When developing your marketing strategy, you need to consider which social channels will be most effective for your business-to-business selling.
In the B2B world, social media platforms offer you a direct line to those exact businesses you are trying to target, and having a consistent, effective plan that brings value to your audience can generate leads, credibility and drive sales to your business.
Below you will find a ranking of the most effective platforms for B2B marketers. Have no mistake, ALL of these platforms are very powerful, but some are just a tad better than others. (See My Ranking Below)
Top 5 B2B Social Media Platforms For Businesses:
1. LinkedIn
Number 1. LinkedIn. LinkedIn, primarily known as a platform for business professionals, currently has over 774 million users. LinkedIn provides consumers with a great networking tool and provides B2B marketers a great opportunity to directly hit this target market with its professional focus. Users of this platform include anyone from Fortune 500 CEOs to small business owners to entry-level graduates.
The power of LinkedIn is not some "best-kept secrets of marketers" anymore, as 97% of B2B marketers used LinkedIn in their content marketing strategy. The B2B audience of LinkedIn is massive, with over 57 million companies currently on the platform. A large company audience means easy access to decision-makers for marketers.
Now, what should you create? My number one rule when creating my personal content is making sure that I am bringing value to the consumer. Some content ideas may include:
Long-Form Industry Relevant News
How-To Posts
Simple Infographics
Video-Based Posts
Answering Consumer Questions
A "Top 10" Post
Telling Your Company Story
Whatever form you take, build a relationship with your audience first. Then go for the sale.
Are you convinced yet? We didn't even get to talk about the vast organic reach of LinkedIn, but we will save that for another time.
2. Facebook
Number 2. Facebook. With over 1.84 billion daily active users, Facebook gives you the largest audience option among socials.
It is not uncommon to see Twitter at number two on this list amongst some marketers, but I have Facebook at number two on my list for one reason. Facebook specifically gives you access to an essential group in B2B marketing: the business decision-makers. According to Facebook, business decision-makers spend 74% more time on the platform than other individuals.
As far as producing content, Facebook has become incredibly dense, and it is not as easy to reach organically as it once was. That being said, there are still very effective uses of this platform for your business- content examples including publishing helpful tips, advice, industry insights, and company news. Be sure to join industry-relevant groups, stay involved on hashtags, and continuously engage back with your followers!
Similar among many platforms, content in the form of video has also been considered one of the best ways to create engagement. Other features like Facebook Live, Facebook Stories, and Facebook Watch are also effective.
3. Twitter
Number 3. Twitter. With almost 400 million users, Twitter relies on short, to-the-point content. For B2B marketers, this allows them to jump right into any industry conversation, sparking the interest of potential B2B buyers.
An estimated 67% of consumers use social media platforms like Twitter to solve problems when resolving issues. Twitter is the place to be to stay in the loop on all the most current industry news, trends, and memes (which can also be a very effective form of marketing - don't knock it till you try it),
As a brand, Twitter allows you to answer industry questions, product concerns, etc., directly. Anytime a brand interacts with consumers directly, the brand gains more and more trust from consumers, leading to increased brand loyalty and customer retention.
Humanize your brand. Twitter is a laid-back platform, have some fun! Show a little personality! Use Twitter to voice your uniqueness. By making your brand personable, you will surely stand out from your robotic competitors.
4. YouTube
Number 4. YouTube. YouTube has long been known as the long-form video juggernaut of social media. As some of this market share has slipped in recent years, the relevancy of video form content has drastically risen. Consumers are starting to develop a blind spot for the line after line wording of long-form posts and need that attention-grabbing video to stop them from their scroll.
With over 2 billion monthly logged-on users, consumers are always searching for new content to dive into. This platform is prevalent amongst B2B marketers, with 87% of video marketers saying it was an effective channel for them.
Vlogs are a popular form of content utilized by marketers on YouTube. These vlogs can also be repurposed into many shorter social media clips to post on other platforms. This goes along the same for podcasts. Have a good quote about a relevant topic? Trim out that 30 seconds clip, add some long-form text, and post it on Facebook, Instagram, etc.
Other forms of content include "How-To" videos, tips and tricks, product demonstrations, brand stories, location tours, etc. Demos are a great way to raise comfortability and quality testing of your product.
5. Instagram
Number 5. Instagram. Another social media powerhouse, Instagram, currently has over 200 million users that visit at least one business page per day.
Instagram users go to the platform expecting highly visual, appealing to the eye content. The best performing content methods include clean infographics, quality photos (could be a product), and creative video.
Created as a photography platform, the app has evolved miles and now offers Instagram Live, Stories, and Reels. Instagram Reels were born as an answer for the surging platform TikTok and offers extraordinary organic reach for marketers. With an effective, viral Reels video, you could potentially hit it big with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of views.
Another effective Instagram strategy is the utilization of user-generated content. If a consumer tags you in a post, share it! Free advertising! The state of the platform now does not offer as wide of an organic reach as it once did, but the Instagram algorithm favors its new features like Stories, Reels, and Photo Carousel.
Keep followers involved with engaging captions, giveaways, interactive stories, polls, questions, and hashtags. Posts like this will increase brand engagement and shows off a little bit of your creativity!
Thank you for making it this far; I hope this helps! Please reach out to me with any questions via contact form or info@murraymarketingservices.com.
If you found this interesting or helpful, don't forget to share! Cheers!
- Nathan
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