This Is Why Social Media Is Essential in the B2B Sales Process

Published on: 07 September 2018 Last Updated on: 16 February 2024
B2B Sales Process

Social media has been the cornerstone of B2C marketing for a long time. However, when it comes to B2B marketing and sales, it is only fairly recently that social media channels have started to dominate.

And while most B2B marketers now realize the enormous potential of this type of marketing, only true experts have figured out that simple presence on social media is far from enough. To raise awareness of your business, you need to be social on social media, which is, after all, very logical.

In other words, you need to initiate relationships, interact with people in a personal way and absorb your customer’s feedback. But apart from this, you also have to showcase your expertise in a humble way, listen to the voices and trends in your industry and keep an eye on competitors.

Marketing your business on social media can help you generate leads, improve website traffic, increase sales and create a brand identity with your target audience.

That being said, the sooner you realize that investing time and money in social media is necessary, the better results you will get. However, this type of marketing, just like crafting a Sales Enablement Strategy, takes time and skills.

Let this article be the first step on your journey to improving your B2B social media marketing. In it, you will find out the reasons why social media is essential for B2B sales and the tips on how to improve your sales through social media channels.

Why is social media so important?

social media so important

Have you heard of social validation? Social validation is a basic human necessity and its presence has but skyrocketed thanks to social media.

According to the Content Marketing Institute’s report from 2017, as much as 83% of B2B marketers use social media as their preferred marketing channel. And even though increased brand awareness is one of the main goals of social media campaigns, it is far from being the only impact of this type of marketing.

As the matter of fact, social media is right at the top when it comes to the factors making the biggest impact on purchasing decisions, closely following industry analysts and web search. Therefore, it is obvious that social media is essential for B2B sales.

If you want to increase your B2B sales, you need to use the following social media platforms:

Facebook

Without a shadow of a doubt, Facebook is the number one platform. It is important for creating a community, marketing, and advertising, as well as influencing decision makers.

LinkedIn

As a platform originally intended for business purposes, LinkedIn is as influential as Facebook in some segments.

Twitter

Twitter is the final element of the social media triad, but slightly less important than Facebook and LinkedIn.

You may be wondering why Instagram and Snapchat are not on this list. And indeed, these two platforms, especially Instagram, are great for marketing. However, they are more effective for B2C marketers.

Benefits of social media marketing for B2B sales

B2B social media marketing

To give you a clear picture of how social media can increase B2B sales, we will list some of the main benefits of social media marketing.

–        Firstly, it builds brand awareness and visibility.

–        It serves as an effective distribution channel for your business’ ideas, content and offers.

–        You can create PR opportunities, brand loyalty, SEO, as well as positive web mentions by building brand advocates.

–        Social media marketing drives new leads into the funnel when combined with whitepapers, fact sheets, eBooks and other content offers.

–        Have you tried to use social media to increase the number of email subscribers? If you want to add more people to your mailing list, this will do wonders for your business.

–        Moreover, this type of marketing is great for B2B customer feedback program and understanding the needs of your leads, customers, prospects, and advocates.

–        Social media marketing can greatly improve your SEO results through third-party links, mentions, and interest in your content.

–        You can build trust with your buyers by educating them and helping them understand the major factors that influence their purchasing decisions.

–      Social media is perfect for B2B loyalty rewards programs and customer care.

Challenges of B2B social media marketing

There are always two sides of a coin. In spite of the numerous benefits of B2B social marketing, there are also certain challenges that B2B marketers face on a daily basis when it comes to social media.

When in Rome…

If consumers use social media for connection and entertainment, your message needs to address these requirements.

In other words, you shouldn’t slip into business jargon on Facebook or post silly memes on LinkedIn. Apart from that, you should try to establish a deeper connection with your customers by finding out what they read, what they comment on and who they follow.

This will help you better understand your prospects and existing customers, and tell them what they want to hear and how they want to hear it.

Being present 24/7

When your audience needs guidance or asks a question, you should be there for them. It is all about responding when they reach out for help.

The challenge here is to anticipate such moments and be ready to shine. Create a list of tips, reviews, product demonstrations, and video tutorials, and promote them through paid search and social advertising.

