Selling without selling on social media
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 6:14 am
Each company is a world, as we have seen in other articles on segmentation , that there are multiple variables that help us better understand the behavior of companies, and therefore, of our target audience when we talk about B2B environments.
A “big” challenge that many of our clients face is that their target audience is not so digital these days, and in fact, they don’t even have social media profiles, which sometimes makes it harder to find those decision-makers in a digital way, since social media has become one of the preferred marketing tools to begin their transformation to the digital world, but unlike B2C environments, in B2B it is more common than we think that some companies do not even have social media.
Sometimes it happens that the company does have active social media profiles, but the accounts they are targeting do not. The same happens with buyers, either because they are not decision-makers, or because they do not have decision-making influence or because they consider that they do not contribute, nor do they have personal profiles (for example LinkedIn ) with which they can interact.
b2b-without-social-media
I recommend not dispensing with your social media profiles as a valuable element for the sales process . Just because your target audience doesn't have them, doesn't mean they can be important in your strategy and support the rest of the actions to improve your digital presence. Many times someone hears about your company or has doubts about vp facility managers email lists whether to hire you or not and can do a quick search on your presence to gain more confidence when making the decision. For example, if you have a completely empty or outdated social network it can make a very bad impression, so make sure you share quality, original content on a regular basis. Specifically, some of the following aspects can be useful to you:
More than 90% of the audience moves in the dark funnel, that is, they do not express themselves or interact with your company, but they do look for you, look at your digital assets and if you have a social network, they can find you there.
It is a simple way, even more so than a blog, to keep your business up to date. It allows you to publish news, messages of interest, events, etc., without the demands and work of a blog and without the rigid model of press releases.
You can start from very little and go further; you don't need, like for example a website, almost everything to be finished when you launch the final version of the product. On a social network you build as you go and you interact with your audience.
They work very well on mobile and more than 70% of B2B business owners use mobile for their searches.
It helps you position yourself in search engines. Not everything has to be via website, with social networks you can achieve interesting organic positioning.
It helps you stand out from your competitors because it makes your style unique, something that can be very useful when it comes to highlighting your product or service.
You can keep the content to a minimum, but always post about your company and industry, with news or articles of interest. This exercise will help define your digital brand image, so make sure you make a good impression. You don't need to invest too much in generating content , since your audience probably won't see it in a reactive way, just take care of them in case a prospect asks for more information about your company.
You don't need all the social networks either, choose a couple of them like LinkedIm, Facebook or Twitter, plan the content you will publish each month and if you leave it automated with a tool like Hootsuite , you will be more efficient and publish in a more professional way, at regular intervals. You can also use Zapier to connect pieces or HubSpot .
Another important point is to monitor them, since once you have created them, you could receive messages, doubts, questions, leads, etc., and if you do not monitor them, you will give a very sloppy image of your company and its customer service.
How to connect with your audience outside of social media?
You already know that your target audience, or the majority, does not use social media as you would like, so we have to see what alternatives we have to generate awareness and engagement in B2B environments. I bet you didn't know that:
On Pinterest, 70% of the audience are women aged 25-54 with a household income of over 100k/USD per year.
Snapchat users spend more than 40 minutes a day sharing and viewing information, 70% of them under 30 years old.
LinkedIn is searched for and consulted before your company's website 2 out of 3 times. But this means that paid campaigns are the most expensive due to the quality of the audience .
Facebook is one of the platforms where audience - based campaigns work best because it allows you to search for profiles similar to current customers with very good results.
News travels faster on Twitter than on any other media outlet, and it is the tool most used by many journalists to find out what is happening in the world in real time.
Instagram is one of the best tools to promote your business if you provide an experiential service. Photography and design engage your audience .
That Medium is one of the best platforms to create reference content and share it with the community.
TikTok is the phenomenon of 2020 and will continue to be so in the coming months.
Be an expert in the subject
You need to create useful content to position yourself as an expert and solve the problems that people in your audience may have when they look for solutions. Without a doubt, having a good content repository or blog is crucial, where you can present problems and solutions. On the other hand, the use of tools such as webinars can help us in the dissemination of content and positioning as experts. This is the concept known as Thought Leadership Content .
On all social networks you can establish a real conversation and a connection with your audience that is different from any other platform, much more direct and even more valuable than what can be built on your website or at your point of sale. It is your showcase, and whoever comes to you is predisposed to you for guidance and advice.
Podcasts
Podcasts are increasingly used for very specific content. They have the advantage that you can listen to them whenever you want while you go to work, to school with the children, etc., so they are becoming more and more common in our lives. There are many types, informative, entertainment, etc., which can give you the opportunity to connect in a very deep way with your target audience.
Studies and Whitepapers
Writing content in these formats as a result of research will provide you with key positioning and authority in the subject matter. This way, you will be able to connect with your audience from a better position. The combination of data analysis together with interviews will help you establish a better connection and position yourself as a leader within the industry. In whitepapers, the problem/solution approach is more common, and it is very interesting to close with a product or service that solves it.
So as you can see, there are several ways to approach creating a link with your target audience when they are not on social media. Consider what content can be useful and possibly shared with your audience and don't forget to maintain and take care of everything you create, I mean social media profiles, or else it could be counterproductive.
