B2B Social Engagement Is About Lead Nurturing
Categorized in: B2B Digital Marketing, Social Media
Social media is different for every business and there is no one size fits all strategy. For B2B companies, social media is all about lead nurturing, and it will serve a similar purpose as email marketing does. Since the sales cycle is fairly long for most B2B companies, your goal should be to not only get people to come to your website at every stage of the cycle, but to also give them reasons to come back. This is where social media comes in. That’s why you can’t look at social media for B2B the same way as you would for B2C businesses. It’s impossible to measure social media success the same way for each.
Differences Between B2B and B2C Social Media
There are some major differences in the social media campaigns needed for B2B and B2C companies. With B2C, ROI is often easier to measure. For example, with B2C the main goal may be to convert a social media post post about a sale into tangible sales. Since that was the intent of the post, you can easily measure the ROI of the campaign. However, sales cycles with B2B companies tend to be much longer. A B2B typically wouldn’t use social media as a way to push coupons, advertise deals, or hold contests because that isn’t the nature of their business. The strategy needs to be much different because the goal here is to nurture the leads effectively through the sales cycle while also keeping them engaged with your brand.
B2B Sales Cycles is Much Longer
Often, when B2B’s look at the social media accounts of their B2C counterparts, they become frustrated. To them, it looks as if B2C companies are able to make rapid progress because social media participation is often converted into quick sales. However, it’s wrong to compare the two because goals tend to be completely different. No doubt, B2B companies would certainly be happy if leads were to convert that quickly. However, this isn’t often realistic because the B2B sales cycle is much longer than with B2C companies. While the length of the sales cycle tends to differ depending on the company, it could often take months or even years to convert someone into a paying customer. Social media is a tool that you can use to keep people close to your company as they move through the stages of the sales cycle. That way, when they are about to make a buying decision, your company will be the first one they think of.
Content is Key for B2B Social Media
A big piece of a B2B social media strategy is to share and promote content with fans and followers. However, it isn’t enough to simply post content and share it. You can take this strategy a step further and develop content for every stage of the sales cycle. That way, whenever your potential customer has a question, need, or concern, your content will address whatever is on their mind. By regularly sharing your content on social media, this helps nurture them through the sales cycle. They may not be ready to make a buying decision right away, but as long as you can keep them engaged, you will be there for them when they’re ready. It isn’t enough to simply share posts on your social media accounts. Content is a vital part of the strategy because you need to give people something to look forward to.
Even though social media is a long term process for B2Bs, a B2B social media strategy is well worth it. It’s one more way to get the word out there and prove that you are better than the competition. Nurturing leads and establishing relationships for the long term is an essential part of B2B marketing, and using social media is a great way to do so.
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