5 Tips on Better Facebook Marketing for B2B Companies
Facebook has been a fantastic tool for reaching consumers frankly for many B2C brands. But can companies focused in the B2B industry use Facebook to enhance a reputation and grow new business? Unquestionably.
Quite a few B2B companies are fruitfully by Facebook to build vital relationships with prospects and customers. If your B2B company is still considering where Facebook might fit within an online marketing mix, here are five tips on building a Facebook fan page that will better support a B2B brand:
1. Make Two Way Conversation – Rather than by Facebook to simply push out news at the consultation, spend time understanding the challenges potential customers face. Search online by keywords and watch other social tools like Twitter to find out current concerns the butt consultation is facing. Be a resource to potential customers by providing content and insight that will help them alleviate the problems.
After establishing a relationship with fan page followers, encourage them to provide input on the content being mutual. Question questions of followers and use responses to make content that will keep them connected to the brand. eMarketer does a excellent job at this.
2. Connect a Community – Make opportunities for fans to come together and share clear experiences with each other. Oracle is an example that has built a page providing valuable professional content, news, and fans discuss or share frankly on the page.
The best advocates are pleased customers already engaged with a B2B company’s product or services. Highlight success tales on the page and let followers see the value provided to similar companies. Should there be a negative comment, which scares many B2B companies, address it with understanding and sincerity. In most cases, intelligibility and listening go a long way in stemming off negative feedback.
3. Build Relationships – Often era B2B involves a greater commitment than simple retail transactions. Sales cycles can be long and, as the ancient saying goes, you’re more likely to do business with someone you know. Facebook is a house to let you brand personality shine – let them see who you are. According to a survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate, customers are more likely to buy from companies they track via social media. By putting a face to a brand it is doable to position your brand as a resource that will be the first call for that follower when the time comes to make a buy choice.
4. Cross Promote Content – Use Facebook as an vehicle to share fascinating content that’s been made elsewhere. B2B companies should consider re-purposing photos and video from promotional materials or industry events. SAP utilizes photos well and has a large number submitted by other users. Brands need to know that not all contacts are fully engaged with every promotional effort. Don’t assume that if a message has been mutual in one channel that it needs to be retired.
Connecting a blog feed to Facebook will increase the likelihood content will reach prospects through another social channel. By connecting and cross-promoting, a B2B blog will reach the parapet of current fans and potentially new contacts if that information is mutual.
5. Make it Shareable – Content that is fascinating or fun will be mutual more widely than a bland corporate statement. This applies to companies of any size or customer focus. Providing a list of copy-heavy pages is not going to help reach new targets because unknown is excited to share dull content.
Be creative and know that humor, visual appeal, and brevity all increase your chances of having your content go through Facebook. Seeking a excellent example? Look at the creative holiday play from Cisco. A small video can convey a lot about a company and its culture. Companies that make content with sharing in mind are able to extend the reach of content significantly and build memorable connections for potential customers.
Facebook marketing for B2B companies isn’t restricted to the mega corporations. At the core, it comes down to building meaningful relationships. If customer focused and creative, B2B companies can reap greater rewards from online marketing than many retails giants in the form of long-term customers.
Be sure to check out TopRank’s Facebook page for news, resources and discussion we don’t cover here on the blog.
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