A “big” challenge that many of our clients face is that their target audience is not so digital these days, and in fact, they don’t even have social media profiles, which sometimes makes it harder to find those decision-makers in a digital way, since social media has become one of the preferred marketing tools to begin their transformation to the digital world, but unlike B2C environments, in B2B it is more common than we think that some companies do not even have social media.
Sometimes it happens that the company does have active social media profiles, but the accounts they are targeting do not. The same happens with buyers, either because they are not decision-makers, or because they do not have decision-making influence or because they consider that they do not contribute, nor do they have personal profiles (for example LinkedIn ) with which they can interact.
b2b-without-social-media
I recommend not dispensing with your social media profiles as a valuable element for the sales process . Just because your target audience doesn't have them, doesn't mean they can be important in your strategy and support the rest of the actions to improve your digital presence. Many times someone hears about your company or has doubts about vp facility managers email lists whether to hire you or not and can do a quick search on your presence to gain more confidence when making the decision. For example, if you have a completely empty or outdated social network it can make a very bad impression, so make sure you share quality, original content on a regular basis. Specifically, some of the following aspects can be useful to you:
More than 90% of the audience moves in the dark funnel, that is, they do not express themselves or interact with your company, but they do look for you, look at your digital assets and if you have a social network, they can find you there.
It is a simple way, even more so than a blog, to keep your business up to date. It allows you to publish news, messages of interest, events, etc., without the demands and work of a blog and without the rigid model of press releases.
You can start from very little and go further; you don't need, like for example a website, almost everything to be finished when you launch the final version of the product. On a social network you build as you go and you interact with your audience.
They work very well on mobile and more than 70% of B2B business owners use mobile for their searches.
It helps you position yourself in search engines. Not everything has to be via website, with social networks you can achieve interesting organic positioning.
It helps you stand out from your competitors because it makes your style unique, something that can be very useful when it comes to highlighting your product or service.
You can keep the content to a minimum, but always post about your company and industry, with news or articles of interest. This exercise will help define your digital brand image, so make sure you make a good impression. You don't need to invest too much in generating content , since your audience probably won't see it in a reactive way, just take care of them in case a prospect asks for more information about your company.
You don't need all the social networks either, choose a couple of them like LinkedIm, Facebook or Twitter, plan the content you will publish each month and if you leave it automated with a tool like Hootsuite , you will be more efficient and publish in a more professional way, at regular intervals. You can also use Zapier to connect pieces or HubSpot .
Another important point is to monitor them, since once you have created them, you could receive messages, doubts, questions, leads, etc., and if you do not monitor them, you will give a very sloppy image of your company and its customer service.
How to connect with your audience outside of social media?
You already know that your target audience, or the majority, does not use social media as you would like, so we have to see what alternatives we have to generate awareness and engagement in B2B environments. I bet you didn't know that:
On Pinterest, 70% of the audience are women aged 25-54 with a household income of over 100k/USD per year.
Snapchat users spend more than 40 minutes a day sharing and viewing information, 70% of them under 30 years old.
LinkedIn is searched for and consulted before your company's website 2 out of 3 times. But this means that paid campaigns are the most expensive due to the quality of the audience .
Facebook is one of the platforms where audience - based campaigns work best because it allows you to search for profiles similar to current customers with very good results.
News travels faster on Twitter than on any other media outlet, and it is the tool most used by many journalists to find out what is happening in the world in real time.
Instagram is one of the best tools to promote your business if you provide an experiential service. Photography and design engage your audience .
That Medium is one of the best platforms to create reference content and share it with the community.
TikTok is the phenomenon of 2020 and will continue to be so in the coming months.
Be an expert in the subject
You need to create useful content to position yourself as an expert and solve the problems that people in your audience may have when they look for solutions. Without a doubt, having a good content repository or blog is crucial, where you can present problems and solutions. On the other hand, the use of tools such as webinars can help us in the dissemination of content and positioning as experts. This is the concept known as Thought Leadership Content .
On all social networks you can establish a real conversation and a connection with your audience that is different from any other platform, much more direct and even more valuable than what can be built on your website or at your point of sale. It is your showcase, and whoever comes to you is predisposed to you for guidance and advice.
Podcasts
Podcasts are increasingly used for very specific content. They have the advantage that you can listen to them whenever you want while you go to work, to school with the children, etc., so they are becoming more and more common in our lives. There are many types, informative, entertainment, etc., which can give you the opportunity to connect in a very deep way with your target audience.
Studies and Whitepapers
Writing content in these formats as a result of research will provide you with key positioning and authority in the subject matter. This way, you will be able to connect with your audience from a better position. The combination of data analysis together with interviews will help you establish a better connection and position yourself as a leader within the industry. In whitepapers, the problem/solution approach is more common, and it is very interesting to close with a product or service that solves it.
So as you can see, there are several ways to approach creating a link with your target audience when they are not on social media. Consider what content can be useful and possibly shared with your audience and don't forget to maintain and take care of everything you create, I mean social media profiles, or else it could be counterproductive.