The Under-Utilised Marketing Giant: Why Is Social Media B2B’s Secret Weapon?

When you step onto the road of B2B marketing, you’re likely to be met with a range of avenues. These can take the form of simple, effective techniques, such as email strategies, marketing events or LinkedIn profiles, but they can also be a bit more intricate and streamlined, such as social media connectivity.

In order to be a successful organisation, every single one of these avenues should be stepped down and gleaned from. Only then will your company begin to stand out amongst all the others, as you put yourself out there and attain notoriety, respect and loyalty in the process.

The Social Media Dilemma

One of the easier avenues to take is undoubtedly social media. Since Facebook’s launch in 2006, social media has been a hot spot for businesses to connect with current and prospective clients, with an ability to provide transparency and visibility in ways that traditional marketing could never quite reach.

Having said that, it appears that not every business is taking advantage. Although there are 3.5 billion users of social media, a recent poll has suggested that as much as 24% of new businesses have no social media presence, with 6 in 10 UK companies still not utilising social media as a marketing base.

This is an interesting statistic, especially when thinking about B2B, which relies on connectivity and transparency perhaps even more than a typical B2C company.

What Can Social Media Do For B2B?

For a B2B organisation, communication with existing clientele is an essential step if you want to attain customer loyalty. There are many B2B marketing ideas and strategies to achieve this, with the most popular being the aforementioned email strategies, marketing events, and B2B loyalty programs. But social media should not be underestimated.

This is a great way to get to know your clients on a one-to-one basis. It allows you to present your product and services in the way that you choose, from snappy images that can immediately grab the attention, short marketing videos, as well as comment sections for clients to suggest changes and communicate outside of an office-based setting.

The Door To Your Website

As well as this, social media is also the biggest door to your own website. Any B2B organisation will know that the website should be the ultimate advertisement. It should draw the customer in with a detailed description of what you do, who you are, the people behind the scenes, as well as blogs and product-specific content which will entertain and educate. The route towards your website, however, is not exactly streamlined.

Although there are simple and effective ways to narrow down search engines (such as SEO), social media can be utilised to link existing and prospective customers to your site regularly. This can not only drive in more traffic, but it can also draw in your existing customer base whose loyalty will be strengthened through connectivity and transparency.

However you look at it, social media is a strong and effective additional tool when it comes to marketing. It is a way to connect with clients, form strong relationships and boost your visibility all in one.