Why Social Media Marketing is a Growing B2B Trend
Typically, when we think of social media, we think of Twitter, Facebook and so on, and a world of individuals connecting with friends and family, and perhaps their favourite mainstream brands. Nowadays, that isn't the whole picture.
Social media is filled with businesses, particularly B2C, taking advantage of social media in order to engage with their customers and generate new business at the same time. It's no longer a place where people just share photos of what they're having for dinner - it's much more than that. It's an opportunity for business growth; a tool for communications; a new and unknown world for many B2B focused businesses - but it doesn't have to be. Social media marketing can be used to great success given the correct management. Develop a B2B social media marketing plan now or risk falling behind your competition; you can be sure they're thinking of developing or extending their presence too.
B2B Social media marketing is a growing business and it will enjoy the success that B2C social media marketing has had, we're sure of it. Don't know where to get started? As a B2B business, LinkedIn pages, groups and profiles can be a great compromise between a traditional social media platform and a place to network - plan and implement your strategy and see how you get on! Found great success? Branch out to Twitter and Facebook. Feeling brave? Launch your first Youtube video! The opportunities are endless...
But why?
A lot of people spend a lot of their day on social media. It's an easy way to target people interested in your business. Having gained a following, each time you communicate a message, those who are interested in your product or service have a chance to see it directly. Such messages generate leads that are much easier to convert than blind leads, and that's before we even get into the benefits of paid social. Here are some areas that social media can help in:
1. Increasing brand awareness
Social media platforms are often used as a second search engine. It's important to have a presence on each social media platform for this reason alone. Not to mention that they can rank highly in search engines. Increased brand awareness and increased exposure leads to increased business. The benefits of long-term brand awareness through this channel can be far-reaching.
2. Humanising your company
Creativity, energy and humour are often stereotypes associated with B2C brands, but when we think of B2B brands on social, unfortunately this is more likely to be seen as boring, corporate drivel. Social media has led to change and B2B brands no longer have to be dull! Social media can allow businesses to humanise themselves, bring out their USPs and portray a personality and characteristics that people want to engage with, work with and more importantly hand their money over to.
3. Establishing yourself as a thought leader
Thought leaders are generally perceived as the most knowledgeable, successful and sought after firms. If you want this type of reputation, you better be willing to work at it. Social media can provide a platform to fast track your news, opinions and advice to your customers and ultimately allow you to be recognised as the thought leader in your industry, and with that comes a lot of new opportunities. Educating and informing prospective clients will lead them to trust you as they see you as an authority in your industry.
4. Connecting your business to others
Social media is a brilliant way to connect with prospective clients or even manage existing business relationships. With millions of users there is always someone out there looking to connect with you and that could lead to many more business relationships.
Use of social media for business is much more widely accepted on the whole and connecting through it is both quick and easy. People view their social media profiles numerous times a day so there is even more chance of getting noticed than a direct website visitor. You never knew a social profile like could be worth more than website traffic, did you?!
5. Generating and converting leads
There are a number of tips and tricks that social media offers for generating leads and increasing conversions. Engagement is a big one! It's extremely easy to reach out and engage via social media, much more so than through a website. No searching for contact details or picking up the phone - a simple typed message over a familiar interface makes life easier for the average user and this creates opportunities to generate leads which can eventually be converted. Tips and tricks such as running competitions or gaining emails for newsletter subscriptions are made easy via social networks and these leads can be transferred elsewhere, so don't think you're restricted to one platform. An opted-in social media lead can be imported to your CRM or email platform with ease.
Social media marketing is already highly successful for B2C brands in increasing brand awareness and gaining a good reputation amongst others. Social media has made connecting with customers fun and generating new leads an easy task. B2B firms are already taking advantage of this growing trend and receiving all of the same benefits and more - ahead of the competition! Act quickly and you could be the next social success story!
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