Like most marketers, I am a big promoter and user of social media for my business. I understand that it’s become a big part of our daily lives, and that it can be a brilliant tool for marketing as well. So I use it to promote my business on a daily basis. I’ve developed relationships, found clients and friends through it, as well as learned a lot of things.
An online search shows a myriad of articles and posts that talk about which each platform does and how you can use it for your business. So here’ a quick list of the top social media platforms for B2B, and how they can be effective for you.
- Blog
- YouTube
- Google+
Your Corporate Blog
A well-written corporate blog creates awareness and credibility, builds trust with your prospects, and establishes you as a thought leader in your industry. B2B purchasers and influencers do a lot of research before purchasing products for their companies, so having compelling content on your blog is crucial. Consider hiring freelancers to write for you, or do guest posts on other industry blogs if your bandwidth is limited.
A B2B YouTube Channel
This is particularly effective for B2B service companies. It lets you create the awareness of your services, and explains them the way you want. You’ll get extra points if your videos are creative and/or use existing employees in them, because viewers will remember and trust you. Interview upper management or product line managers, create how-to videos, and record presentations.
Use Twitter
While not an obvious platform to use for B2B companies, it can be particularly effective at engaging your community and creating awareness of your products and services. It’s also good at enhancing your existing social media efforts. So when you write a new blog post or create a new YouTube video, send out a tweet for it. Use it to inform visitors of a trade show or conference. Generate conversation with your own hashtag.
Create Connections with LinkedIn
Attract new prospects with a compelling company profile on LinkedIn. It’s primarily known as a professional social media site, but if you take advantage of all it offers, you’ll attract new customers easily. Your LinkedIn strategy should include:
- Your service descriptions on your company profile page
- Creating new groups and participating in existing ones
- Asking and answering questions
Go where the crowd is: Google+
SocialMediaB2B.com gives four compelling reasons about why you should be using Google+ for your B2B company, but the one I’ll focus on is the number of active users: 343 million active users. Even if just a portion of those are B2B customers, influencers, or purchasers, that’s a lot of people who could be seeing your pages.
How are you using social media to resolve customer service issues, promote your products and services, and engage your community? Have a new and innovative way to use social media for your B2B company? What are your top social media platforms for B2B?
