As B2B technology-oriented companies build out their marketing strategies and tactical plans, many CEOs and VPs of Marketing are still finding themselves asking the following question: should our organization be on social media? The answer is: absolutely!
In a recent B2B technology content marketing report, 96% of those surveyed reported using social media content as their go-to content marketing tactic in their organization. Because of the increasing usage of social media and the importance of social media as a channel, having a strong presence on social media platforms is now a necessity rather than an afterthought.
Social media marketing can help you:
- Partner with industry influencers who have amassed a large follower base.
- Generate leads and amplify your content’s performance with paid social ads.
- Engage with potential leads and existing customers.
There are six essential steps to building an effective and comprehensive social
media marketing plan:
- Set goals that are aligned to your business objectives. Is your organization focused on increasing brand awareness, generating leads and/or establishing your brand as thought leaders and industry experts?
- Create a social media policy with a B2B copywriter for your organization. Developing a social media policy will provide your company with guidelines on the type of content that is acceptable to post, provide your team with the proper procedures to respond to other social media users and help you avoid potential legal issues.
- Determine what social media networks make sense for your organization. For B2B organizations, LinkedIn is a must, but Twitter, Facebook and YouTube should also be strongly considered.
- Develop an organic and paid social strategy. Promoted posts will increase your social reach and boost your chances of being seen by your target audience.
- Consider leveraging a social media management tool such as Hootsuite, Buffer or SproutSocial to effectively manage your accounts. Social media management tools can help you monitor what others are saying about your brand, measure against your competitors and schedule content in advance to always fresh posts across your platforms.
- Implement metrics that you want to measure against to determine effectiveness of efforts. Based on the goals you establish, test various forms of content in your social posts to see which lead to the most audience engagement (shares, link clicks, comments).