Social media is no longer just a B2C marketing phenomenon. Over the past 18 months, B2B companies have begun to discover the real value of starting conversations on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The goal, of course, is to transform those online conversations into sales at some later date. Here are 4 ways that B2B marketers can leverage social media to get more leads and boost their conversions.
Connect with a new customer base
The numbers for social media are quite impressive. Facebook has more than 1 billion monthly active users. Even LinkedIn – which most people only think of for its job search functionality – has 360 million monthly active users. And those aren’t even the fastest growing social platforms – the place where the real action is happening are social networks like Instagram and Snapchat. As a result, it just makes sense to go where your customers and prospects are hanging out. That means leveraging social media for potential leads.
Get real-time market intelligence
You can think of social media as a way of tracking the types of conversations that your customers are having about your brand, products or services online. On social platforms like Facebook or Twitter, customers don’t hold back – they let you know exactly what they like, and what they don’t. All of that is valuable information as you go about crafting new marketing messages and developing new marketing campaigns. You’ll see which messages resonate, and why.
And you can go beyond just monitoring and tracking by actually engaging with these prospects, fans, and customers. In some cases, you might discover new brand advocates or potential new brand ambassadors. And, of course, you’ll get insights into what your competitors are doing and how prospects are using their products.
Boost search engine results
Google now includes content from social media in its search results, and that makes it imperative that people are talking about you on social media. In essence, you’re getting a search engine boost if people are mentioning you and linking to your website. That’s extra traffic for your website, all generated from tweets, Instagram photos and blog posts on LinkedIn.
Help B2B buyers self-educate
There’s so much data and information available on the web these days that it’s increasingly possible for B2B buyers to “self-educate,” simply by watching a YouTube video or reading a detailed blog post. And, more importantly, many B2B buyers would rather self-educate, rather than calling up and asking up for an official sales presentation. That’s why so many B2B companies are now taking some of the material they might have just used in their marketing brochures and other marketing collateral and putting it up on social media.
So, social media is about more than just “being social” – it’s about delivering real business value. You’ll generate more leads, create more buzz and awareness around your products, and get real-time market intelligence about what people are saying about you online.
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.