For some time now, social media has been extremely popular across all industries. Whether it’s for the promotion of a new brand or simply to discuss the latest hot topics among friends, there’s been a significant change in the way consumers behave when using social media platforms. But how does this apply to B2B?
It is vital that businesses capitalise on the opportunity to secure their positioning as a strong brand, have a clear message and directly engage with their target audiences.
Social Media in B2B
Social media is the perfect way to engage with mass audiences and there are several ways in which B2B brands are doing so. These include building relationships with both new and existing clients; sharing relevant content; and networking with a host of senior decision-makers. As a business, forming these connections is vital to ensuring that prospective clients will want to further explore your products and services.
From creating initial brand awareness to forming these new relationships, your social strategy must provide value throughout the prospective client’s user journey, ultimately positioning your brand as a ‘thought leader’, or in today’s terms, an ‘influencer’. In turn, this will lead to the fulfilment of those vital decisions – such as where budget is spent – being made by senior decision-makers. Essentially, if you’re not leveraging the power of social media, you’re significantly limiting your brand visibility AND engagement!
The Evolution of Social Media
It is clear that social media has had a massive impact on the way in which we consume information. For instance, platforms that were once used to simply exchange information, are now a key factor in our everyday communication.
In the age of now, social media presents the perfect opportunity to showcase products and services, engage with customers across the globe, understand target audiences and more. So, how has this changed over the years?
Smartphones. Visual content. Algorithms.
The revolutionary launch of the first iPhone unlocked the true potential of social media, enabling people to access platforms on the move, from a wireless device. With this came a new train of thought for social media brands. They’ve had to take a new approach to the world of social media and make their apps more accessible on mobiles.
Over time, short-form and visually appealing content became extremely popular, extremely quickly.
Alongside this, came advancements in algorithms, allowing social apps to offer personalised and tailored consumer experiences, which remains popular to this day. The ability to provide consumers with content surrounding their specific interests and communities, as well as catering content to their every demand, has been a huge success since its initial creation.
These, combined with the immense advancements in technology allow for brands to create an individualised brand experience, and, in turn, had a drastic impact on the way in which social media is consumed and businesses are explored.
Change in Consumers’ Expectations
Captivating consumer engagement via news articles and written posts is now harder than ever and the general attention span of people is getting shorter. In fact, according to Samba Recovery[1] the average human attention span is now only 8.25 seconds.
As well as this, we have also seen a change in the type of content consumers are drawn to. As touched on previously, in order to engage their audiences, businesses are now opting for an increased use of short-form video and influencer content.
So, what effect are these having on consumers’ expectations?
Consumers now expect complete brand visibility via your social media channels and their perception of your brand is heavily reliant on your social reputation.
Via your social media channels, consumers now expect to have instant communicative access to brands’ pages/platforms to flag and resolve queries or issues, and they also expect to form relationships with real-life brand ambassadors. This enables them to form a trusted relationship with the business, and ultimately influence their decisions.
When it comes to purchasing a product online, Salesfire[2] found that 81% of consumers have admitted to purchasing something that they saw on social media. The opportunity to explore product information, including reading reviews, allows consumers to make a more informed decision.
Influencers are today’s ‘social media royalty’. In fact, consumers are much more likely to act on their purchasing desires if it has been recommended by someone of social media authority. Partnering up with influencers is an extremely beneficial marketing strategy, with 82% of consumers more likely to trust a recommendation from friends, family or an influencer (Meltwater[3]). And, as a result, 93% of marketers have now incorporated influencer marketing into their marketing strategy (Social Sheperd[4]).
Staying on Trend
In conclusion, in order to maintain long-lasting relationships with target audiences , build a trusted reputation and stay on top of the modern marketing world, it is vital that B2B brands are utilising social media to the best of their ability. And, the good news is, it is easy! Start thinking about the type of content you are posting, the platforms you are utilising and pay attention to your audiences’ needs now!
[1] Samba Recovery, ‘Average Human Attention Span Statistics & Facts [2024]
[2] Salesfire, ‘How Has Social Media Influenced the eCommerce Product Discovery Experience?’
[3] Meltwater, ‘Global State of Social Media Report’
[4] Social Sheperd, ‘28 Essential Influencer Marketing Statistics You Need to Know in 2024’