Marketing effectively online requires the constant assessment and refinement of your marketing strategies, particularly for B2B clients. Without a solid social media strategy, your business will miss out on valuable touchpoints for your customer journey. Often, many B2B companies are unsure of which social media platforms make the most sense for their marketing plans. Even more often, they ask if Facebook is actually an effective platform for B2B marketing. However, Facebook is actually a cornerstone for B2B content marketing; you just may need to use it a little differently.
What Is B2B Content Marketing?
B2B content marketing is the process of developing and delivering content with the goal of increasing brand recognition, traffic, sales prospects, and revenue for businesses that sell to other businesses. B2B content marketing includes writing blogs, recording podcasts, sending email newsletters, and publishing eBooks and infographics, among other things. Social media strategy is a big part of any content marketing plan. The catch is understanding how B2B social media strategy will need to differ from a B2C company.
How B2B Differs From B2C Content Marketing
A B2B marketing strategy will differ from B2C marketing in several ways:
Each has unique goals.
B2C content marketing tends to be more emotional than B2B. Its marketing efforts are geared towards building trust and creating meaningful customer relationships. B2B organizations are typically more focused on lead generation and selecting products and/or services that provide clear value.
Their target audiences are different.
The target audience for B2B organizations is typically specific decision-makers within a company. This makes it easier to define their challenges, priorities, and concerns than B2C customers who encompass a multitude of buyer personas within a particular niche.
Their customers have different motivations.
B2B and B2C customers are each motivated by very different needs and problems. B2C customers generally have greater needs than B2B based on self-esteem and community influences. B2B customers tend to look at how purchases will fulfill their organization’s unique needs. They want to know how it will help them save money or generate revenue long-term.
Their sales cycles aren't the same.
B2B sales cycles are generally longer than B2C sales cycles. This is because they have more stakeholders involved in making buying decisions about costlier products and/or services. This makes good content marketing initiatives critical to help move potential customers through the buyer’s journey at a steady pace.
They each use different sets of social channels.
B2C organizations tend to utilize more video marketing than B2B, making platforms like YouTube and TikTok ideal. B2B organizations publish more white papers, infographics, blog posts, and eBooks, making platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn a better choice. Which platforms you select ultimately depends on your target audience, their age(s), gender, hobbies, income, and other factors.
How B2B Content Marketing Uses Social Media
B2B social advertising is the practice of selling services or products to business clients via social media platforms. B2C marketing managers utilize social media to connect with consumers who are making personal buying decisions.
In order to engage corporate decision-makers, B2B marketing teams must think tactically. Campaigns should be designed to reach executives and clearly state how your organization can help theirs. Potential clients should be able to quickly and easily extract actionable advice from your content. B2B builds trust and connection through content that delivers value and authority. And this is what will prompt your target client to reach out to you.
Benefits Of Using Social Media in Your B2B Marketing
Social media use just continues to grow. More companies are creating their own social channels and carving out a brand persona that their customers can engage with. Being present on social media and having meaningful conversations with businesses and their clients can help your organization better meet your customer’s needs. Ultimately, even for B2B, not having a clear, well-executed social media presence is now an indicator that a company may not be as proficient or established.
How Facebook Is Used for B2B Content Marketing
Facebook arguably has one of the best platforms for B2B content marketing due to its ability to offer unmatched granularity when it comes to running targeted marketing campaigns. B2B organizations actually use Facebook more than B2C companies.
Facebook's Overall Reach
How to Leverage Facebook Creatively for B2B Marketing
With the unique goals of a B2B company in mind, it’s always a good idea to consider getting more creative in your Facebook use. Instead of marketing products or services, use Facebook and other social channels to advertise events and high-quality, engaging content like vlogs, podcasts, and other valuable additions to the customer’s journey. Facebook allows for longer posts than platforms like Twitter, so take advantage of the extra space to write compelling content. Focus on adding value and strategically building up your customer journey.
Buyer Personas Inform Your Social Media Strategy
Ideally, your organization will be able to map your B2B customer’s journey and outline their buyer personas to inform your social media strategy. You can use this data to determine what social platforms are used by business purchase makers so you can meet them where they are with engaging, solution-oriented social advertisements.
You’ll want to look at all facets of corporate social media marketing to determine where you should funnel your company’s efforts for maximum results. For example, if your competitors get poor results with infographics but get more clicks on their podcast posts, you may want to consider recording and promoting podcasts instead of wasting company time and effort on content campaigns that are proven to be less effective.
You Can Almost Always Use Facebook
When it comes down to it, Facebook can be a valuable tool in content marketing for B2B companies. However, that doesn’t make it the end-all or even mean there is a one-size-fits-all approach to using it effectively. Your branding, buyer personas, and overall content strategy are going to affect how and if you’ll use Facebook in your social media plan.