Social media platforms have long established themselves as vital tools for B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing, helping businesses engage in conversations with customers on Facebook, Instagram, X or even TikTok.
However, B2B (business-to-business) companies can benefit from social media too. By using a more business-orientated platform like LinkedIn, B2B businesses can expand their reach and attract new customers. Generic product posts are a staple for many businesses but over-relying on them can feel too ‘salesly’ and disengage your audience. Therefore, the challenge is knowing how to diversify your content and keep your audience interested and engaged.
As East Anglia’s leading B2B marketing agency – working alongside businesses in manufacturing, engineering, logistics, technology and construction – social media is something we extensively deliver. So, in this blog, we’re looking at why social media is important for B2B businesses and how you can tailor content to contribute to a successful LinkedIn strategy.
Why is social media important for B2B businesses?
Social media is crucial for B2B businesses as it can significantly increase awareness of your brand, showcasing who you are and what you do to a broader audience.
LinkedIn is particularly effective for B2B companies as it caters to a professional audience of other businesses – making it the ideal platform to directly reach and interact with your target audience.
By actively engaging on social media, your business can demonstrate its industry expertise and build relationships, trust and reputation with potential and existing customers.
Tailoring content to meet audience interests
Before you begin posting on LinkedIn, it is best to first understand who your audience is and what they want from you in order to create posts that interest them.
Try to identify some demographic factors (such as age and job role), needs and interests and common pain points that your followers may have. For example, if you’re a manufacturer of greenhouse control technology, your customer’s pain points may stem from poor growing conditions, outdated greenhouse technology or a lack of control technology.
By outlining these points, you can start to tailor your content to address their key needs. This will allow you to engage more with your audience by making your posts more relevant and valuable to them.
Creating effective content for your posts
Once you’ve identified your audience and found some inspiration for your content, the next stage is to create the post. Here are some content types we have found work well for our clients:
Achievements – your followers like to hear about your business’ achievements, large or small. This could be as simple as reaching a certain number of followers – or something more meaningful like launching a new product. Either way, this shows your audience that your business is successful and growing
Case studies – by showcasing your capabilities and products in-action, your followers can understand how you can help solve their problems
Industry-related – by commenting on recent industry developments, you can inform your customers of what’s going on in the industry and establish expertise in the market. Similarly, by sharing informative posts of industry trends, you can come across as knowledgeable and trustworthy
Events – attending events, exhibitions and conferences shows that your business is actively seeking opportunities and valuable connections
People – sharing people-centric posts about your team and their personalities humanises your business! It’s a powerful tool to connect with others online and often generates the most engagement
Keeping content fresh
Coming up with content ideas for your LinkedIn posts can become a challenge after a period of regular posting.
While it’s typically best to talk about something currently happening in your business – like a new employee, achievement or ongoing project – there will also be times when nothing newsworthy is going on. That’s when you can take inspiration from other sources!
Sharing news stories or industry trends are good ways to generate content ideas. Regularly commenting on and engaging with current market and economic trends demonstrates your expertise and positions you as an industry leader.
Another approach is to align your content with awareness days or events that relate to your business or the countries you operate in – there’s a day for almost anything! For example, for logistics companies, this could be any awareness day relating to road safety, sustainable transport or technology. These posts are a fun way to engage with your audience while still staying relevant to your industry.
Supporting charity-related days (such as Wear it Pink Day for breast cancer awareness or Movember for men’s health) demonstrates your business’s human and caring side.
Finally, you can often find inspiration by reviewing other business’s posts. By putting your own unique spin on similar topics, this can help stay relevant while offering fresh perspectives.
Using the LinkedIn algorithm to your advantage
As well as having interesting content for your posts, for your social media strategy to succeed and reach a wider audience, it’s essential to understand and work with LinkedIn’s algorithm.
One key factor to consider is limiting the use of external links, as LinkedIn prefers content that keeps users on its platform. While it’s fine to include links occasionally – such as when sharing a news article – using them in every post can hinder your reach.
On the other hand, mentions (such as tagging in individuals and companies) can significantly increase your reach since the post will also appear to the connections of those you tag. However, it’s important to only tag people directly involved with your post. Over-tagging random connections can make your post look ‘spammy’!
When it comes to content type; videos, photos and carousels typically do better than plain text posts since they’re eye-catching and create more interaction. To find out what type of posts work best for your business and audience, you can use LinkedIn’s analytics tools to track metrics like impressions, clicks and engagement.
Analysing this data will help refine your content strategy for better impact and engagement.
Greater success for your B2B social media strategy
Many B2B businesses post on LinkedIn. However, some can struggle when it comes to continuously creating interesting and engaging content that resonates with their followers.
As East Anglia’s leading B2B marketing agency, we work with businesses across the UK – in sectors including manufacturing, engineering, technology, logistics and business services – to help them deliver tailored and engaging posts on LinkedIn. By creating genuinely valuable content, using LinkedIn’s features to our clients’ advantage and analysing performance, we ensure that our clients stand out and succeed in building lasting connections with their target audience.
You can find out more here