The Pros and Cons Of Social Media Marketing In B2B

Are you helping or hindering your digital presence with your use of social media? So many companies start out with the best of intentions, but aren’t able to follow through. Read on for some helpful tips as to where to focus your B2B social media marketing efforts.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+….phew! With so many social media platforms available, many B2B leaders are feeling overwhelmed by the number of options for getting their message out. Our B2B marketing team loves investigating new social networks and finding ways to effectively use them; but, we also understand there are only so many hours in the day – and that a company has to figure out how much time to dedicate to social media. Take a look at the infographic below for some great information as to how other B2B companies are using social media.

Evaluating the potential of social media platforms and making strategic decisions about which to use is critical for B2B companies. This is becoming increasingly important as search engines attach greater value to a company’s involvement with social media. However, with limited time and resources available, B2B marketing professionals need to take advantage of tools that help them leverage content across multiple channels.

There are a number of benefits a company can realize in using social media properly. It allows you to communicate with large groups and provide a more personalized feel, making members of your social networks feel more connected with your organization. This enables more accurate targeting, which in turn, is a more effective means of promoting your business. Consider the power of LinkedIn – you can post your corporate updates, press releases, blogs and case studies to industry groups who have self-selected themselves as interested in what you do. What could be better?

Effective social media requires a dedicated resource – if not full time, at least a significant portion of time must be committed to achieve desired results.

But it takes considerable time to establish and maintain a strong social presence. We see too many companies jump into the social media pool without a plan, and without the resources to implement it properly on a sustained basis. As a result, social media efforts fail. Effective social media requires a dedicated resource – if not full time, at least a significant portion of time must be committed to achieve desired results.

In our experience, the order of impact from social media efforts for B2B companies is:

1. LinkedIn (easy to do, growing in usage)
2. Blogs (good for demonstrating thought leadership but takes serious commitment)
3. Twitter (great if one of your team members likes using it; a thorn in the side if not)
4. Google+ (fantastic resource for pushing out content to specific contacts - check out this post for more info on Google+ for B2B)
5. YouTube (powerful for search and explaining complex businesses; videos are much easier and cost-effective to do than they used to be)
6. Facebook (growing in usage – yes, even in B2B, but still a ways off for most B2Bs)

There is no right or wrong way to engage socially, and social media will continue to play an increasingly important role in B2B marketing. The importance of transparency, clarity and being actively engaged will improve your company’s reputation in the eyes of your customers and cause search engines to take notice as well! Having a fully engaged and optimized presence on the web must include social media.

What social media tools do you find most effective?

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Looking for more help to make marketing work in your B2B company?  Get proven tips in PROFITGUIDE’s Special Report on The Radical Sales Shift.

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