Updated: September 27, 2022
As B2B marketers we use social media to generate awareness of our products and services, we engage in conversations and build our community. In a complex B2B buyer journey, building relationships is a vital activity, so social media is a natural fit. There are some common mistakes organisations make with B2B social media marketing. Knowing what they are will help you avoid repeating them.
1) Trying to cover all social media channels
If you’re a business or marketing team with limited resources then attempting to cover every social channel isn’t going to work. Each social network requires a different approach and a tailored message; this puts a heavy burden on your content production. Social media isn’t just a broadcast channel, so you also need to be able to respond to messages and engage in conversations. Doing this well on multiple channels is a challenge for even the largest social media teams.
2) Not having a content strategy
Posting on social media once a day and forgetting about it isn’t going to help you grow your presence or engagement. Content on different social channels has different lifespans. A Tweet can have a lifespan of a few minutes, and a LinkedIn article can continue generating interest for days.
A content strategy will allow your business to think about who the content is for, how often you need to post and the format of the content.
3) Not having the right content mix
Far too often businesses live on the extremes of either posting only their own content or only third-party content. A social media presence that delivers results will have a mix of branded and third-party content. The blend of that mix will vary by industry.
4) Not trying alternative content formats
A majority of B2B accounts post social content that follows a standard recipe. An image plus some text. Some businesses may even venture into infographics. B2B companies need to embrace formats such as video. Video can cost a lot, especially if all you’re willing to post is highly polished corporate content. Creating less polished videos can appear a lot more authentic and engaging.
5) Not going live
The direction of travel in social is live video. Live video appears to get a lot more engagement and is given higher priority by social networks. Live video is a risk, and you need to have presenters who are confident in their topic, but it has the advantage of bringing you a lot closer to your audience. In the B2B world, we are all familiar with running webinars. It’s time to take our traditional webinars to the social media realm.
6) Not testing and learning
When it comes to digital, testing and learning is vital. We test our landing pages, our emails, our ads and messages. We rarely test new approaches to social media. Yes, social media is a lot more transparent but being innovative in your market can help you stand out.
7 ) Not having KPIs
As marketers, we have more data than we know what to do with. Data can be overwhelming, and it’s common to look at your metrics after the fact and pull out the numbers that look good. In any digital campaign, you should establish your KPIs early and build your execution around those. Social media is no exception. The goal of social media marketing isn’t just to post content. As with any marketing activity we need to generate value and meet objectives, so it’s important you have those objectives defined early.