different intricacies, these are six best practices that will supercharge your B2B social media strategy:
1. Find the Right Mix of Original and Third-Party Content
It’s not all about you. It’s about making connections and engaging with others. That won’t happen if your main focus is broadcasting your own content.
Your posts should be dedicated to interesting and educational content that supports your organization’s way of thinking about business and the direction your industry is headed.
Sharing content that caters to your audience’s interests builds trust. You become a resource for thoughtful and educative information.
Consider sharing content from these types sources to supplement your own content:
- Partners – share your joint innovations and showcase their content
- Industry Experts – share information from trusted sources within your industry about topics important to your audience
If you’re struggling to find highly-shared, relevant content, try Buzzsumo to discover and curate content.
2. Employee Advocacy is Essential
Selling hasn’t changed: people buy from people they like and trust.
It’s very difficult to connect with a company’s social media account on an emotional level. That’s why you need the human element in your social media strategy, and you can do this by utilizing your employee’s voices in these ways:
- Humanize your business with employee-focused posts – share quotes, pictures or short videos of your employees. This is a great way for others to connect with the faces behind your organization.
- Encourage employees to build a strong social presence – it’s mutually beneficial. Your employees work towards constructing a personal brand that prospects are much more likely to connect and engage with. It provides the opportunity for your employees to build relationships with potential customers, as well as become a company advocate by sharing your content.
3. Boost Your Social Posts
Only a very small percentage of your posts are being seen organically. Facebook, for instance, receives only 2.6% organic reach. Why is that? Algorithms are constantly changing, making it much more difficult to see results.
The push is toward paid reach. Therefore, having a budget for paid advertising is a must.
Boost your social posts to get in front of your target audience. With the robust targeting options these social platforms provide, it’s pretty certain your content will be seen by exactly who you want.
If you don’t have a large ad spend, decide what social channel is most effective for your business and use your budget there.
4. Include Images and Videos
Posts that include images or videos perform better than text-only posts. In fact, content with relevant images receive 94% more views than content without images.
When planning your social media content calendar, be sure to include multimedia posts into the mix to boost your engagement.
5. Monitor Competitors & Influencers
Inform your own strategy by watching what your competitors and influencers are doing. This data can help you determine what types of posts are receiving interest and engagement from your target audience.
6. Use Reporting and Analytic Tools
You’ll never know how to improve or tweak your strategy unless your running regular analytic reports.
Most social media platforms have built-in analytics that tell a lot about your social media strategy’s success. Check these regularly – especially when experimenting – to understand what’s working and what’s not.
No social media strategy will be perfect or an immediate success. Improvement and effectiveness happen when you consistently experiment with new tactics (from testing optimal post times to trying different content types) to reveal your audience’s interests and behaviour.