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

Published on: 07 September 2018 Last Updated on: 29 October 2024

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?

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.

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

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

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

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 :

How Social Media Can Boost Up The E-commerce Industry

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10 of the Best Facebook Pages to Follow Now

In the first quarter of 2018, Facebook reported 2.19 billion users. For reference, that means that almost 1/3 of the world's population is one this immensely popular social networking site! If you're one of those billions of people who spend hours scrolling through their Facebook feed in search of the best new content, you'll find that eventually, you'll find yourself in a bit of a rut. It can be tough to find new content after a while. But the great thing about Facebook is that there are tons of great Facebook pages waiting to be discovered. Here are 10 of the best Facebook pages to follow, whether you're looking for fun, food, or even marketing tips. 1. Delish : If you're like us, you probably find yourself watching Food Network a lot, even if you have no interest in cooking half of the things your favorite Iron Chef makes. But if you're feeling adventurous, head on over to Delish, one of Facebook's best cooking pages. Not only will you get tons of great recipes to help you cook for one or 100, but most recipes come in the form of helpful videos, so you can watch the entire process from beginning to end. Personally, we recommend checking out their spiked lemonade and boozy pudding shot recipes if you're of age. 2. HonorSociety.org : As you may have surmised, HonorSociety.org is the official Facebook page for the National Honor Society. The page is a fantastic resource for students of all ages, from middle school to grad school. Why check the page out? In addition to great tips on how to maximize your academic potential, you'll have the ability to chat with other society members. This networking can be quite helpful when it comes time to find a job. If HonorSociety.org sounds like your cup of tea, be sure to click the link for more info. 3. We Rate Dogs : Alright, we have a confession to make. Some of us have social media pages solely to look at photos of adorable images. In fact, we once wrote an entire post about the famous pets of Instagram! We Rate Dogs is a perfect example of why social media and animals go hand in hand. The premise of the page is exactly what it sounds like. People submit photos of their dogs in adorable or silly circumstances (often in costume) and the page admins post and rate the dog accordingly. And for those worried that not all dogs receive a high rating, most receive the coveted 11/10 or 13/10 rating, proving once and for all that they're all the best dogs. 4. Animals In Predicaments : If rating dogs aren't quite your thing, how about checking out some animals in the most peculiar predicaments? Of everything you'll read about today, Animals in Predicaments is perhaps the most bizarre pages to follow on Facebook. It's one part meta-humor and one part adorable animal photo. When combined, the result is both odd and hilarious. Ever wanted to see a cat crash a nativity scene? This Facebook page has you covered. Want to watch a deer run and slide through a hospital? Yup, it's on here. Unfortunately, the page was last updated last December. However, newcomers still have plenty of great content to browse through. 5. NPR : As great as ridiculous animals can be, sometimes you need to stay informed about the current events of the world. For newshounds, NPR's Facebook page is a fantastic resource. They cross-post most content from their website, and they have an increasingly large library of video content to choose from so you can consume news any way you want. And the breadth of content is about as deep as you'd expect from an NPR page. They post tons of great info on world news, local matters, and music and entertainment. 6. Nerdist : Nerdist is kind of like the NPR for all things pop culture. They do a great job of aggregating content from around the web, so if you have a passing interest in anything remotely geeky, you've found your home. 7. Intrepid Travel Most of us have extravagant dreams of traveling the world yet lack the funds to do so. If this sounds familiar, you'll want to be sure to check out Intrepid Travel. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Intrepid Travel is a travel company that's less interested in selling you something and more interested in providing you with unique experiences around the globe, be it from first-hand travel or their own travel blogs. If you're planning on traveling anytime soon, they also have plenty of great tips to help you make the most of your travel experience. 8. UnMarketing : For entrepreneurs and business owners, marketing on Facebook is an absolute must. Facebook -- and social media in general -- offer a fantastic way to get in touch with your audience in a unique and conversational manner. However, learning how to market your business isn't always so easy. UnMarketing aims to help you perfect the art of brand management without coming across as too cold or corporate. Also Read: How To Remove Pname Com Facebook Orca 9. Wendy's If you want a prime example of UnMarketing's principles in practice, you'll want to check out Wendy's social media accounts. They have a habit of getting quite sassy, particularly when interacting with their competitors. In fact, Wendy's even dropped a mixtape entitled, We Beefin? earlier this year, which took direct aim at McDonald's and their seemingly always broken ice cream machines. It's about time someone stood up for those of us who just want a McFlurry. 10. Your City's Facebook Page : Last but not least, you'll want to be sure to follow your city's Facebook page. It can be super helpful to learn more about what's going on in your town, and they often post great information about upcoming events. These Are The Best Facebook Pages To Follow : We hope that our list of the best Facebook pages to follow provided you with something new and interesting. These pages should have a little something for everyone, so be sure to check them out. Be sure to check our social media section for more great marketing tips and fun pages to follow! Read Also : Digital Marketing: Utilize Facebook To Support Your Hospitality Business The Definitive Guide To Market Your Business On Facebook 5 Ways To Improve Mobile SEO