For this and similar reasons, you should constantly use social media for real-time marketing, an increasingly popular method which allows you to engage with your customers instantly.

Cherishing your influencers

Finding your perfect influencer and starting a conversation with them is one of the keys to a successful social media campaign.

To choose the right influencer for your brand, you need to study their audience, understand why they engage, what is their reach, style, and many additional aspects.

Getting serious about selling on social media

Once you have put in a lot of effort toward entertainment and connection, you need to sell. After all, that is the main goal of each business.

To grow your website traffic and nurture leads, you need to match your marketing efforts and sales goals. When you engage with the knowledgeable, empowered and well-connected customers, you practically close the gap between the social world and the business world.

The elusive ROI

Oh, the infamous ROI… This is definitely among the top challenges for all marketers, not only in the B2B field.

To get a satisfactory return on investment, you always need to give your customers new and fresh content on social media, as well as attend to their needs and join conversations with influencers. Then, when everybody starts listening to what you have to say, seize the moment and make the final move.

It is all about timing. With the right timing, you can sell everything, even ice to Eskimos.

The future of B2B sales

The future of B2B sales

Everybody is wondering what the future of B2B sales will look like. So far, we can identify three main trends.

The buying process will become easier

In essence, a more open approach to purchasing is obviously emerging, as well as a multi-channel unified experience closely resembling the B2C experience.

Moreover, along with those two, the need for highly personalized interactions will result in increasing buyer trust and lead to more data becoming available.

The focus will shift to long-term customer value

Businesses will have to focus on customer needs and customize their selling approaches, Also, adding value to products and services will be an indispensable part of every sales process.

In addition, selling will become more intelligent. In other words, sales teams will need to educate customers about their needs and engage with stakeholders and decision makers to discover and highlight those needs.

Data and analytics will play a major role in creating customer value

The days of guessing in sales have long gone. To create value for customers and interact with them effectively, social media marketers will have to use data and analytics through:

–        science and sales

–        AI and the virtual experience

–        sales and the social business

In many of these strategies, social media will play an important role. From the multi-channel approach and market intelligence to education and connection, B2B sales will be impossible without social media platforms.

Finally, from a technical point of view, it is evident that outsourcing social media is becoming increasingly popular. This is a strategy that can be very effective, especially for small businesses. However, if you decide to do this, we advise you to be careful and avoid the most common social media outsourcing mistakes.

How to Sell More on Social Media

Sell More on Social Media

Now that you have learned why social media is so important for the B2B sales process, you probably want to know how to use social media to increase sales.

Here are the five useful tips on how to sell more and better on social media.

Choose the right social network(s)

Not all the platforms will work for all businesses. When choosing the best social media channels for your business, you need to consider several factors:

–        your niche

–        your audience

–        your goals

For example, according to a study by Google and Millward Brown Digital published in 2015, the number of decision makers aged between 18 and 34 years increased by 19% in only two years (from 27% in 2012 to 46% in 2014).

This is why you need to find out the favorite platform of your customers and tailor your message to them, the network and your brand.

Remember – no business jargon on Facebook or crazy memes on LinkedIn.

Be active on LinkedIn

Whatever other networks you choose, keep in mind that LinkedIn is a must. When it comes to B2B marketing, this platform is essential and you can’t risk not using it.

To shine on LinkedIn, you will have to be very active. This means that you should:

–        use LinkedIn’s Saved Search feature in order to create a search based on your ideal customer profile and be notified each time such a person signs up

–        join and participate in LinkedIn groups to build your network and referrals

–        connect with potential customers to start conversations

Contribute to existing conversations

This goes for all the social media networks you are active on. When you contribute to conversations about your brand and interesting topics in your industry, customers see this as adding value.

The best way to do this is Twitter and its search function, but you can use other networks too.

Share relevant content

More and more B2B buyers search for information on services and products on social media. Your answer to this should be simple ‒ sharing relevant content.

This is another way to add value, and you can do it by providing white papers, product sheets, case studies, webinars, comparison worksheets and so on.

In addition, you can share useful blog posts, infographics, tutorials and other types of content. In a nutshell, you can share anything that you think could help your customers.

