The popularity of B2B marketing using social media platforms is growing like gangbusters online. What began as a simple connection with another business has become a tremendous marketing engine that is stimulating both growth and profits.
One would expect that LinkedIn would reign supreme over this marketplace, but with more professionals participating in the other options available, Twitter and Facebook are closing the gap. The competition doesn’t end there, Tumblr and Pinterest are nipping at their heels.
Since these are social platforms that were not initially created for business marketing, simply having a presence on these arenas is not enough. Communicating as a B2C differs greatly than communicating as a B2B, therefore it’s important to consider the following tips in order to effectively promote your next event or experiential experience:
Understanding Your Audience
Instead of just trying to fill seats, you’ll want to clearly identify the subject of these people that truly matter to you. Create a profile of who you would like to attend, further developing messages and content addressing their needs and concerns. Look for those that already share your concept rather than trying to force your subject matter on people who are uninterested.
Researching Your Audience
Using the hashtag as an example, search Twitter for content that is relevant to your event. If you are unable to locate the appropriate tag, consider setting up a new one. If you create your own, make sure you do an excellent job communicating exactly what your hashtag is all about and quickly respond to any questions, comments or concerns. No one will follow something that they either aren’t having a connection with or don’t understand.
Showcase Your Expertise
People use social media to interact with others, but they also turn to it for current events, news, market trends and keeping up with the latest developments in their industry. You can position yourself and your event as a valued contributor of information, gaining visibility of potential new clients or attendees. You will appear more as a helpful and trusted advisor rather than someone looking for a hard sale.
Making Contact
At some point before your event, you’ll want to have a strategy for making some direct contact in order to help gain a larger audience. Make a list of other businesses that you would enjoy working with and see where their social media is the strongest. Participate with their forums, interact with their groups, join in on their chats and tweets. When the time comes for an invitation, utilizing your existing connection with them is far better than a cold call.
Consider All Your Options
After implementing the obvious platforms already mentioned above, consider other options at your disposal that are sometimes overlooked, like Google+. Although relatively new to the social platform, many believe that this search engine giant is gaining popularity and could be the future of B2B marketing.
Google+ offers applications that their competition is lacking. Integration with YouTube, a wide variety of apps, statistics, advertising tools and their Google Drive cloud technology gives you more options than the more popular Facebook and LinkedIn.
Think Outside the Box
Consider using other technologies available to you, such as event apps. There are a wide variety of these comprehensive applications that can assist you with everything from participant listing to eventual event feedback following your conference.
By using these tips, not only will you gain a bigger audience, they will already be familiar with you and your materials, products and services. Instead of going to into an unknown arena with complete strangers, they will feel more connected with you and the rest of the attendees.
Congratulations on the success of your next event!
