Social media marketing
I’ve been having so many interesting conversations with colleagues and clients lately about the potential of social media marketing.
The other day, I was speaking to a marketer about his personal engagement with socials. He explained that he’s interested in stocks and currencies and likes to stay informed. But to do this he doesn’t read the Financial Times or any other news outlet for that matter. Instead, he scrolls through his curated feed of social media, in this case Instagram.
My point is that so many people now choose to stay informed this way. Traditional news media is still relevant. But busy people are increasingly using socials to get tailored info fast.
So how can you make the most of this shift? Well in B2B marketing this may be easier than you think.
A step-by-step
Beyond the company’s social media presence you need faces and names. The best people to raise your profile are already embedded in the business. They just need the right push/assistance to help share their expertise. These are often – but not exclusively – salespeople or senior management. In my experience, they’re familiar with the medium but they haven’t posted much. They prefer to observe or simply ‘like’ things.
But consider this.
LinkedIn has over 740 million users worldwide. It’s one of the biggest opportunities for you to reach potential partners and clients. But did you know that only 3 million of those users (>1%) share content weekly. Those >1% of people are netting 9 billion impressions on the site.
Together with their marketing colleagues I’ve been guiding a lot of new potential spokespeople on how to get started. So here are some quick pointers:
1) You know your market
This is important. You are an expert. So, what are you interested in? What kind of work are you doing lately and what would you like to do more of? What challenges are you facing?
Specificity is key because you don’t want to talk to everyone. You want to reach your audience and people take notice of stuff that sounds like their world.
2) Engage people
It’s fine to add a call to action at the end of a post but why not leverage your network? At (@) individuals and ask for their thoughts. Not only are you fostering engagement but you’re also complimenting a connection. You’re offering up an opportunity for them to showcase their knowledge.
3) Consistency
This is non-negotiable. You likely don’t have the capacity to post weekly and that’s OK. What matters is posting regularly. Start with monthly and see how you go. If you’re working with a marketer, they can help you generate a plan quarterly based around important dates and activities, news and so on. They may even write them for you!
I’d love to know if these tips helped you or get in touch if you’d like to talk about building your social media presence.
