Forget about how marketing ‘will’ change in the future, it’s time to focus on how it ‘needs’ to change for the better. B2B marketers have the power to implement these changes and push their brand forward in 2016. Not just talk about it.
Here are my top three ways to change your social media marketing for the better:
1. Be hyper-targeted
This year B2B marketers should spend their time and resources building valuable relationships via social, rather than focusing on metrics like followers or even clicks. This means singling out the key influencers or prospective buyers among your following and carrying out hyper-targeted social campaigns that aim to engage with them on a human level.
2. Social content
Social media remains just a promotion tool for many B2B brands. In 2016 marketers need to start designing social-specific content. Creating more visual assets – especially infographics and videos – rather than long-form content (anything above 600 words) is a start. However, to really harness the power of social interactivity consider running weekly Twitter polls, starting daily LinkedIn discussions, or even investing in an interactive piece of content, such as an online game.
3. Visual networks
B2B brands (large and small) need to focus on the visual social networks now available, and not just the big three (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook). Visual content is the most popular to consume online, and with Instagram being the fastest growing social network, businesses would be missing a trick if they failed to at least experiment in these spaces.
