In today’s digital climate, social media marketing is on a steady trend upward – and not just for B2C firms. Global Business Agency Omobono conducted a survey of 115 B2B marketing specialists and found that 79% listed social media as their most effective marketing channel. 38% of respondents even said they would allocate excess budget to their social media. It’s a facet of marketing strategy that just can’t be ignored.
While content is king, there is something to be said about the way content is integrated in your social media strategy – especially if you’re looking after multiple channels. Here are Weber Associates’ 5 key insights for strategically integrating your content across your social media channels.
1.) Know your audience – while this is a well-known starting place for content creation, the principle is a little different for content integration. While creating your content you think about what your target demographic wants to see from your channel, but special consideration should be taken when investigating your demographic’s social media usage. Each social media channel has a different core base of users, and putting your content out at any time on any platform is a more of a shotgun approach to reaching your target users. Consider researching when your users are online and which platform they’re most likely to use. For example, according to the Content Marketing Institute, Instagram has been found to be just 24% effective for B2B firms, while LinkedIn is 63% effective. LinkedIn posts then get the most engagement between 8am and 11am on weekdays (according to SproutSocial.com.) With this quick research we’ve found a much more effective time and place to post content for a B2B audience.
2.) Know your channels – each social media channel has its own delicate ecosystem to take into consideration. Certain kinds of posts do better on particular channels, and users interact with posts differently on each channel. Generally B2B firms should focus on more professional networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, as they tend to have a more professional audience full of people better positioned to take interest in B2B industries, but that doesn’t mean that Instagram and Twitter should be ignored. These “less professional” networks still allow for you to show off projects (particularly if you work in a creative industry) and signal that you are up to date with industry trends and news.
3.) Balance your original content with shared content – social media helps you build trust with your target buyers. By sharing content that is industry-relevant you build credibility and a more positive reputation. As an added bonus, sharing content can give you wiggle room in your posting schedule, take the pressure off your content producers, and get you noticed by other content creators.
4.) Keep your branding consistent – another insight that seems obvious. While your marketers, designers, and copywriters likely keep this in mind when preparing your content, they’re still different people with different perspectives. The goal when branding your social content is not to erase the personalities of your team, but to combine them into one big personality to represent your firm. Language, tone, and style should remain consistent from post to post and from channel to channel. Consider developing a social media marketing toolkit with examples, post templates, and separate standards geared just toward social media (although these should align with your general brand standards as well.) This allows for a consistent experience on your channel despite multiple people managing your social media presence.
5.) Manage your overlap – stop blindly cross-posting your content! Each channel has its own tone of language, image formatting, and caption length, and that’s ignoring the obvious difference in audience. Cross-posting feels like a win when you’re able to produce content for one channel and still keep all your channels active, but it can easily come off as sloppy and lazy to viewers. A simple solution to keep your content fresh and professional comes from Hootsuite.com:
“Craft a new message for every network and post!”
Even just minor tweaks like resizing an image or removing an Instagram handle can give a post new life on a new platform, but if you’re able to rewrite the caption or change the media with your post, your social media presence will come across much more thoughtful and professional.
Keeping your business’s social media channels looking sharp is more important than ever as digital media continues to blend into the daily lives of our customers and partners. Keeping up with these five key insights helps to position your content in the best lighting possible, keeping it ready for your target audience to find it.
About Weber Associates
Weber Associates is a Columbus, OH-based consulting firm. Since 1985, we have blended the creativity of a marketing agency with the analytical rigor of a consultancy to help our clients solve real sales and marketing challenges so they can significantly grow revenues and customer loyalty.
