B2B brands are changing their way in social media marketing, but how?

The channel from which customers receive information and make a purchase have been greatly transformed in the last decade, pushing B2B companies to rethink their digital marketing strategies. And the pursuit of marketing ROI by brands has also led to the innovation of digital marketing tools. With such a major market transformation, the B2B industry, which is often characterized by steady moves and gradual growth, has been facing a new challenge – they now have to adapt to a fast-changing and ever-evolving communication and marketing environment.

Why do B2B brands go social?

In this era which we witness significant B2B social media development, companies face their most severe survival test. They won’t spend an extra penny on marketing without tangible results.

Most B2B companies have two primary objectives when using social media: to enhance brand awareness and acquire sales leads.

The objectives to leverage social media channels to acquire leads and convert them into sales come naturally for every business. However, the profitability and revenue models of current social media channels remain unclear.

Social media marketing dances on a tightrope: one foot reaching out to guide sales toward customers, while the other strategically treads the intricate threads of the industry matrix. Currently, social media platforms primarily contribute to brand promotion rather than directly driving business conversions, and they have not yet reached the level of directly obtaining sales leads.

What is the core in B2B social media marketing?

In the dynamic landscape of social media, content creation emerges as the cornerstone of strategic prowess.

For businesses, the twin objectives of content strategy remain: to elevate brand awareness and cultivate meaningful interactions. Yet, the true goldmine lies in content quality. Imagine it as a boardroom strategy session: algorithms and platform mechanism matter, but without compelling content, even the most finely tuned marketing machinery stops to work. Just as in sales, where conversions hinge on customer satisfaction, social media success pivots on delivering value that resonates with the audience.

Which content is most likely to attract attention and perform well in terms of data?

Most B2B brands marketers indicate that the two types of most engaging content for their audiences are

• those aligned to current social topics, and frontier industry news,
• and those addressing customer pain points and needs.

While hot social topics may be hard to predict, following the popular topics that resonate across domestic and international industries is a mandatory course for marketers. Leveraging marketing tools such as social media management platforms not only allows swift tracking of industry buzzwords but also provides insights into high-impact topics along the entire industry. These insights serve as inspiration for creating more engaging content.

Moreover, unearthing customer pain points and needs is a critical focus for many social media professionals. Given their limited direct interaction with customers, these social media marketers are increasingly provided with time and space by B2B companies to be close to their customers. The goal? To delve into their target customers’ work habits, reading preferences, and product usage patterns, gaining deeper insights into what truly drives customer thinking and desires.

Produce the content they desire

In many situations, the social media marketer for B2B brands do not live and work in the same environment as the brands’ customers. Consequently, understanding the lifestyles, product usage patterns, reading preferences, and preferred content formats of the actual customers and decision-makers on their customer’s side can be quite challenging for B2B social media marketers.

Apart from getting closer to the brand’s true customers, getting other relevant internal stakeholders on board are equally important. Given that they are significant participants in the entire market, they can interpret market trends from different perspectives.

Valuable content sources can include industry websites, public forums, technical seminars attended by the engineering or research staff, and insights from recent customer communications from the sales team.