Social Media: What Every Business Owner Needs to Know
Social Media for Business is a Must Have
I hear it a lot from B2B clients: “My buyers aren’t on social media.” I usually have two responses– first, there is a good chance they are tapped into social media, you just have to find the right channels; and second, for those that are on there, your competitors are already getting the best of you.
Case in point: in the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs’ B2B Content Marketing 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America report (see below), 92% of B2B marketers use social media. They are selective, mind you. Facebook is not the B2B marketer’s channel of choice when it comes to social media for business. According to the B2B Content Marketing 2015 Benchmarks report, LinkedIn and Twitter are the top two go-to channels for B2B marketers using social media for business, but Facebook is not far behind.
Content Marketing Institute
And let’s also look at including B2C in this mix. According to SocialMediaExaminer.com’s 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 97% of all marketers across B2B and B2C businesses use social media.
Social Media is Relevant for B2B Businesses
We know LinkedIn and Twitter are tops for B2B participation in social media but maintaining a presence on Facebook and Google+ is also a must. The majority of efforts need to be in the top social channels for your audience and every industry differs. Look at your competitors. Where do they have a presence? What is their activity level? If you are not sure, you can always use a service like Mention or Social Mention to monitor and see what their activity looks like and the frequency of activity.
Once you have a good idea of their level of activity, you have to work to achieve a similar level of activity, if not a much higher level. There are lots of resources out there to determine the best way to go about building your presence on social media and, even more importantly, about social selling (for those of you that have more of a direct selling type model).
Social Media is Essential for B2C Businesses
In B2C, establishing a social presence using social media for business is a little different than in B2B markets.
According to SocialMediaExaminer.com’s 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, the top social channels used to reach B2C consumers are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, blogging, Pinterest and Instagram. And for those going after a younger demographic, Instagram has become a must have in your marketing arsenal. Even consider Snapchat as an opportunity if you’re targeting young Millennials.
Engagement is a must in both B2B and B2C selling but there are so many more opportunities in most B2C businesses, versus the direct sales model of a lot of B2B businesses. In B2C businesses, especially retail, your impressions on social media have a greater likelihood of yielding sales, unlike the B2B spaces where one-on-one interactions are a necessity for closing deals.
Get Creative with Social Media for Your B2C Business
Some social media uses B2C business should consider: a customer service touch point, driving engagement via contests, promoting user generated video content that can be extremely valuable on Youtube, and offering channel specific promotions that only your [insert any social media channel here] users can take advantage.
Getting word out about your great deals for the week or new items that you are selling is another great opportunity to create buzz for your business on social media. A lot of consumers are engaging more and more in mobile shopping and social media– a must have when it comes to getting that consumer’s attention and eventually driving a sale. (Mobile commerce will represent nearly 50% of all eCommerce by 2018, InternetRetailer)
And don’t forget, nothing may be more effective for moving product than some great visual content on your social media campaigns. According to Hubspot, using visual content on social media will generate up to 94% more views than posts without visual content.
Embedded from CJG Digital Marketing
