It’s fascinating how the fundamentals of business-to-business marketing are the same today as they were 50 years ago. It’s still about relationships, although today we have new tools and techniques at our disposal–David Meerman Scott.
Social media marketing is a no-brainer for most B2C companies. But for B2B, success belongs to those who know how to do it right.
B2B customers increasingly resort to social media to investigate companies and make purchase decisions. So, it is an ever more critical tool in your B2B sales and marketing arsenal.
Below are three companies you can learn from that have “made it” on social media. They all adopt different approaches but apply the same principles that produce desired results.
First of all:
Do You Need Social Media Marketing For Your B2B Company?
Ideally, Yes! If your offering is paid for by people, you need social media marketing.
Statistically, there are over 4.62 billion social media users globally. That presents an excellent opportunity to promote your offerings to a large audience.
Even though you are selling to businesses, remember that people are behind those businesses you need to address. And those people most likely use social media.
3 Great Examples of B2B Social Media Strategies You Can Learn From
We briefly examine the social media strategies of 3 top B2B firms. You can see what they are doing right to apply to your sales and marketing strategy. We shall also focus on the four leading social media platforms for each.
Salesforce
Salesforce is a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System used by thousands of business teams. As you can imagine, there are not many ways to make a CRM look fun.
But with social media marketing, Salesforce manages to bring some life into their rather serious offering.
On Instagram, Salesforce is famous for its little mascots used to convey messages. Along with these are catchy short videos and clips of staff and customers.
These elements are a great motivator for reading the accompanying texts and responding to the content. No wonder they get so much engagement.
Salesforce’s Twitter page is a combination of engaging videos and imagery. Although most of the content is business updates and announcements, the brand attempts to convey them in a more captivating way.
They also frequently post, which is great for brand awareness and recall in the industry.
Salesforce uses Facebook primarily to provide helpful content, especially blog links. Topics vary from help articles to industry insights and employee feedback. Such content helps the platform maintain a sense of community within and outside the firm.
On LinkedIn, Salesforce keeps the audience updated with company activities, industry insights, etc. Even when airing podcasts, they also use video content to maintain audience engagement.
What can you learn from Salesforce?
- Subtle selling
Salesforce has mastered promoting its offerings without doing much direct selling. Since many consumers hate direct selling, it is a great way to promote your product without losing their interest.
An ad for Customer360
- Lively social
Salesforce is proof that an “unexciting” product doesn’t have to mean boring socials. You can always spice things up with captivating graphics and videos to maintain social engagement.
Canva
No surprise here! Canva is an Australian-founded content creation platform. It thrives on the proposition that content creation can be inexpensive and simple.
Canva maintains a solid social media strategy, focusing on communicating its problem-solving software, especially to small businesses.
Canva’s Instagram marketing strategy has been highly successful. With over 1.1m followers on Instagram, they are easily one of the most popular B2B players. And it is hard not to see why.
Canva uses its Instagram page as a visual ad board for its products. They display new features and activities that customers can do with the platform.
This intrigue makes it easier to remember Canva for design needs, especially for the many budding small businesses on the platform. Their imagery and videos spark engagement and increase shareability.
Canva’s Twitter content mainly consists of fun yet informational and educative content. They have a blend of challenges, polls, and fun facts, which is excellent for keeping their design-focused audience engaged.
They also post multiple times a day on the platform to maintain memorability.
Canva boasts a whopping 2 million followers on Facebook. Their content ranges from highly engaging videos to imagery.
Plus, they also utilize their Facebook page to share informative blog content. This knowledge bank helps the audience to make marketing and design decisions.
Canva’s Facebook page also acts as mini customer support where users can get speedy responses to their queries.
Like many businesses in their space, Canva employs a rather laid-back strategy on LinkedIn. They use the platform to champion their causes and make announcements.
Canva also targets its business customers on LinkedIn with related tips, often generating tons of engagement.
What can you learn from Canva?
- Visuals are your friend.
Business or no business, people will always respond to visuals, more so on Instagram. So whether your business creates templates or not, ensure that all your Instagram posts carry life.
- Provide value
Canva doesn’t use its social media as only a social sales tool. They solve problems through valuable content in tips and blog content. This strategy positions the brand as an expert in design and marketing, encouraging product use.
Upwork
As a middleman business model, Upwork’s target audience is both businesses and individuals/freelancers.
Upwork has balanced its communication to appeal to both parties, which is impressive. That is why we have them on this list.
Upwork’s Instagram posts combine tips, quotes, and fun facts in captivating visuals. Even as a business-focused page, Freelancers can find helpful content in an exciting way.
An interesting way they drive engagement is by asking questions. Since the topics are relatable to their target audience, their posts generate many comments and likes.
They also involve their staff and users in their posts. It makes the experience user-focused rather than salesy. So, for a company in an HR-focused niche, they are doing pretty well on a visual-focused platform.
Upwork primarily uses its Twitter page to dispense insights and other valuable content to its audiences. So, you will find a new article link at least every day.
Even with such content, they include images, videos, polls, etc. So, regardless of the customer category, you will find something useful and engaging on the page.
Like with their other platforms, Upwork keeps it lively on Facebook. They post regularly, sharing industry insights, best practices, and tips for freelancers and clients.
Users can also ask questions and make complaints on their Facebook page to receive more timely answers. All these factors could explain the high engagement on the company’s page.
Although Upwork’s LinkedIn posting is quite irregular, users can find valuable insights and tips on the platform.
They throw in some occasional selling to show existing users that they are on the right track and non-users what they are missing out on.
Polls and questions also help them maximize engagement on the platform. Users can always feel like they have a say.
What can you learn from Upwork?
- Words can be interesting.
Simply because you have a less visual product doesn’t mean your posts cannot be attractive. Upwork uses simple graphics with quotes and high-quality images to maintain interest.
- Audience knowledge is critical
Upwork is a solution for multiple groups. Their social media content tries to provide value for each group, which drives usage across the board.
- Seek audience response
Your social media content for B2B should be engageable. Viewers may not have a response to an ad post about your business. But they will more likely respond to a question or a poll. Many of Upwork’s posts with high engagement include one of the two.
Best Practices For Your B2B Company to Adopt Today
B2B companies no longer have the choice to not be on social media. But, if you are going to be effective, you must do it right like these companies listed above.
1. Know your audience
Knowing who you are talking to will make it easier to create the right content for visuals and copy. For example, Upwork has a varied client base. And with their social content, they are able to create a balance and provide value to all groups.
2. Create People-focused posts
Most B2B offerings are abstract systems or services that are tricky to demonstrate. So what can you do? Use people in your posts!
Use more faces in your videos and images than laptops, coffee cups, and buildings. It breeds curiosity, thus encouraging the audience to engage.
3. Choose the right platforms
You do not need to be 100% on every platform out there. Even the biggest companies like these focus on a few channels and often repost to others. Choose your base and grow it. Then expand when you can.
4. Talk to people, and not just at them.
One common factor with all these strategies is that they focus on engaging their audiences and not just putting out sales content.
For example, Upwork runs polls and poses questions, while Canva encourages its followers to participate in different challenges.
5. Stay consistent
Consistency applies to both brand personality on social and posting frequency. Customers should encounter the same experience on every channel. See Upwork.
Furthermore, your audience should hear from you consistently. Depending on the platform, you can post multiple times a day or a few times a week.
Final Thoughts
Social media can be an effective tool for growing and engaging your audience, generating more leads for your business.
The key is to use the right tactics to generate your desired results. Pick a leaf from them to ramp up your own marketing strategy.