A common theme I’ve come across with many B2B companies, who are not active on social media, is that it may not be for them and it is certainly not worth investing time and resource into. It’s more relevant for Return on Investment (ROI) for B2C businesses, right?
Absolutely not.
Social media is relevant to all types of businesses. The idea that social media is used exclusively for B2C is picking out one small piece of a very large, complicated and extensive pie.
As others have done before me, I’m now looking to throw my two pence in and state my top three reasons why B2B companies should use social media.
Also, when I say invest, I’m not necessarily telling you need to spend any money – simply suggesting that you should be there.
Improved Brand Awareness
Regardless of guaranteed return on investment, social media marketing can get your brand known internationally with very little associated cost, which sometimes only amounts to a handful of working hours.
As important as showing your impact on your bottom line is – brand awareness is tougher to measure (and it’s even tougher to measure brand awareness from off-line activity!) – yet we usually know when it makes the difference through a range of other outputs – leads, website hits, enquiries, social media impressions etc.
Why wouldn’t you take advantage?
Improved SEO
When a potential customer looks up your business or industry on Google, not only might your website come up, but also your social media posts you have shared on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ among others, including blog posts you may have written.
This improves your search engine ranking and visibility, but also your reputation as an expert in your field – so get noticed.
Networking Matters
B2B professionals and businesses often make the mistake of forgetting just how many of their potential clients are already using social media for business, for getting industry news or sharing interesting articles. Beyond any kind of status, age group, gender, or otherwise – more and more people are using social media as an integral part of life, and business.
Capture their attention by creating some interesting content, or write to interesting contacts on Platforms like LinkedIn – an online introduction may make it easier to open doors over the phone or in person next time.
And finally…
It’s true social media usage isn’t a like-for-like experience for B2B and B2C users – goals, strategy, usage and even social platforms may be different depending on business area or target market. This is an area we can visit another day.
The point is that Social media is relevant for B2B too. All businesses, including B2B organisations should make the most of the benefits social media has to offer.
