Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when people seek clear messaging, proactive communication can be crucial for B2B success. To build customers’ trust, B2B businesses must anticipate questions, provide timely updates and information to customers and be prepared to pivot to new communication strategies. Given the popularity of social media, using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as tools for B2B marketing, communication, customer service and even lead generation can provide brands a huge advantage. These channels can also make it easier for customers to find your company and build relationships with your brand.
Consider these tips for B2B businesses on how to use social media to manage customer relationships:
Provide unique, personalized content
Social media can be oversaturated with information, so be sure to create eye-catching posts that provide relevant messaging for your audience. While B2B content should always be professional and pertinent to your business, it can also help humanize your brand.
General best practices for social media apply, including the following:
Share an image with every post – content with imagery or video performs better across all social channels. Take, for example, this informative and striking image from New Frontier Data on Facebook:
Utilize relevant hashtags – keep it to two or three so as not to overshadow your post or cast too wide a net. In this example, Kenshoo simply used three hashtags on LinkedIn to maximize engagement without distracting from their content:
Engage with other brands by tagging partnering businesses or liking, sharing or commenting on any newsworthy posts as appropriate; you can also do the same with reporters who cover your business, professional employee social media accounts and, in some cases, customer accounts. Logistyx retweeted some relevant third-party news to share with their followers on Twitter:
Balance consistency and variation – don’t always post the exact same type of content, but consider developing a pattern that helps your page’s content feel cohesive and creates some level of brand uniformity.
Use your social channels to offer timely content and updates from your brand that help your customers. Whether you share information about your latest webinar or white paper, a post about an article featuring your brand or a recent executive quote, you’ll keep your followers engaged and informed about your brand.
Respond to Customer Questions and Comments
When set up to do so with the proper personnel and information at hand, social media can be used to answer customer questions and comments effectively and efficiently. This can take pressure off customer service teams and offer another way to help customers, thereby giving them a convenient, positive experience with your company.
For large or global B2B companies with a high volume of customer questions, this may require monitoring social media around-the-clock. Smaller companies fielding fewer questions typically should respond within 24 hours. Whatever method and cadence work best for your company, be sure to communicate expected turnaround time for answers with your customers by updating your business description.
Prepare a resource library for your social media team, including responses to common questions, pre-written language and links to include, and places to turn for help if a question requires more information or expertise.
Be sure to develop a protocol for how to handle unhappy customers or other types of negative comments. Only hide or delete comments that include obvious spam or hateful, off-topic or inaccurate language.
Keep Your Brand Top of Mind
By developing a regular social media posting cadence and sticking to it, while keeping content focused on customers’ needs, interests and specific business goals, B2B companies can effectively enhance customer engagement and better educate their audiences about their products and services.
No matter how good the content, it must reach your audience to be effective. While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn tend to perform best for B2B businesses, if your audience tends to favor Twitter, you may want to consider including some paid social media posts on this platform or posting more regularly. Pay attention to follower engagement in each channel and adjust social media strategies accordingly to meet customers’ needs more effectively.
By following these guidelines, B2B businesses can ensure they provide professional content personalized to their audiences, while helping amplify their products and services to a wider customer base.
Utilizing social media to share consistent and practical information, employing flexible strategies, and fostering engagement helps B2B businesses build long-term customer confidence and brand loyalty.
For help getting your social media up and running or taking it to the next level, drop PR Return a line.