Social media marketing is a highly effective tool for B2B brands in order to generate leads and drive sales. However, the goals, strategies and channels for B2B differ greatly from that of B2C brands. These variances have a significant impact on how brands form goals, strategies, and content plans for social media.
Social Media Marketing Goals
B2B digital marketers need to know how to set goals for every aspect of their campaigns and that includes social media initiatives. This is especially true if they are tasked with the job of bringing prospects into sales funnels for multifaceted products and services
Digital marketers must clarify what they’re aiming to achieve with B2B social media campaigns. This is especially given the stubborn status of social media as a newer, relatively untested, type of digital marketing.
If you set particular goals this will help to illustrate the conversions and ROI that can emanate directly from being involved in social networks. This will also help set solid expectations for future social media ventures.
Types of Goals to Set in B2b Social Media Marketing
When it comes to social, there are two types of goals that digital marketers should be setting. These are:
- Broad goals which help you and your team understand the purpose behind your social media campaigns.
- However, they are useless without specific, measurable goals to help track your progress.
Choosing broad social marketing goals requires careful consideration.
The top five, more specific goals of B2B marketers are:
- Brand awareness
- Lead generation
- Customer acquisition
- Thought leadership, and
- Engagement
Depending on the market position of your company, just 2 or 3 of the above goals can be initially selected. Focus on others in the future as the company needs, dictate.
Steps in Creating a B2B Social Media Marketing Strategy
Once you’ve defined your goals for your social media marketing efforts, there are four steps that you must take in order to flesh this strategy out.
Understand Your Audience
Social media listening helps you find online conversations that revolve around your brand. This way, your social media strategy is based on your audience rather than just your business.
Follow the list below to find conversations based on your industry:
- Competitive insights. The audience of your competitors are similar to yours. This means that you should:
- Stalk your competitors,
- Find out how they are engaging with their customers, or
- Discover customer complaints about their product.
- Write down your brand-related keywords. Find out which ones are getting more traffic. Not only will this help you get information on your customers’ interests, but you’ll also find out why they are searching for what they are.
- Social media influencers are industry insiders who have a wealth of knowledge about the updates on new products, innovations, and developments in your industry.
- Monitor hashtags related to your brand in order to understand what people are talking about on social media that is relevant to you.
LinkedIn: The preferred B2B social media marketing platform
LinkedIn is often the social media platform that is forgotten about. It’s still considered to be a type of social media even though it’s business focused. This platform is highly effective for business-to-business digital marketing.
LinkedIn many tools that are available to grow the awareness of your brand. If you join relevant groups and stay active in those groups it can get your business name out there. It is possible to create your own business group. Here, offer tips to other business owners who also happen to be your target audience.
Lead Generation
LinkedIn can also be an invaluable tool for generating high quality leads. Do not be afraid to connect on LinkedIn. Some business professionals hesitate to connect with you if they have never heard of you or your business. However, you’re likely to find that many find connecting acceptable.
Industry Education
LinkedIn also has many tools available that allow you to further your education on a specific topic. Create your own training videos that demonstrate your knowledge on a topic. By sharing these pieces of training with the public, you’re increasing brand awareness, and are also putting yourself in a position of authority and respect.
Community Building
LinkedIn allows you to create a company page that can share specific details about your business. It also enables current employees to list you as their employer. Use your business page to your advantage. Allow it to help you recruit quality employees and to increase brand awareness with potential B2B customers.
Contact DSM Digital School of Marketing
Check out the Digital School of Marketing’s Social Media Marketing Course to find out how you can leverage B2B social media marketing.