Use the right tools

Finally, using social media for marketing purposes without different kinds of tools is practically impossible. There are so many aspects software tools can improve and so many ways they can help you rock your campaigns that not using them is a real waste of time.

Using effective social media marketing tools will help you find more relevant content, schedule your posts, measure and analyze the effectiveness of your campaigns, as well as use that data to improve your future campaigns.

Wrapping up :

Social media networks are becoming an essential part of every B2B sales process. However, in order to sell more on social media, you need to understand all the benefits and challenges of this process.

This is definitely not a one-time activity. Rather, think of it as of a long journey that includes a lot of small steps. It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock your B2B social media campaigns.

But if you take all the steps that we listed, you will find that the results will follow. This is one of those journeys that you have to enjoy if you want to reach your destination.

Read Also : 

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Podcast topics

How To Find Best Podcast Topics Ideas In 2021

Podcasting is a trending concept, although not a new one. However, 2020 gave a surge to the international podcasting industry. Podcast statistics state that from 2019 to 2020, about 100 million Americans have listened to at least one podcast per month. It is thus evident that the popularity of podcasts has been increasing over recent years.  With the expansion of internet services and changes in tastes and preferences, the number of loyal podcast listeners is growing steadily. The people from the 18-24 age group listen to podcasts more than any other age category.   It is thus crucial to understand how to stay ahead of your competitors in terms of podcast topics. Therefore, this guide would focus on the ways of finding the best podcast topics in 2021. What Are Podcast Topics, And Why Are They Important? A podcast is a section-wise series of digital audio files. It consists of spoken words as well. Furthermore, users can download it to their devices for ease of listening. Podcasting services and streaming platforms provide collaborative waves to regulate usage traffic across different sources. Podcasts are cost-effective and time-efficient mediums of communication. They have utter social importance as the listeners dive into trendy, insightful, and message-oriented topics.  Some podcasts offer articles also in smaller bytes, perfect to listen to in busy daily schedules. , Mostly, podcasts are themed around a specific topic. Then, the hosts talk about the issues in different episodes. Nonetheless, the discussion is limited to the central topic only and considers several related or sub-topics.  Podcast topics are essential to keep the discussion relevant. Moreover, the host may ignore the time limitation if there is no specific theme. Therefore, to make the discussion strategic, time-bound, and logical, the hosts must follow a particular topic from their niche. How To Find Best Podcast Topics in 2021?  Creating fresh podcast ideas daily or weekly is tedious. This gives nothing to the podcast creators but stress. Here are some tools and tips through which you can create unique and good podcast topics regularly. 1. Examine The Question That Your Audiences Are Asking Observe the question answers and discussions minutely from several forums. In addition, collect the frequently asked questions from multiple E-Commerce sites. Now you can tally those with your available relevant podcast topics to choose yours. For instance, you can check the related themes tab to explore the wide range of associated questions. It will help you to think independently, thereby enhancing your creative podcast ideas. 2. Know The Engaging Content Pieces In its actual terms, social engagement indicates the success of content. To optimize your content ideas, you can deep dive into leading content based on trending topics. Ensure that the contents that you are exploring are within your niche.  Different content analyzer tools in the market offer a wide range of features. These include: Identifying the most engaging content within a certain period Spot the most popular shades of content in various sub-sectors Filter content by infographics, videos, content methodology, etc. Filter contents prepared by leading marketers 3. Understand The Trends In Twitter Twitter is an excellent tool for keeping up with current events. Whenever I'm communicating with followers on Twitter, I prefer using Tweetdeck to keep popular hashtags and trends handy. All the Twitter trends appearing in your feed are customized as per your search pattern and interests. Hence, there are high probabilities that you would discover the important things there. If you wish to add a trending column, tap the ‘+’ icon on the left-hand side and choose ‘Trending.’  4. Analyse The Google Trends Emerging podcasters often feel lost or anxious due to a lack of creative podcast ideas. An ideal option for them is to check Google Trends to get new ideas. One of the best sections is ‘Related Queries’ that many people are not aware of. This section lists all the trending podcast content ideas arranged in increasing order in terms of the search frequencies over a specific time. You will gain immense podcast topics by surfing these, which would optimize your overall confidence.    5. Have A Look At Quora Quora is an incredible platform to look for trending podcast topics adhering to the choices of your audiences. By exploring the ‘Related Questions’ column at Quora, you will be able to discover a wide range of creative content ideas that remain unexplored to date. In addition to this, it is possible to keep track of the active contributors in Quora. Thus, you can take a look at the answers posted by them to get a broad idea of topics in your niche. Apart from these, it is a brilliant way to come across more professionals to invite to your upcoming podcast shows or interviews. Such experts are mainly the storehouse of ideas. With extensive experience in this field, they have a heap of tricks to find creative podcast topics every time. Quora will bring you closer to them, and you can learn some more worthy hacks of developing crispy podcast content ideas. In this way, you can increase your connections, therefore, boosting more value to your podcast. The Bottom Line  Creating the best topics for a podcast is not as easy as it seems. First, you need to invest quality time to find out which topic is best suitable to engage your audience in an innovative way. To make the entire process smooth, conduct virtual or face-to-face meetings with your co-stage partners, friends, or other podcast professionals. You may receive many podcast topics, popular podcast topics, and podcast content ideas from them. Lastly, remember that dedication and practice together bring perfection. Search for new creative podcast ideas and podcast topics every day until you develop a spreadsheet of the best ideas. To be very honest, it will take months to happen, but with experience and perseverance, you will achieve success. More Resources How To Post On Reddit? A Step By Step Guide 10 Instagram-Worthy Hens Party Ideas-Without Losing Your Mind Why Businesses Should Invest In Backblaze’s Cloud Storage?

