When it comes to B2B social media marketing, there are some things that every company seems to do – they set up a Facebook page, they connect with business decision-makers on LinkedIn, and they send out regular tweets about what’s happening at their business. But in order to stand out from the crowd, you have to think outside of the box and do what nobody else is doing.
Explore new social media platforms
If everybody else is on Facebook and LinkedIn, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. That’s not to say that you won’t generate a fair share of leads if you’re on Facebook and LinkedIn, but what about new emerging platforms that have not been fully embraced by B2B marketers, like Instagram and Snapchat?
Find new ways of using the most popular social media platforms
OK, everybody sends out regular status updates on Facebook, but how many B2B marketers take advantage of the ability to set up promotional contests on Facebook? How many B2B marketers are taking advantage of the Facebook Live feature, which enables you to conduct live broadcasts via Facebook?
That same type of creative thinking can be applied to just about any social platform. Take Twitter, for example. Instead of just treating Twitter like a PR platform, where you blast tweets off into the ether, you could be using Twitter to connect with potential buyers. One idea that you can borrow from other marketers is host an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) chat, where you have one of the members of your marketing or sales team answer questions via Twitter as a way of boosting engagement.
Optimize social platforms for B2B sales
There are plenty of businesses – usually smaller retail businesses like restaurants, bakeries and cafes – that don’t even have a true website. Instead, they’ll use Facebook as a driver of all their business. You can adapt this same thinking to drive B2B sales. There are lots of ways you can do this, starting by having a very clear call-to-action on your Facebook page. Make it very clear where buyers can purchase your products. You can also create photo galleries of your product offerings, since it’s now a well-known fact that photos and videos perform better on Facebook than pure text updates.
Focus on getting the right content at the right time
Putting all this together, social media marketing experts at Falcon.io have described a four-step process – DISCOVER, ATTRACT, ENGAGE and CONNECT – that explains exactly how to create a winning social media presence. It all comes down to having the right content at the right time, so that potential buyers can take the right action.
Think of exploring new social media platforms as the DISCOVER part of finding new leads and prospects where other companies are not yet looking. Think of using popular social media platforms in new ways as a way to ATTRACT and ENGAGE potential buyers. And, finally, think of optimizing Facebook (or any other social network) for sales as a way to CONNECT with buyers with just the right offer delivered at just the right time. If you’re following this DISCOVER, ATTRACT, ENGAGE and CONNECT process, then you’ll be well on your way to getting more leads and driving more B2B sales.
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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.