3 Social Media Myths Many B2B Companies Believe

 

Business-to-business-Social- MediaB2C businesses have spent years utilizing social media to drive customers to their brands; however, many B2B companies have been a little more hesitant to actively engage in social media campaigns and strategies. At Ripley PR, we encourage our clients to actively engage on social media, as we believe it’s a vital part of their B2B public relations strategies.  Actively engaging in social media is important for building brand recognition, interacting with customers, and showcasing a company’s expertise in an industry. Yet, many B2B companies still unsure about making use of this tool, often due to these three common myths:

Myth #1:  Social media takes a lot of time, and I am too busy.  
Know that saying, “Failing to plan is planning to fail?” The same concept is true for planning your social media efforts.  Developing a social media strategy and calendar will not only help you build a timeline for posts, blog promotions, and updates, but will also help you build value into your company’s social media efforts. It’s also important to incorporate social media into other marketing and public relations initiatives, as this is key to strong social media engagement.  Also, setting up email alerts for when your company receives messages or comments can help you monitor feedback quickly.

Myth #2: Our customers are not on social media, so we do not need social media.   
Currently, more than 73 percent of all Internet users are on social media, and even though it may seem like certain industries are not on social, it’s probably safe to guess that some leaders and decision makers within that industry are engaged within at least one social media outlet.

In June 2014:
•    Facebook – 1.23 billion monthly active users
•    Twitter – 255 million monthly active users
•    LinkedIn – 300 million monthly unique visitors
•    Google+ – 540 million monthly active users

It’s important to take time to evaluate and determine your target audience.  Just like you would in planning a marketing or advertising campaign, identify key audiences.  The goal is to reach new industry leaders, share insight and expertise, and highlight company developments and announcements.  Each social media platform offers different types of engagement, and it’s important to evaluate and understand how each platform can improve social engagement for a company.

Myth #3: Our content is not exciting.  
When planning a social media strategy, it’s important to consider the overall goals of the company and identify their target audience.  It’s also important to incorporate upcoming announcements, industry trends and recent research findings into the social media plan too.  Creating a calendar and plan for posts will help you identify which social media platforms are best for your company to engage in.  Just because a business uses one or two social media platforms does not mean it needs to use all of them.  In fact, one of the worst things a company can do is to create a social media account and rarely update it.

Social media can enhance your public relations and marketing efforts, while also providing an avenue for customers to offer feedback and read updates on your company’s products and services.  It’s important to remember that social media is not a standalone form of communication; however, incorporating it into a B2B public relations strategy is key into building brand recognition, increasing SEO, and even promoting a company as an expert within an industry.  To learn more about developing a B2B social media strategy, contact the experts at Ripley PR.

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