READ MOREDetails
Personal Injury Law

Unconventional Marketing! How to Market Your Personal Injury Law Firm on Pinterest

The rise of Pinterest has been remarkable. Today, 29% of Americans use Pinterest, which makes it one of the most popular secondary social media platforms. This image-based platform offers a new way to appeal to potential clients. As a personal injury law firm, you may find it difficult to market yourself on such a platform.  Every law firm needs to work with a specialized marketing agency that understands how the industry works.   According to Constellation marketing agency, law firms and their marketing come with their own sets of challenges and opportunities.   This is especially true in digital marketing, which holds immense potential for law firms.   Online marketing is essential, especially today when digital platforms and technologies are increasingly influencing consumer behavior.  Read this guide to find out how to do it.  Create Personal Boards for Your Law Firm The point of boards is to allow users to categorize videos and images. For law firms, you need to concentrate on avoiding the corporate look.  According to the Hunter Law Group, a personal injury attorney in Tampa may decide to create a board specializing in local content.  For example, another option is to provide fun behind-the-scenes content. Don’t worry about not looking professional—Pinterest has never been designed for that. 1. What are You Doing? Let your boards tell a story. The point of a Pinterest board is to give people a reason to keep coming back. Create a board with updated information about your firm's activities.  A personal injury attorney in Tampa may decide to write about any charity or volunteer work they recently indulged in.  Thus, the point is that they’re not directly marketing, and they’re using the social media 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of content posted adds value and has nothing to do with self-promotion. 2. Get an Official Account  Business accounts have been a thing on Pinterest since 2012. You should apply for one of these so you can mark out your Pinterest board as the official board of your law firm.  This may not seem important, but it adds a layer of credibility and ensures someone with a similar name can’t overtake you.  3. Think about SEO Pinterest is expected to have 83 million active monthly users by the end of the decade. These users mean that Pinterest results get high rankings on Google.  Make sure you use targeted keywords to enhance your SEO ranking. Use similar keywords across all your images so you get more exposure. 4. Create and Promote Unique Content Don’t expect to just share a range of content across multiple social media platforms. In fact, you need to create unique content for Pinterest to encourage people to go out of their way to visit you.  Plus, combine this with sharing buttons on your website, and your law firm will see more traffic flowing to Pinterest.  Pinterest Marketing & How to Get More Clients as A Lawyer  Law firm marketing and Pinterest might not seem to belong in the same sentence, but let me tell you – it’s a hidden gem.   With millions of users actively searching for visual content, personal injury law firms have a good opportunity to shine on Pinterest and attract clients. It is an unconventional choice. However, it is one of the best platforms, just hear us out.   Here are ways you can use Pinterest to grow your practice!  1. Create Boards that Engage and Tell your Story  Start by creating boards that are more than just advertisements of your services. Think of it as advertising through storytelling. Do you have a philanthropy focus or charity you support?   Additionally, highlight that by creating a board and describing what you do for it, how your clients get involved, and why you support it.   Are there team members who participate in community service frequently?   Create a board dedicated to this with stories and pictures!   Just remember: Pinterest is all about authenticity! So, expertly curated advertisements might not always be the way to go. You must personally connect. 2. Focus on the Visual Aspect Pinterest is a visual platform, but it’s also a search engine. Help people find your pins by optimizing them with targeted keywords.   Therefore, consider the keywords clients might enter Pinterest or Google to see you: “personal injury tips,” “legal advice after an accident,” etc. Plus, use those words in your image files, descriptions, and board titles to increase your Pinterest visibility and improve your Google rankings. 3. Create a Business Account for Professional Bragging Rights To establish trust and a level of professionalism, you’ll want to switch over to a Pinterest Business Account.   So, by doing this, Pinterest will now officially recognize your business on the platform, and you’ll gain access to analytics tools that will allow you to keep track of how well you’re doing.  In fact, having an official account also helps make sure that your boards are easily recognized as belonging to your law firm and that no one else has similar names.  Last Word – Pinterest Can Be Useful: It’s wrong for people to say that Pinterest isn’t useful for law firms. You just have to think outside the box to get people interested in your law firm. You can’t use the same corporate tone across all of your channels. Pinterest is one of them where you have to adopt a more casual tone. With that in mind, experiment with the images you post and see what works and what doesn’t. How are you going to make your law firm succeed on Pinterest? Read Also: Things About A Personal Injury Lawyer How To Choose A Personal Injury Lawyer

