The 5 Stages Of Developing A Highly Effective B2B Social Media Strategy

by James Miller, Guest Contributor

Whatever your industry or area of activity, social media should be part of your marketing strategy. The main reason is that most IT buyers and business managers have social media accounts too.

According to IDG Connect, more than three-quarters of B2B tech companies use social media to boost their results. Furthermore, 84% of VP-level and C-level buyers make their purchases under the influence of social media.

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These being said, it's worth thinking about the most effective methods to create a powerful social media strategy to secure a steady flow of targeted leads. Let's take a closer look at the five stages of developing such a strategy.

Stage 1 - Goal Setting

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​If you don't know where you want to go, how can you know when you've got there? The first stage of creating a compelling social media strategy is to set your goals.

You need to know what you want to achieve with the help of your social media efforts. For instance, if you want to increase awareness for your brand, you'll need to keep tabs on metrics like impressions, shares and likes to evaluate the impact of your marketing activities. 

You can set any social media goals you want, as long as you also define the actions that will help you achieve them.

Stage 2 - Understand Your Target Audience 

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By listening and paying attention to social media conversations, you learn what people say and think about your brand. This is the best way to base your social media strategy on your potential customers rather than on your business.

This is how you can find relevant conversations revolving around your industry or niche:

Insights from your competitors. Other businesses in your niche competing with you for the attention of the same audience. Study their social media activities and try to understand how they manage to engage their customers or what pet peeves these customers have in regard to specific products or services. For instance, if you come across a viral customer complaint, you can take advantage of it to advertise your services as "customer-oriented and professional" in a social media post.

Keywords. Put together a comprehensive list of keywords that relate to your brand and identify the ones that are getting the biggest share of traffic. This will help you to find out what your customers are interested in, but also to find out the reasons for their search.

Influencers. These individuals enjoy a wide audience. They are usually industry insiders, always up to date with the news, innovations, and breakthrough discoveries in your area of activity.

Hashtags. Always use hashtags that relate to your brand and monitor them closely to find out what people are saying about you on social media.

Stage 3 - Determine What Are The Most Suitable Social Media Platforms

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Not all social media platforms are right for every business. You need to take time to determine the ones that suit your area of activity and your business model. 

There are four social media platforms that could be of interest in regard to your products or services. Let's take them one by one.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social networking platform that targets professionals, hence its popularity among B2B marketers.

As a matter of fact, 93% of B2B professionals consider this platform as being an excellent source of highly qualified leads. Apparently, 64% of all visits from social media to corporate websites come from LinkedIn.

When crafting content for LinkedIn, most marketers post updates on their company and leadership insights. They also use InMail to interact with other professionals on the network.

Instagram
Instagram counts for over 1 billion active accounts. Standing out from the crowd requires you to publish high-quality photos with excellent visual appeal. 

You can post about your company culture or feature some of the most relevant quotes. 

Twitter
This American microblogging platform and social network is an excellent medium for people to interact with each other via messages known as tweets.

Reliable sources mention that 87% of B2B marketers use Twitter.

As opposed to LinkedIn and Instagram, Twitter doubles as a customer service platform. Businesses use it to get in touch with customers, address various issues and answer questions.

For instance, a customer encounters a problem with one of your products will probably send you a direct message or tag you in one of their tweets. IBM is one of the best examples of businesses that use this method to interact with their customers.

Facebook

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People can access Facebook from any device, for as long as it is connected to the internet. Once they register on the network, users can customize their profiles to match their personal preferences and lifestyle. They reveal information about themselves by posting images, text, and videos that can be accessed by any of their "friends" inside the network.

It seems that the company decision-makers spend about 74% more time on Facebook than the average individual. This is what recommends Facebook as one of the best platforms for connecting with leads.

Most B2B marketers make use of Facebook to share their events and to promote their business. among many other things.

Stage 4 - Be Consistent
Consistency is one of the key ingredients for success in social media.

You have to maintain a consistent image of your brand, in order to get on top of people's minds. In addition, you have to maintain a good posting frequency in order to organically increase your reach without the need for paying to display ads or to boost your posts.

However, maintaining consistency is more difficult than it appears. According to Altimeter, 70% of marketers are unable to keep pace with an integrated content strategy.

You could develop a branding guide to help you maintain the look and feel of your brand across all social media platforms. This guide should include details on posting frequency to help your team stay on track and consistently grow your social media presence.

Stage 5 - Use An Activity Plan

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Planning ahead is one of the most effective ways of reaching your goals. 

This is what most B2B marketers believe, and they are right to do so.

Marketers should spend half of their working time creating content and the other half promoting it. A promo calendar will help you keep track of all activities intended to promote each and every piece of content, be it a new post, a video, or one of the core messages of your brand. The Houston SEO Expert is a big help to the B2B marketers in the Houston area.

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Are You Ready To Develop A Solid And Effective Social Media Strategy?

Use your objectives and your consumer insight to develop your content. Be consistent by sticking to your branding guidelines. Plan your campaigns carefully and monitor them closely.

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