B2B social media: a spring 2016 review
What I love about working at Say is that I have time to experiment with all the new toys that are developed on social platforms every day. So with the knowledge of all these tools of the digital trade I couldn’t help but make a list of the main trends that clients and I can leverage for B2B social media for the rest of 2016.
Targeted outreach
This year, marketers can definitely expect their messages to go wider and deeper. There are more professionals active on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook than ever before, and depending on the targeted region, lesser-known networks can be leveraged to deliver a localised experience – XING, anyone? Moreover, online promotion and advertising options have been enhanced in all the main social networks. This allows companies to accurately select the professionals they want to reach and fine-tune messages in order to increase the click-through and engagement rates.
LinkedIn sponsored updates targeting options revealed
Live action!
B2B social media is likely to push companies to think strategically about the future while acting in the present. Forget about the tedious and messy #Twitterchat: live streaming options are on the rise. Live video broadcasting applications such as Periscope or Meerkat can help B2B companies to stimulate interest during product launches and trade events, increase the visibility of a debate at a conference or take training and ‘behind the scenes’ videos to a whole new level.
LIVE on #Periscope: TSA preparations are underway from the site of the #SuperBowl https://t.co/KL0rchZ7Ny
— TSA (@TSA) February 4, 2016
The Transportation Security Administration livestreaming the security operations for the Super Bowl 50
Co-creation
We have been stressing the importance of leveraging Influencers for years, and their significance will only increase. As news feeds become cluttered with corporate messages and the audiences become anaesthetised to sponsored updates and in-mails, influencers will become a major component for communicating B2B messages. Being mentioned in an expert’s blog, post or video will be crucial to cut through the noise and deliver qualified referrals to the company website. However, these are just basic tactics. The more that companies do in partnership with opinion formers to co-create content, the bigger the results in the long run.
P.S. If you are unsure about how to pick your influencers, check Forbes’ formula: Influence = Audience Reach (# of followers) x Brand Affinity (expertise and credibility) x Strength of Relationship with Followers
Thank You @cigitalgem Gary McGraw for the great #Keynote session "A Decade of Software Security". #ConnectDev16 pic.twitter.com/ACChfa06wY
— Genetec Inc. (@genetec) February 5, 2016
An expert is invited to open corporate presentation. The event is live on twitter, and assets such as video, pictures, and interviews are developed for future social media distribution.
The rise of the millennials
Finally, as millennials assume leadership roles, B2B social media will increasingly become a standard practice and the impact of social on messages will increase. Companies and employees will become more confident in the way they communicate; professionals will open up and freely discuss products and services online; support requests and sales chats on social networks will sky-rocket – it’s not a surprise that Zuckerberg is investing more in Messenger than in Facebook.
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The US ageing workforces changes the social networks’ users demographic .
Which of these B2B social media trends will have the most impact on your messages? Tell us in the comments section and feel free to add your predictions as well.
– Written by Federico M.