READ MOREDetails
Brand Recognition

12 Practical Ways to Boost Brand Recognition with Social Media

Spreading brand awareness is essential if you want to become a household name. One of the best places to get your name out there is social media. However, carving out a place for your brand in such a crowded atmosphere can be challenging at best and impossible at worst. However, with dedication and the right social media strategy, you can garner followers and promote your brand and products while engaging with your target audience. Here are 12 practical ways to leverage social media to boost brand recognition. 1. Share Social Media Buttons Having some share social media buttons on your website or blog can help your customers get the word out on your products or services, exponentially expanding your reach. When you make it easy for your visitors to share your content, they’re more likely to help promote your business and recommend your brand to their family, friends, and professional social media connections. Of course, that’s not all you can do on social media, but it's a great place to start, so have one-click share buttons so anyone visiting your website can quickly spread the word. Aside from pasting a few lines of code into your website, it’s an effortless way to boost brand recognition. 2. Understand Your Audience and the Platforms They Use Market and audience research is an essential part of any outreach strategy. So pull out your customer profiles and see what social media platforms they’re on so you can effectively target them. You should also discover the rules and culture of the platform you post on. You can be fast and loose on Twitter, but you’ll want to take a more formal tone on LinkedIn. 3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repurpose Content for Social Media You’ll likely be posting on multiple platforms, and you can share plenty of content between them as long as you tailor that content for the platform you’re posting to. Reuse your content, but customize it to the social media network you’re sharing it on. You shouldn’t post a paragraph-long story on Instagram or just a picture with no context to Facebook. And every social media manager knows about the 280-character limit with Twitter, although that may change soon. And it’s not just social media content you can recycle. Turn your blog posts into a series of short snippets with a powerful call to action to encourage followers to click through to your website to read the full story. Post short clips of longer videos as a teaser to drive traffic to your website or YouTube channel. There are endless ways to repurpose your content to power all your digital marketing initiatives. 4. Engaging With Customers: Social Media is Like Customer Service, but More Fun Consumers will definitely let you know if your company gets something wrong on social media. Responding to these comments quickly and effectively is essential for engagement and providing excellent customer service. Of course, you should also respond to positive comments, which can alleviate the burn from the scathing remarks. Reacting quickly and effectively to any brand mentions can immensely help customer engagement and brand recognition. 5. Visual Content: The Popularity of Images, Infographics, and Videos Attention spans are short, and your audience wants instant gratification. You can capture attention and amuse the masses by taking advantage of visual information with images, infographics, and videos. If your content is catchy, funny, or otherwise captures the attention of the masses, you can even go viral, spreading your brand all over the web. Keep in mind that you can go viral for bad reasons, too, which may open you up to negative publicity. That’s why you should ensure that your social media content aligns with your vision, mission, and brand personality. 6. Hashtags, Captions, and Comments Oh My! One of the most critical aspects of social media is being social. Follow others, use hashtags to make your content searchable, comment on other posts, caption photos, and just be social. It’s incredible how many businesses miss this crucial aspect. If your business were a person, it would be social on the feeds, interacting with its followers and other users. So be social, and you can make your brand seem more alive and likable to consumers. 