How to Start Social Media Agency in India

If you are thinking of starting a social media agency, then you have to take care of some things which will give you benefits in future and you will be able to stay in the long term in the market. To begin any work, it is very important to do the right planning. This article talks about the social media agency, how to start it and some important legal registration. What Social Media Agency Do: A Social Media Agency is a Service Provide Agency which works for their customer and here some of their functions are given below Search Engine Optimization, it is very important because every time when you post anything on the Internet then you need of it because this will give you keywords, then you can use that keyword during uploading on Internet so it will reach to the maximum people. Social Media Advertising, Agency will promote your brand on Social Media, this is very important for any brand to reach maximum people on the Internet, social media agency will help you to promote your brand on social media. Social Media Audit, they will calculate your business on social media Competitor Analysis, they will provide you competitor analysis so you can use this for upgrading your business. How to Start Social Media Agency: The first step in starting a social media agency is creating of the website. You have to create a Website so people can see your profile and assign you to work. And with the website, you have to promote on social media so it will help you. You can also apply for Google Certification so you will avail many benefits from the Google. Pick up the Projects from the Freelancer, this is very easy and simple, you have to visit the Freelances website where you will find your customer and you can start work with them. Plan everything about your agency; planning is very important for staying in the market. Start a search for clients, and make good relation with them, a health-related is required for business. Set your Market price, because you have to compete with other agency also Create a good team and friendly environment is required for starting a social media agency so the team can work efficiently Legal registration with various laws is important because this will help you to take benefits from the government schemes and it will protect the rights of the agency. And also you have to make an entity for your business and have to register your business under Udyog Aadhar. Partnership Firm Registration: If you are planning to start a social media agency then you have to register your business also. If there is 2 or more partner in your agency then you can register your business with Partnership Firm. A Partnership Firm can be incorporated with the 2 or more person and it does not require the minimum capital contribution, you can start your business with any least capital. The process of Partnership Firm Registration is also easy and simple. You have to follow below-given steps First, you have to choose your Partnership Firm name, you can choose any name for your agency, a unique name will attract and you cannot copy other firm’s names so you have to choose a unique name for your social media agency. Then you have to make a deed/agreement for your partnership firm. In this deed, you have to mention each and every single detail of your social media agency and its partners. You have to mention rules and regulation of firm and details profit and a capital contribution of each partner. And this deed/agreement should be signed by all partners and notarized by a lawyer. The last step is optional, it is your choice whether you want to register your firm or not. If you want to register your firm then you have to apply for this under Register of Firm. It is very costly so it depends on you. Udyog Aadhar: If you are planning a startup then you should register with Udyog Aadhar. It is a unique number which is issued by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. After obtaining Udyog Aadhar Registration your agency will get many benefits like a loan on the minimum rate of interest or without interest, a subsidy from the government and many benefits from the governments. The process of registration is simple, you can apply for it online and it does not require any attachment of documents. After submission of the form, you will get your Udyog Aadhar number. Conclusion: If you are planning a Social Media Agency then you should register your business with Udyog Aadhar because it will give you many benefits, and also you should register with Partnership Firm because its incorporation is very easy and it does not require much compliance so you should consider above-given points in the article. Read Also: How To Market Your App Successfully Mobile App Marketing Agency This Is Why Social Media Is Essential In The B2B Sales Process

