#WerkBranch: How We Make the Big 3 Social Channels Work for B2B

As a B2B marketer, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out which social media platforms work best. Social media is the number one content marketing tactic used by B2B marketers, and with new social media networks popping up, choosing the right ones can seem scary. Newsflash, not every social media platform is meant for every business. This can lead to a tendency to overextend your brand on too many networks.

Trying to have a presence on too many social media networks can stretch the resources of your marketing team. It can also prevent you from having a meaningful social media presence and a decline in effectiveness. B2B marketers need to conduct a social media audit to find out which social media presence works best for their business. It is better to have a solid social media presence on a few networks, instead of a weak presence on many.

A problem for many B2B businesses is knowing how often to post on their social media accounts and what content to post. The overall goal is to be seen by the right people. How can you post often enough to remain relevant but not so often that you get blocked or unfriended?

Also, social media has proven to be an extremely effective way for companies to communicate with their buyers. Buyers with large budgets are more likely to use social media. 56% of buyers use LinkedIn when they are searching for potential suppliers.

LinkedIn

The most important social media network to have for a B2B business is LinkedIn. The greatest benefit of LinkedIn is its ability to make contacts and build relationships professionally.

It is important to note a B2B shouldn’t over-post content on LinkedIn. The leading thought is 20 posts per month (about 1 post per weekday). Make sure to make the content count. The key to a successful presence on LinkedIn is providing valuable support and information to your connections and LinkedIn Groups.

LinkedIn Groups offer an exceptional opportunity to reach out to the people that your business wants to talk to the most. Joining a group gives you the exact right context and setting to engage in focused dialogue and networking. LinkedIn is not just an online resume anymore. It’s a place to find content and engage in discussion.

The best networking happens in the context of comments and status engagement. It allows businesses to have professional conversations, experience rapid membership growth through conversations and develop a focused member base.

On LinkedIn businesses can introduce themselves, showcase their content and boost traffic back to their website. This social media platform allows businesses to find out most everything on a professional level about a target prospect.

Facebook

Of all the social networking platforms, none of them have the same targeted advertising capabilities of Facebook. Facebook collects more details about its members than other services. These details allow you to create advertisements by profession, interest and social connections. This exposure builds familiarity with your business’s credibility and competence which grows your Facebook presence.

For posting frequency, if you have over 10,000 followers, post twice a day. If you only have a few hundred or a few thousand followers posting twice a day will result in less clicks per post. For small businesses posting only 1-5 times a month will double your clicks per post. This is one of the fastest ways to get more traffic to your site.

Twitter

Twitter is a great way for companies to get the word out and provide links back to their website. All tweets can be seen by everyone and Twitter is known for getting breaking news out the fastest. This is where you can discover thought leaders in your industry and check out your businesses competition.

The ideal number of tweets per day depends almost entirely on your goals. If you are looking to optimize your engagement per tweet, then 1-5 tweets per day is where it’s at. However, if you want to generate more total responses, then tweet your heart out. But spending hours a day writing out tweets is probably not the most effective way to spend your time. I recommend you focus on engagement. 1-5 tweets a day will not take too much time and will increase your audience engagement.

There are many social media platforms to check out for your B2B company. Make sure your business has LinkedIn for professional discussions, Facebook for advertising and exposure, and Twitter to discover thought leaders and to check out your competition.

Request a proposal to work with our social media team today!

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.