While social networking sites are crowded with companies engaged in B2C marketing, there’s a common myth that these platforms are unsuitable for B2B marketing. However, there is nothing further away from the truth. In fact, social media can be used effectively for addressing the main challenges of B2B marketing.
4 Main Challenges Faced by B2B Marketers
- Prospecting a wider client base: 40% of salespeople identify prospecting as the most challenging part of the sales process.
- Educating prospective customers: When resources run thin, many companies sacrifice this and lose out on potential customers.
- Long buyer journey: For high-ticket solutions, the customer decision making process can be long and tedious.
- Closing deals: Only 19% of interactions with prospective clients convert into actual sales.
B2B Social Media Marketing Helps Overcome These Challenges
- Prospecting: 65% of salespeople who use social media fill their sales pipeline
- Customer education: There is a 131% increase in customer willingness to purchase after reading educational content
- Buyer journey: 27% of the buying decision making time is spent researching independently online
- Closing deals: 40% of salespeople closed between two and five deals with social media marketing
Which Social Media Channels to Utilize for B2B Marketing?
This is by far the best platform for targeting professionals. If you need to connect with people in the C-suite of companies, LinkedIn is the way to reach out to them:
- Has 675 million monthly users
- Monthly users increased by 14% in early 2020 vs year end of 2018
- A LinkedIn ad can reach 12% of the world’s population
- Offers ability to target people by their career, industry, and job position
B2B Marketing Using LinkedIn
The major advantage of using LinkedIn ads is that this social channel sources all the information directly from users. Therefore, the data is:
- Precise
- Real time
- Actionable
LinkedIn offers numerous targeting options, which makes it incredibly easy to narrow your target audience. You can filter the target audience by:
- Job Seniority – ie. CXO, Director, VP
- Company Size – ie. Number of employees
- Job Functions – ie. Operations, Project Management, Accounting
- Age Group – ie. 25 to 34 years
- Industry – ie. Construction, Fashion, Banking
If you thought Facebook was only for socializing, think again. Here are some facts to change your perspective:
- More than 2.7 billion active users
- 74% use Facebook for professional purposes
- Over 70% more time spent by business decision makers on Facebook than other platforms
- 65% of B2B marketers use Facebook ads
B2B Marketing Using Facebook
Facebook offers numerous possibilities. You can:
- Capture email subscriptions for lead gen
- Target decision makers
- Conduct market research and surveys
- Promote your team
- Give a human touch to your brand
- Provide customer support
Tips for B2B Social Media Marketing
- Use videos to connect – You can use explainer videos, “How To” tutorials, interviews of your top management, corporate videos, and employee videos.
- Share news updates from your industry – This not only attracts prospective clients, but also highlights your awareness of industry trends.
- Share high-end content, like white papers – This showcases your knowledge and sets you apart as a thought leader in the industry.
Don’t Underestimate Social Media for Closing Deals
As you can see, social media can be used effectively for addressing the main challenges of B2B marketing. It is recommended to use Linkedin and Facebook for the best results. In addition, it is important to post regularly by sharing videos, news updates, and high quality content.
References
https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-process
https://www.skilljar.com/blog/recap-customer-education-challenges-solutions/
https://www.propellercrm.com/blog/sales-benchmark-rates
https://www.conductor.com/blog/2017/07/winning-customers-educational-content/
https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey
https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#statistics
https://hootsuite.com/pages/digital-2020
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-marketing-industry-report-2019/
https://vendedigital.com/blog/5-reasons-to-use-linkedin-for-b2b-marketing/
