How Does Social Media Fit into Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy?
If there’s one constant in the world of social media, it’s that social media is constantly changing. Strategies have adjusted so much during the unprecedented times we’ve lived through recently that it has left a lot of digital marketers behind, using game plans that might have worked a few years ago but that are now out-of-date.
It’s a good time to sit back, reexamine what makes a business-to-business content marketing strategy successful, and see if we can’t tighten up our plan here a little bit.
Tune into the Right Channel
In order to amplify your message, do your research to find out how strong it is in the first place. Monitor your social media analytics regularly to be sure your posts are reaching the audience you are intending. You might be surprised to see that some of your most creative, time-intensive social media efforts are dying on the vine. Why does this happen?
The algorithms that govern social media posts frequently adapt to trends and pressures in their own industry. A good content marketer has to keep abreast with these changes and be able to make pivots when necessary.
In order to protect its own brand, Instagram made an sdjustment to deprioritize all posts that include a TikTok watermark. Similarly, Facebook has started to suppress posts with links in them. So, a cross-promotion from platform to platform might not reach your intended audience, no matter how good it looks on paper.
Each social media platform your content lives on is slightly different — with its own demands, preferences, and audiences — and they want to keep it that way. To amplify your content, you need to keep the platform’s needs in mind and strategize each post for its intended channel.
This takes time and effort. It’s easier to produce a single static image and plaster it across seven different social media channels with the same hashtags you’re used to using, but your company’s signal will be weak and likely to get drowned out in the noise. The reality is that social media channels are competing for product differentiation themselves, and you want your strategy to capitalize off of that rather than be defeated by it.
Your Audience is Telling You How You’re Doing — Are You Listening?
The ultimate goal of your digital content marketing hasn’t changed — you’re still trying to make the sale, right? You’re proud of your business, you want your buyer to find you online, click through your post to learn more, and finally make a purchase and become a customer.
But how often does it happen just like that?
It’s rare. And businesses that chase this goal end up creating a one-sided conversation that sometimes comes across like company propaganda.
Your audience is telling you what they think of your message, so be sure you are listening. Understand their needs on a deeper level by analyzing the data you have at your disposal. Your social media feeds are a wealth of statistics about which posts are hitting their marks and which are not. Analyzing this data will tell you if your content is on the right channel for the audience you are targeting, if your messaging is appropriate, and if you are offering solutions to their problems.
Analyze all the related information that tells you about your buyers’ emotions and thus influences your content writing, email marketing, and corporate blogging. This data comes from focus groups, customer surveys, product reviews, sales reports, and online reviews. It’s also helpful to track your competitors’ messaging. How successful are they at reaching their ideal audience, and how are they doing it?
Use your social media strategy to gather and analyze information about your buyers and the challenges they face daily. Communicate with them about these challenges and let them know your business can help. This way, it’s not centered around a product or a service, it’s about the pain points that are holding them back from being as successful as they can be. It’s all about them.
Once you really understand your audience, you are ready to build trust with them. This is where thought leaders step in to communicate with your audience in ways that validate their needs and offer solutions. Thought leaders are experts in their fields who have the authority to engender faith in your buyers and the writing skills to communicate your message to them through social media or corporate blogging.
Building a Community with Your Social Media
Do you spend time with your buyers? Do you reach out to them? See them face to face?
Did you know that 71% say they'd like to hear from their sellers early in the buying process and that 82% of them would be happy to meet you if you asked them to?
Rather than investing your time trying to find an ingenious social media campaign that will make your brand stand out, why not put that time into talking to some potential buyers and recently satisfied buyers and let them direct you in your next content campaign?
This is a business-to-business game, but remember that you’re all human beings who just want to be successful. And you’re all tired, overworked, and could probably use a laugh. When you start thinking about their needs and their journey, and you take the attention away from just what your business can do, you are developing an audience-first strategy.
Audience-first strategies build trust and authenticity with your audience and can help you grow a community around your company. Testimonials from satisfied customers are wonderful ways to keep this conversation going. Your clients will love the ability to share their stories, and you can both attract new business together.
At Comma, we know how to find your audience, tune in a clear signal, and broadcast your message, so it sounds just right. We have talented content writers and social media experts who know how to build trust with your buyers and keep them engaged with every post. Schedule a free consultation to learn how our team of writers can help.