7. Research and Case Studies: The Importance of Authority Content When you post online, you need to have high-quality content. Among this content, authority content is some of the most important. No matter how excellent your outreach strategy is, no one will pay attention to it if you're posting hot garbage. Authority content is content like research or studies carried out by your company that establishes you as an authority in your industry or niche. It garners trust with your audience and proves you know what you’re doing. 8. Educational Content: Making Learning Fun Educational content is some of the most popular content in the social media sphere. Tutorials and how-tos rate highly, for example. So, by using educational content on your brand profiles, you can prove you’re an authority, attract followers with high-quality content, and improve your brand recognition and image all at once! 9. Take a Stand: Promote Your Brand’s Stance on Important Issues Many authority sources are split on this. Some think businesses and brands should stay far away from any political issues. Others believe you should state them proudly. It's up to your discretion. However, brands that have taken a strong stance on their political beliefs have trended and gained popularity. Political issues are always a hot topic on social media; you’re putting your brand out by joining that conversation. So state your brand’s beliefs and take a stance on important societal issues, but don’t stir the pot. While expressing your beliefs and reacting to current events can garner attention, you don’t want to risk alienating your audience or drawing the wrong kind of media attention. 10. Community Service: Show How You’re Giving Back If your brand or business gives back to the community, shout it out online. Take pictures and post them, write about individuals and how your brand’s community programs have helped them, and just let your audience know you’re giving back to the community. Brands and companies that give back to the community gain favor with online audiences. Consumers want to know their favorite brands are giving back, and when they do business with brands that do, they’ll feel like they’re playing a part in the effort, too. 11. Your Brand Voice: Human, Personable, and Humorous Your brand might not be a person per se, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sound like one online. Your audience will know if you’re phoning it in, as the brand voice will sound flat, unfeeling, and robotic. Social media feeds that only exist to sell products won’t get far. So inject humor, keep your feeds centered on human stories and issues, and engage in conversation with your audience rather than merely talking to them. Talk like your brand is an actual person online. Don’t sound like you’re a product. 12. Tag Teaming: Tagging, Influencers, and Partnering with Related Brands Tagging is extremely useful if you’re trying to get the word out about your brand. You’re getting double the exposure and promoting the person you’re tagging simultaneously, a win-win for everybody. So tag whenever you can. You can take this a step further with influencers. Influencers are users who are considered thought leaders on a particular social platform or on social media in general. Note: By sponsoring influencers who have a relevant audience that you want to target, you can reach more ideal customers and boost brand awareness. Partnering with related brands is another excellent way to promote your brand on social media. Final Thoughts For any influencer, breaking through on social media is a challenge. Keep in mind the tips laid out in this article when you develop brand awareness campaigns in the future. Whether you’re leveraging social media share buttons, tag-teaming with other influencers, or working on the perfect hashtag, these strategies will help you boost your brand’s profile in the social media sphere. Additionals: Social Media Usage: Pros And ConsUncover the Benefits of Partnering with a Social Media Agency in MalaysiaHow to Use Videos to Get Real Estate Leads from Social Media with Little EffortHow To Improve Your Social Media Branding By Getting More Instagram Followers And Likes

READ MOREDetails