How to Use Pinterest for Business

Pinterest is one of the most popular social media platforms that widely makes use of images. The site it full of amazing photos and you could be wondering how you can use it to promote your brand. Here are some tips on how to use Pinterest for business. 1. Add Save Button to Your Website If you would like your visitors to act, you must allow them to do so with a lot of ease. When you add a save button to your site, people will be able to pin your content with a single click. This will take place even if you have not installed the Pinterest browser. It will significantly increase the number od content that pinners save from your website. If you choose the automatic buttons, there will be a clickable Pinterest save button on all the images that are on your site. You can also use hover buttons that only appear when a person hovers the mouse over the images. The last option is to add the Pinterest save button to a particular image on your website. 2. Pin Consistency Pinners suggest that you pin at least one thing every day especially during the peak season. For most U.S-based brands, the peak times are in the evenings and over the weekend. The other element that Pinterest highlight to be crucial is consistency. In case you want to post huge number of posts during the week, it is good to divide them up so that you can post a few each day instead of posting all of them at once. If you want to create pins that will coincide with an upcoming event, season, or holiday, be careful to start posting them approximately 45 days in advance. 3. Pay Attention to Great Visuals Pinterest is a largely visual platform and hence you have no choice but to create high-quality imagery. Make sure you have clear, well-composed, and well-lit photos. In case you lack the skills, the time or the tools to create the images by yourself, we have thousands of stock photography sites that have high-quality photos that you can use. Think of the most creative ways of showcasing your brand and products visually. From recent studies on the performance of 50,000 pins that are promoted, Pinterest discovered that lifestyle images tend to outperform the product images. For example, style and fashion pins displaying products that were in real life use had 30% more clickthrough and 170% higher rates of checkout that the ones that were showing the product alone. 4. Don’t Neglect the Words Yes, Pinterest is a highly visual medium but you cannot create serious engagements with great visuals alone. Make good use of the description field by telling viewers what they will exactly get by clicking through the linked content that is on your website. Use relevant keywords so that your pins can appear in the search. However, do this in a helpful and natural manner and don’t practice keyword stuffing. 5. Use Rich Pins Where Appropriate The term rich pins refer to enhanced pins that utilize metadata that is pulled from your website to offer additional information on what pinners will get by clicking on a certain pin. You can find Rich Pins for articles, products, recipes, and apps. Therefore, you will get them for almost all the content you would like to pin or expecting other users to pin from your site. 6. Go Social Pinterest is a social network and not a billboard. Therefore, people will not engage with your pins unless you get engaged yourself. Follow accounts or board from the non-competitive but relevant brands within your niche. Be keen to actively like and also engage with pins that are related to your industry. You may also involve your brand evangelists and employees. You can invite these individuals to contribute to your Pinterest group boards. 7. Improve Results by Using Analytics Pinterest analytics offers critical insights about the kind of content that performs well on your network. Therefore, you may tweak and advance your Pinterest for business outcome over time. You will be able to observe the most popular pins and the ones that drive the highest amount of traffic. You can focus on the specific metrics that are particular to your specific business. You will also view the boards where your pins are included in and this will help you to understand how people are thinking about your products and business. You will get some new ideas on the best way to position your efforts on Pinterest. You will also get some tips on the interests and demographics of people who are interacting with your pins. It will give you valuable insights that will assist you to precisely target your strategy to the right audience. 8. Try the Pinterest Promoted Pins Pinterest ads or promoted pins is an excellent way to allow more people to see your pins. It also helps in creating new exposure to your brand. Promoted pins can give you an exposure that go beyond the payment you make. To know a promoted pin on interest, you will find the word ‘promoted’ below it. However, when a pinner saves the promoted on their personal board, it will become the regular organic pin. Therefore, it strips off the promotional label. 9. Make the Pins More Accessible Pinterest is highly super-visual and relies heavily on images to establish meaning and context. Therefore, users who have low visibility, certain disabilities, or need screen-readers will struggle to use this platform. Therefore, you have to pay more focus on the text. You can use several strategies to make your pins more accessible. It is a good thing to connect with a long list of members from your target audience. Your primary goal should be to make your content accessible to all users. One strategy would be to add context through the descriptions. You can also use strong typography and incorporate color contrasts. Lastly, make sure that you use large texts so that people with visual problems can read with a lot of ease. This article should have answered your questions on how to use Pinterest for business. Read Also: 9 Ways To Use Pinterest To Promote Your E-Commerce Store How To Market Your Personal Injury Law Firm On Pinterest