Social media can be a cost-effective way for businesses to build brand advocacy, engage with customers, provide customer service, and generate leads. But with a plethora of channels to choose from and myriad ways of posting content, it can be hard to know where to start. According to LinkedIn, 75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level executives factor social media into purchasing decisions, so it’s worth putting the time in to developing a social media strategy that works.
Written by Louise Watson-Dowell, PR & Digital Strategy Director at specialist B2B PR, social media, SEO and content agency, Definition, Louise has 10 years’ experience working with national and global brands to hone their content strategies and generate them the recognition they deserve. Here are several ways you can supercharge your business with social media marketing.
Know your limits
The first step for business owners is to understand how much time they have to dedicate to social media marketing. Founders and CEOs are time-poor, with many hats to wear, and when it comes to social media there is little point having a presence a platform without the means to actively manage it. It’s important to make sure there can be someone dedicated to keeping channels running on a day to day basis.
They’ll also need to decide how to distribute their resources across all the platforms they want their business to be on, or which single platform would be most appropriate to invest in, where resource is limited.
Identify the opportunity
Secondly, its essential find the right platform(s). Unfortunately there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for social media success. Each channel has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the objective.
Check out the key demographics that use each platform – for B2B LinkedIn is the go to, but that doesn’t stop B2B success on other networks. Options for B2C are wide open, with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok offering different experiences and content formats.
Start at the end
Next, businesses should consider their goals. Many businesses set KPIs like generating leads, building advocacy, boosting engagement, educating potential customers, or reaching new customers. Social media marketing is a means to a specific end, and the more clearly a business can define this, the better results it will have.
Start with an objective, for example “Increase awareness of service offering” then apply the SMART framework:
- Specific. Clearly stated and simplified
- Measurable. One or more metrics can easily be applied
- Achievable. Possible within your current resource scope
- Realistic. Don’t shoot to high or too low
- Timely. Define your timeframe
Apply metrics to measure your success, like “Generate a 30% increase in impressions from LinkedIn over three months.”
Creating great content
Achieving business goals on social relies on sharing great content.
Potential and existing customers are looking to businesses to help make their lives easier, often using social media channels like search engines to find solutions to their problems. Businesses that create content with this in mind won’t go far wrong. That can include everything from case studies to data, thought leadership, reports, guides, or relatable content tapping into how the audience feels or wants to feel.
For anyone suffering from a creative block there are some fantastic free tools to understand what audiences are searching for:
Features on the Google results page. ‘People also ask’ and ‘Related searches’ can be a goldmine of relevant information to inspire content creation.
Answer the Public presents search results in a different way making it easy to visually identify topics social media content could address.
HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator. Input a noun into this tool - a product or service your company offers - and it will spit out a selection of free content topic suggestions.
Don’t be afraid to try new things
By now everyone has heard about the potential of TikTok. There’s no hiding with this platform as it requires users to make video content to succeed, which can be out of a lot of business’s comfort zones, but the potential rewards are huge, even for B2B.
TikTok is Generation Z’s go to search platform, where they look for everything from make up tutorials to interview advice to dinner recipes. There is room for everyone here so it’s best for businesses to get creative, tap into trends and give it a go.
