Are You Making Your B2B Social Media Audience Feel Bad?

By Stevie Howard:

Social media is huge no matter what industry you’re in, and when it comes to engagement and generating traffic there’s no denying the impact that it can have when connecting your audience to your product or service. But, social media isn’t always as sweet and innocent as one would hope. In what seems like an increasingly divided community, it’s common to see negative and sometimes hurtful posts on outlets such as Facebook and Twitter – and your audience is taking notice.

The Data

The UK-focused research studied how people feel and behave on social media. It found that  75% of respondents confessed that social media, especially Facebook, had a negative impact on their reaction. The same amount agreed to behaving differently on social outlets and felt remorse about past performance. However, the insights don’t stop there.

The truth is, social media in general (not just this bad-guy Facebook) can make people feel awful. An average of 1 out of 3 respondents admitted visiting any social media outlet makes them feel horrible or unhappy. And with only 12% saying that they felt happy, the numbers are anything but encouraging. But, why is this happening?

Social media is meant as a way to stay connected to family and friends, or even with your favorite businesses. Unfortunately, negativity is seeping into those intentions, leaving users to feeling less than uplifted. Additionally, these various outlets are now used as news sources. In fact, 66% of adults get use Facebook as their primary news source. With this in mind, it’s important to understand the difficulty of standing out and rising above as a brand. Luckily, it can be done.

What To Do

In order to differentiate yourself from everything else, you need to focus on three things – be relevant, helpful and recognizable.

Even with B2B social media, you can’t shy away from relevant and recent happenings. Instead, speak up and use them to your advantage. Donate, volunteer and most of all, show that you are supporting others in times of need. Even in the most negative of circumstances, you can easily create posts and a page that centers around being optimistic and positive. This is especially effective when you display action by focusing on what your brand or product does to help in these efforts. Work to create a sense of community and common interest within you social media platforms.

Not all B2B services and businesses have the ability to do something when disaster strikes, but that doesn’t mean you’re a sitting duck. Provide ways your audience can get involved. Help by pointing them in the right direction so that they can work to make a difference. In the midst of the negative, be a hub of positive resources your audience can rely on.

Next, work to be a familiar face in a time of need. Think about the shared interests of your audience and focus on those priorities as a way to establish a sense of connection. After all, social media was meant as a way to connect, whether you are a non-profit or a performance management platform. If you’re not sure how to find a genuine connection, don’t be afraid to reach out to your audience. This is what social media is about, and even a simple “Hope everyone is having a great day!” can go a long way.

We’d be lying if we said social media (especially for B2B) didn’t have its ups and downs. But, that doesn’t mean that those issues should be an obstacle to your success. There is potential to better engage with your audience and followers. This is just one slice in the big pie of ways to take your B2B social media to the next level.

The Branchers

We build the best damn marketing campaigns on the planet. And we do it for industries and companies you might not identify as easy to market (right away). Working here takes a very special kind of person.