6 Social Media Marketing Tips That Work for B2B and B2C Businesses - Manta

Some B2B companies have a false understanding of social media marketing, assuming that it’s only effective for B2C companies. This is completely wrong, as many B2B brands are thriving on social media, and to be honest, the strategies they are using to find success on social media aren’t all that different than what the B2C brands are doing.

According to a study from 2013, 54% of B2B respondents said they generated leads from social media, and of those, only 39% said they generated revenue from social media. That was more than five years ago, though, and now both B2C and B2B companies can find success through social media marketing.

It takes effort, though. You can’t simply register accounts on all of the popular social media platforms and expects sales to just roll in. In an effort to help both B2B and B2C companies boost their social media results, here are six universal tips that can help increase sales this year.

The biggest mistakes I see businesses make when it comes to social media is trying to be active on every network available. First, it’s very difficult to be effective when you are spread thin in terms of time commitment per social network. And second, not every social media network is going to be right for your business.

“Find out where your audience is most active, and focus your efforts there, rather than throwing out multiple fishing lines with no plan, hoping to get a bite,” said Edmond El Dabe, partner at El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers. “For example, Snapchat and Pinterest might have massive user bases, but that’s not where our target customer resides in the social media ecosystem.”

Common sense is your best friend when it comes to narrowing down the social media platforms to be active on. If you are a fashion brand targeting middle-aged women, then Pinterest can be a goldmine, while a law firm would be wasting its time on Pinterest.

This is one of the easiest tips to implement, as there is no monetary cost involved. It only requires time and effort, and you can quickly turn followers into customers and raving brand supporters.

“Taking the time to engage with your social media followers is not only effective, but it’s also necessary,” explained Adam Boalt, CEO of Travel Visa. “Consumers now turn to social media as their preferred customer service channel, so if you aren’t taking the time to reply to questions and comments, you are more than likely missing out on conversion opportunities.”

The easiest way to stay on top of this task is by using social media management software, like Hootsuite, which allows you to manage all of your accounts in one dashboard. If you stay consistent and reply to mentions and comments a few times a day at specified times, you will never let an opportunity slip through the cracks.

There is a time and place for both organic (free) and paid social media, and while networks like Facebook and Instagram have really limited organic reach recently, it’s still possible to do enough organic testing to warrant paid promotion.

“You really don’t need a large data sample to begin with, as long as your current following is highly targeted. If they respond well to a particular post, then you can amplify it using paid promotion and use advanced targeting to place it directly in front of your target customer,” suggested Marc Webb of Real PDL Help.

All of the popular social platforms have several targeting options that allow you to go after your ideal customer. B2B brands can target based on occupation and even fine-tune that based on a specific C-level title. B2C can target based on other brands a consumer is connected to on social media — the opportunities are endless.

“Personality is everything when it comes to winning on social media,” explained Bo Lais, CEO of Lula. “It doesn’t just apply to businesses, though. Think about some of the most popular social media accounts for a minute. They are all entertaining and have a personality, which is what draws the attention to them.”

Wendy’s Twitter account is a great example of how any brand can create a social media personality that people connect with. Fast food isn’t all that exciting, but Wendy’s humor really stands out and gives them a much more likeable personality.

In a competitive industry or one that may be considered boring, having a personality can help you navigate the road blocks that slow down many companies on social media.

I see so many companies fail when it comes to optimizing their social media profiles. Each network gives you options to make your brand more appealing, so it’s important to take advantage of every opportunity. This includes:

“A lot of companies, especially B2B companies that aren’t completely sold on the effectiveness of social media, will throw together a profile and the lack of effort is clear,” said Yashar Ghaffarloo, founder of Review.org. “Consumers are so active on social media that a no-effort profile in a turn-off to them. It’s important to make a great first impression on social media if you intend to drive sales.”

It’s the little extra effort that can pay off, and brands that take advantage of all possible options will experience more success. Little things, like custom header images that feature discount codes or special offers, can help to push sales that originate on social media.

“Every popular social media platform has its own analytics, and they all give you the ability to drastically improve your results. Facebook has always had the most in-depth data, so it’s no surprise that Instagram’s data is quickly becoming more advanced. It’s important that you switch to a business Instagram profile in order to access Insights, which is their analytics dashboard,” said Chris Moberg, president of Slumber Search.

Understanding how to analyze social media analytics data is the key to success. When you can quickly clip poorly performing campaigns and scale the ones that are driving business, your social media effort becomes much more valuable to your business.

Jonathan Long is the founder ofMarket Domination Media, an online marketing consulting agency,blerrp, an online community for entrepreneurs and consumer brandSexy Smile Kit.