How to build a B2B social strategy (that isn’t boring)

In fact, recent statistics note that social advertising is practiced by a staggering 83% of B2B marketers and is second only to search engines in terms of success.

From nurturing customers to flexing your industry influence, the social space has a ton to offer B2B brands.

But there’s no denying that B2B social media marketing is tricky. This is especially true if you’re dealing with what may seem like a “boring” or technical product.

That’s why we put together this step-by-step guide to help B2B brands come up with a social strategy that aligns with their business’ key objectives.

Spell out goals for B2B social media marketing

Businesses of all shapes and sizes should focus on setting goals, but doing so is especially important for B2B companies.

After all, competition is fierce and there are so many marketing channels to work with. But you shouldn’t be on social media “just because.”

Also consider that a B2B social media strategy is apples and oranges versus retail or ecommerce. Rather than focus on selling, most B2B companies use social as a top-of-the-funnel marketing channel, specifically for content promotion and awareness.

Based on recent research breaking down the most-cited benefits of B2B content marketing, marketers should prioritize the following:

1. Creating brand awareness (86%)
2. Educating audiences (79%)
3. Building credibility and trust (75%)

Now, let’s look at how B2B social media marketing can be used to address each goal.

Creating brand awareness

First thing’s first: you need to let the world know who you are.

Again, there are plenty of voices in the B2B space. It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.

Businesses need to spell out exactly who they are, what sets them apart from competitors and what they value as a company. Social media is the perfect place to make it happen, providing a place to promote bite-sized pieces of content that highlight all of the above.

Educating audiences

Fact: the B2B buyer’s journey involves more than just visiting a website or checking out a pricing page. An overwhelming number of B2B buyers do independent research and want to ensure that the companies they support are credible.

Perhaps the best way to cement your credibility is through teaching your audience. From blog posts and e-books to firsthand reports and how-to videos, any B2B social marketing strategy should center around actionable, educational content.

Building trust

With so much competition among B2B brands, anything you can do to build trust and prove your business’s worth is a plus.

Testimonials, positive reviews and accolades (think: awards, customer milestones) are all ideal for sharing and can do exactly that. There’s arguably no better place to both gather and promote social proof than, well, social media.

Adopt a customer-centric B2B social strategy

We often hear about the need for brands to be more “human.”

B2B companies are no exception. That’s why you need to put your customers front-and-center throughout your social campaigns.

No matter how technical or niche your product might be, customer engagement can immediately make your brand feel more personable.

For example, consider how Twitter has become a staple of customer service for SaaS marketing. Serving as a timelier alternative to email, social media is a transparent place to go back-and-forth with your customers about questions, compliments and feedback.

Providing positive, proactive customer service not only puts you in your buyers’ good graces but also showcases to prospective customers that you care.

Beyond customer care, consider integrating customer stories as part of your content strategy. Remember what we said earlier about promoting testimonials and positive reviews? Sharing them creates a sense of loyalty among your customer base. Doing so also lets you promote your services without being too in-your-face or salesy about it.

The takeaway here is that customer interactions should be central to your strategy, both in terms of providing service and also producing content. Pay close attention to any and all @mentions and branded keywords to ensure you never miss an opportunity to go engage with a customer.

Align your B2B social media strategy with business initiatives

This point is worth reiterating.

An oft-cited perception of B2B social media is that there’s little to no ROI.

Why, though? Because many marketers either fail to tie their social media to performance to organization-wide data (think: sales, traffic) or fail to communicate those results across departments.

However, social media is a prime place to support company-wide initiatives. From product launches to PR and beyond, it’s crucial to touch base with folks outside of marketing and provide some much-needed context to your campaigns.

Below is an example of how to use Sprout’s custom reporting to not only measure social media engagement for a product launch but also tell the story behind it to stakeholders.

The takeaway here is twofold: measure your social efforts in the context of business outcomes and communicate those findings regularly. Reporting tools like Sprout can make the process so much easier.

Overcome the “boring” B2B content label

Okay, this is the big one.

Sure, terms like “software,” “security” or “finance” might not get people jumping out of their seats.

That said, your prospects will have an inherent interest in your service even if you’re not exactly in a thrilling industry.

Making your social presence less snooze-worthy can be a challenge, but it’s definitely not impossible. Below are some tactics to consider for your B2B social media strategy that can help:

Refine your brand voice

No surprises here: don’t talk like a robot.

A conversational brand voice can highlight the humans behind your social accounts and likewise make you seem more approachable. Despite popular belief, a “professional” voice doesn’t have to be stuffy or rigid.