Granted, yes, LinkedIn currently has a monopoly on being the only professional social network, here are a few reasons to consider the other channels – for organic, paid or earned media.
Your customer isn't a company. It is a person within a company.
Your target audience in a business context – Head of XYZ, Procurement Manager, Trader etc has a life outside his/her work.
When they leave the office, they use their personal social media - well, maybe even in the office - and a lot more than they do LinkedIn.
Marketers who exclude sharing relevant business content on personal social media channels are missing a BIG opportunity.
"Marketers should be
behaviour- driven not platform- driven"
Understanding how, when, where and what business content is consumed by your audience at different stages of the: sales lifecycle, time of day, their personal interests, will help you reach them more effectively.
The type of content you drive on each platform should be different
Users use each platform differently, and each platform lends itself to different functionality. Instagram is visually led, Facebook allows for live interactions and faster interactions, for example.
Some great examples of using platforms differently in B2B include:
ANZ Business Banking
In 2016, ANZ Business Banking created a Facebook Live Video series featuring business topics in a live presentation and Q&A format.
Also impressive: It's a B2B Influencer campaign...featuring prominent entrepreneur (Red Balloon Founder) and business/TV personality Naomi Simson (2.5 million LinkedIn followers). Their videos hovered around the 120k views mark.
CISCO's success with Facebook and Instagram
Facebook has a fancy write up on Cisco's success with gaining leads for Cisco's video conferencing: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/cisco-webex
But I'd instead like you to turn your attention to Cisco's Instagram page. Yup. B2B products, 159k following.
How to target business customers on other channels
The level of targeting on other channels for business needs to be adapted, while you may not be able to narrow down your targeting by job descriptions, for example, you can reach your customers by understanding their lifestyle, interests, industry and habits and using other measures to connect your content with them.
Don't forget in 2018: The rise of the Messenger Apps.
Here's a few articles you should read!
- I'll start you off with an article about WeChat from China Skinny MD Mark Tanner: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/essential-steps-planning-success-wechat-mark-tanner
- This article can give you some great ideas on getting your business Whatsapp- ready: http://www.bgr.in/features/5-whatsapp-features-introduced-in-2017-that-make-it-much-more-than-just-a-messenger/
- And here's one about Messenger: https://marketingland.com/people-held-17-billion-video-chats-messenger-far-2017-2-230298
I hope this information that we've gathered has been useful to thinking about your B2B social media options outside of LinkedIn.
Please share this with your networks, and feel free to share your thoughts and comments! We want to hear from you about your experiences and thoughts!
Connect with us at https://www.linkedin.com/company/window-seat-group or with our MD, Priyanka Nadkarni at www.linkedin.com/in/priyankanadkarni