Small businesses know the power of connecting with customers on social media, especially Facebook. While many people still think that Facebook is limited to a B2C community, that is not the case. This social media platform is essential for B2B organizations looking to attract the right prospects and strengthen customer relationships. If you are looking to get the most out of Facebook, read on.
Simple Steps for Big Impact
In her Social Media Examiner article “5 Ways B2B Marketers Use Facebook,”
Joanne Sweeney-Burke explores how B2B brands leverage this social media platform, outlined and summarized briefly below into key tips.
Visually Show Expert Status
Third-party affirmation is big for attracting the right B2B clients, as it provides “proof” of your offerings and brand reputation. If your business has been recognized in a round up of the best providers, or if someone in your organization has been featured as an “expert” in something (i.e. article, whitepaper, Q&A), this needs to be told in a way that people will take notice. How do you do that? You need to do it visually, since “posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement than those without.”
Take the time to create a graphic that stands out and will stop a prospective client mid-scroll. When introducing this news, don’t bury the lead with unnecessary text. Stick to the “big” headline of why it’s important and provide the link. Make your visual so good it’s impossible not to read more about your huge win.
Feature a Recurring Facebook Live Show
Did you know that Facebook reports users watch live videos three times longer than they watch pre-recorded videos? That’s pretty incredible when you consider that Facebook is home to 1.65 billion people worldwide, posing potentially huge opportunities for your business.
First, think about the content that is worthy of a live show. What will make your audience invest the time to watch it? Once you have irresistible topics to cover, create your show schedule, and publish it ahead of time with plenty of advertising to maximize your audience when you hit the airwaves. Once the day arrives, make sure you are prepared and give such a stellar performance that people can’t wait to virtually attend your next show. And, as an added bonus, the more that people see you, the more they trust your brand and feel a part of the story. That’s no small accomplishment.
Create Facebook Ads for Prospect Audiences
Most businesses establish themselves on Facebook for the customer data and the capabilities to reach existing and prospective customers. In the B2B arena, Facebook can provide data on leads and “warm” prospects. This article recommends creating your own “warm audiences” through Facebook ads by installing the Facebook tracking pixel on your website. This pixel looks at anyone who comes to your website via Facebook and adds them to a custom audience that can be retargeted with Facebook ads. This ad should be all about value (free eBook, white paper, webinar, etc.) and should be supported very visibly on your website that requires sign up (aka essential customer data) to obtain these great resources. As a final logistic, selecting “Send People to Your Website” as your Facebook ad objective puts this process into place.
Leverage “Instant Articles”
Have you heard of Facebook’s Instant Articles? It allows you to promote content within Facebook at loading speeds10 times faster than standard mobile web articles. Why is this important? This article says that “readers are 70% less likely to abandon instant articles, and people share them an average of 30% more often than mobile web articles, amplifying the reach of your stories in the news feed.” With these powerful statistics in mind, do the work to create amazing content (with the help of visuals and audio clips) that is powered with the right keywords to reach your B2B audience and prospects.
Create Native Video
Facebook has a staggering average of 8 billion video views per day. In fact, branded video content has a 148% greater reach than photo posts. Your native video content is obviously specific and dependent to your organization, but research finds that most are people-oriented. Find the right person in your organization to be the star of these videos and ensure your content (product-focused, educational videos, etc.) is important and topical enough to make your audience take the time to listen.
Value First…
In all of these strategies and examples, the content is focused on providing value to your B2B audience, not about hard selling your own company and products. It’s important to establish yourself as a trusted resource to get those sales.
How is your B2B Facebook strategy working? Are there any other key tips for success you would add to this list?
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Reference: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-ways-b2b-marketers-use-facebook/