A few weeks ago, on #marketochat, we discussed How to Increase Your B2B Social Media Engagement with Social Media Influencer, Neal Shaffer. Today, having social media presence is a necessity for any B2B organization. So how can organizations not only participate in social media but succeed and drive social media engagement? In this blog, we’ll cover Neal Shaffer’s answers to five critical questions on how brands can increase social engagement across the variety of social media channels.
What Are the Core Elements in Any Good Social Engagement Strategy?
People like to be heard and want to know that their thoughts and opinions matter. This is the case with social media as well, it is critical that you listen to your audience and understand what they are looking for in order to achieve greater engagement.
When looking at interactions with your audience on Twitter, it is more important to care about the quality of the engagement rather than the quantity especially since the different types of engagement do different things for your business.
Are There Certain Social Channels You Recommend B2B Marketers Focus on More Than Others? If So, Why or Why Not?
First and foremost, it is important to be where your customers are. With so many different social media channels, customers are everywhere and you have to determine which channels receive the most engagement and interaction from your targeted audience. It is essential to spend the time and do the research about each channel. Before you determine if it’s right for your audience you should learn the lay of the land, including the rules of engagement—because each channel has its own language.
What Tips Can You Give B2B Marketers Trying to Build Their Twitter Following?
The best way to represent your own brand is through your own content or by curating content. This gives your audience a sense of where your company stands within a particular industry and what type of followers you are trying to reach.
It is also important to remember to engage with others you want to follow. Twitter magic can work, but only after you engage and make those connections to form relationships. These relationships that you establish can also be beneficial in the sharing of content and ideas.
In addition, hosting weekly or monthly tweet chats are a great way to interact with your audience. It gives you an opportunity to connect with your followers or new users who are joining into your chat for the first time. Through chats, you can find out what your audience is interested in and what topics they engage with more.
What Are the Most Effective Ways for B2B Marketers to Increase Facebook Engagement?
Paid social, groups, videos, and Livestream are the most effective ways to increase Facebook engagement. Facebook has so many different ways for you to target very specific groups of people with paid advertisements. This allows you to more effectively target leads, as you can focus your paid advertisements on the people who will likely respond and interact with it.
How Can B2B Marketers Leverage LinkedIn for Engagement?
Marketers can publish posts to gain credibility and a position as an expert in your industry. You can do this through sharing your own content as well as relevant articles to your industry and what you are interested in.
It is also a great place for employee advocacy opportunities as you can have your employees share the content you are creating to reach even greater audiences.
What Metrics Do You Think Are Most Relevant for B2B Marketers to Track?
When looking at engagement, you should look at the ratio of engagement and followers. This will allow you to figure out if you are reaching a broader audience outside of your followers or see if you are potentially only reaching your follower base. It is important to know this information so that you can change your social media strategy according to your needs whether that is a need to focus on reaching more people outside your following or trying to maintain your current follower base.
You can also look at click through rates to determine, which content your audience engages with compared to the content they do not. This will give you insight into the type of content you should create more of and what content you should revise to appeal more to your audience.
Final Thoughts
No matter what your end objective is, whether it is to achieve more engagement or learn how to use a different channel to better fit the needs of your customers, the first step is to research that channel and become familiar with the language used. After acquainting yourself with the channel, develop a strategy for curating and sharing content. Once you start receiving engagement and build a following, pay attention to what posts work and don’t work because the more your content is shared the more potential you have to reach new audiences and maybe go viral.
Interested in learning more from thought leaders? Be sure to join us on Periscope and Facebook Live Thursday, August 10 at 1 pm PST for Best Practices for Building and Maintaining a Marketing and Sales Partnership with guest Hally Pinaud, Principal Product Marketing Manager for Marketo.
