Within the B2B marketing world, social media has become increasingly popular as a way of connecting and engaging with prospects and customers. And in 2017, it’s going to be crucial for every B2B company to maintain some type of digital presence on social media for the following reasons:
#1: Social media adoption shows no signs of slowing
At one point, it looked like social media was going to hit some kind of wall as Facebook and Twitter matured. But, if anything, the pace of growth and innovation has been picked up by the likes of Instagram and Snapchat – and that has forced companies to double-down on their social media strategies.
As a result, the number of social media users increased by 10 percent in 2016, an increase of 219 million users. And the number of social media users using mobile increased an even more impressive 17 percent last year.
#2: Social media marketing spend will increase by 20.9% this year
If you’re not spending on social media, your rivals are. The latest statistics predict that total social media marketing spend will increase at a rate of 20.9 percent in 2017. Already, social media accounts for just over one-tenth of total marketing spend.
#3: Social media is being used as part of content marketing initiatives
One big reason why social media spend is up is because it’s now viewed as critical to the success of content marketing initiatives. At one time, it might have been enough to just host a blog as part of a content marketing strategy – but now it’s expected that brands will also build a presence across social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In a recent report by the Content Marketing Institute, social media was cited as the second-most important form of content for content marketing.
#4: Social media is the best way to share visual content
The #1 trend on the web today is the distribution of highly visual, engaging content, especially video. In many ways, the trend started with photo sharing sites like Instagram, and it has just exploded in popularity. Video is now set to take over the web. For any B2B company, one way to get ahead of this trend is by sharing live video content, whether it’s Q&A sessions, webinars or product demos.
#5: Social media is the best way to improve the customer experience
The talk now is of creating a seamless customer experience that extends across channels, platforms and devices. A customer experience that starts on the laptop needs to be integrated into the mobile experience. And the customer experience that starts on the website or via email needs to be extended to a wider variety of channels. That’s where social media enters the picture – think of it as the “glue” that holds together all of these channels and platforms. And that helps to build a seamless, integrated customer experience.
For these five reasons above, it’s clear that social media has become indispensable for any B2B marketing campaign, especially as a way of connecting and engaging with potential prospects you’re hoping to transform into customers.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.