As many B2B brands are finding out, having a social media strategy means more than just posting daily content on Facebook and buying a few ads on LinkedIn to stay in front of prospective buyers. The social media space continues to evolve, and here are a few important trends to monitor.
Trend #1: From thought leadership to customer service
Typically, “customer service” has been thought of as unique to the B2C, not B2B, space. But the theme of customer service is starting to resonate more and more with B2B marketers, who see it as a way to differentiate themselves from the crowd. B2B companies now like to think of themselves as “customer-centric.”
And that means there’s less of an emphasis on thought leadership (i.e. white papers, e-books, and case studies), and more of an emphasis on answering customer questions and solving customer problems. For some B2B brands, that means turning the Twitter feed into a way of having a real conversation with customers. For others, it means embracing new innovations – like the current wave of Facebook chatbots – as a way of conversing with customers.
Trend #2: From YouTube to live video streams
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of live streaming video as a way of connecting with customers. Nearly every major social media platform seems to have a live streaming component, and so it’s important to consider how that is changing the face of social video.
For example, the traditional way that companies have embraced video was via YouTube. It meant creating a brief two-minute “sizzle reel” of their accomplishments, creating brief “How To” videos to guide customers in solving certain problems, or posting video clips from recent events.
But the “live” part of live streaming is changing the game. It means that live interviews, live Q&As and live customer testimonials are now possible. For example, instead of making a video about “5 common problems facing customers,” a B2B company could record a live Q&A session, where representatives field questions from a live audience.
Trend #3: From rigid content calendars to real-time conversations
In the past, B2B marketers may have been able to get away with posting content according to a rigid calendar. This made it easier to get the proper sign-offs from corporate leadership, but it also meant that companies had a harder time adjusting to current trends.
Thus, what’s happening more and more is that B2B brands are now injecting themselves into real-time conversations. In some cases, they are using hashtags to find appropriate conversations to have customers and prospects, and in other cases, they are creating content designed in response to breaking news or developing stories via Instagram Stories or Twitter Moments.
The combination of these three trends has changed the way B2B marketers roll out social media campaigns. And it has also boosted the type of engagement that they can have with prospects as well as how and why they use social media for lead generation. Live, real-time content that has been tailored to the specific needs of customers is always going to go over well with potential buyers.
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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.