Why Social Media Marketing works for B2B

If you are in a B2B environment in Australia, you probably have an awkward relationship with social media marketing (SMM).  Sure, you like the notion of being able to connect directly with each and every potential customer.  At the same time, you find the whole notion of social media a bit half-baked, shallow and maybe even a time waster.

But perhaps being judgmental is not so constructive from a B2B sense, especially when you look at new research out of the US indicating what are the best social media sites for business content sharing.

While social media networks are increasing in popularity as a communication channel, the Time Spent on Social Media Networks Study indicates:

the most popular and widely used sites are the ones that are primarily used for sharing visual content, which in itself is a fantastic way for B2B companies to promote their products.

So in the first instance, you need to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to incorporate visual content into your brand’s social networking presence.

B2B marketers are also finding they are the most successful with business related content on sites like LinkedIn.  You can check out LinkedIn Pulse here.

This is hardly surprising really - the user base of Linkedin tends to be more professional than any other social networking site, meaning users are much more likely to respond positively to business-related content.

It’s also important to note that LinkedIn has its own publishing platform that businesses can use to post their content.

If search engine optimisation (SEO) is your goal, then its well known that sites that have a Google + component are being favoured in Google search results over those that don’t. This means your company needs to have a presence on the Google+ platform, even if it’s only for the purposes of SEO.

At the end of the day, if you goal is to connect directly with customers or just to increase the visibility of your website, no matter hard you want to, you really can’t afford to ignore the opportunities that social media provides.