As technology continues to expand and influence our daily lives, social media has become an integral part of strategy for business-to-business marketing. A strong social media strategy can help an organization build a strong brand, establish itself as a thought leader in the industry, increase SEO rankings and ultimately, generate leads. But, with all the choices out there, it can be tricky to determine which social media platforms are the best for marketing your organization.
Here are a few of the top social media channels for business-to-business marketers:
LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is well-known for being a business-oriented social networking service. As a business-to-business marketer, this means your customers and prospects are on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has more than 360 million users in more than 200 countries and territories, providing a platform for business professionals to:
- Create relationships with other professionals, industry thought leaders and prospects
- Promote thought leadership content by posting blogs, articles, etc.
- Gain industry insight and join discussions with like-minded professionals via LinkedIn groups
- Display ads to specific members (based on industry, location, skills and more) with targeted advertisements
Facebook:
Facebook is the most well-known social media channel with 1.44 billion monthly users, and that alone makes it a top platform for B2B marketers. Facebook enables B2B marketers to:
- Introduce followers to your brand, products, services and company culture
- Break from the serious sales pitch and make more informal connections to audiences via images, videos and other interactive posts
- Construct advertisements specifically targeted toward audiences (based on location, demographics, behaviors, connections and more)
- Track results and plan for future campaigns with the Ad Manager
Twitter:
With 302 million monthly users, Twitter provides a large audience for B2B marketers. Twitter is very different from other social media channels due to the 140 character limit for each Tweet. However, this just means you have to be more creative with your writing and content strategy. Twitter provides a means to:
- Give your brand personality and engage in a conversational way
- Interact with followers and influencers, share insights and even learn about your competitors
- Refine your audience with hashtags (#) and Twitter Chats
- Create lists, which help move group tweets of similar industries or topics into a separate, more refined timeline
- Communicate directly with members of the media
- Receive the latest up-to-date news with a quick scroll through your timeline
YouTube:
YouTube is a great platform for organizations to share thought leadership, product demonstrations and short advertisements/commercials. As the internet’s second largest search engine, there are over four billion video views on YouTube every day. YouTube allows a B2B marketer to:
- Put a human face to your company or organization
- Embed and share videos easily on almost all other social networks
- Monitor the performance of your channel with metrics and reports
- Keep followers updated with new video content via subscriptions
Google+:
Google+ is a social media channel that often receives mixed reviews. It’s a very significant network, as it has more than 300 million monthly users, but many businesses still do not use it as frequently as the social platforms mentioned above. There are some marketers who absolutely love Google+, and others who believe it only reached its current size because it’s attached to the Google name. Google+ permits a user to:
- Make connections with industry leaders, other professionals and potential clients
- Increase the visibility of their published content in Google searches
- Add other people and businesses to your circles or communities, allowing you to share and receive the right content from the right people
The above social media channels are just five of the many platforms that could be very helpful to a B2B marketer. Each channel requires different preparation and content and in order to be successful, you need a strong social media strategy.
Are there any social media channels you think should be added to this list? Let us know in the comments!