Social media has changed drastically over the past five years and yet so many B2B marketers seem to be stuck in the past when it comes to their social strategy. The evolution of social media is ever-changing, but there are several key trends that are here to stay.
The good news is, these features give social media the potential to be an extremely powerful tool for marketers - but only if you use them correctly. As social platforms continue to evolve, it’s crucial that B2B marketers evolve with them. This means adapting to a mobile-first audience, creating excellent video content, and utilizing social ads and AI tools to their full potential.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Social users no longer see updates organically, they’re served specially curated content by an algorithm. As the user engages with the platform, the algorithm learns the user’s interests and the content curation becomes even more precise.
This means that it's more crucial than ever that you follow inbound content creation best practices.Creating niche content specific to the pain points and goals of your buyer personas will ensure that the algorithm will serve your content to the right audience, thus promoting quality lead generation.
The same goes for your social advertising efforts; the more specific the content, the more qualified your leads will be. If your ads are targeted towards your B2B buyer personas, the advertising automation will have an easier time serving your ads to the right users, and in return, you will receive highly qualified leads.
Sophisticated artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies are quickly setting the standard for marketing and advertising automation, with no signs of slowing down. It’s up to savvy B2B marketers to use these technologies to their fullest advantage.
Social Advertising
B2B marketers tend to be wary of social advertising methods, and rightfully so. It’s no secret that social ads don’t convert as well for B2B industries. But that’s all about to change. One social platform has rolled out an innovative new feature to make life easier for social users and B2B marketers alike. Facebook Lead Ads are here and they’re going to be revolutionary for B2B social media conversion.
As normal, users are served your ad where they can sign up for more info or request something from your business. But here’s where it gets exciting: Facebook has created a way to streamline the worst part about lead generation: filling out tedious forms.
By clicking your lead ad, users are taken to a form that has been auto-filled with information from their Facebook profile—like their name, number, or email. From here, the user simply hits “submit” to complete the form and become your newest lead. With Lead Ads, users can convert on your form in less than two clicks. Of course, you can customize your Facebook Lead Ad and add fields as you’d like, but the essential contact information will be covered by Facebook, making the process a whole lot simpler for your new potential customer. Facebook has always been a pioneer when it comes to social media innovation but it’s only a matter of time before other platforms follow suit.
Mobile Usage
No longer are consumers using their desktop computers to access social media. Now, browsing occurs predominantly from mobile devices, making B2B conversion seemingly impossible. Social media conversion rates for B2B industries are classically low to begin with, adding a mobile-first preference into the mix seems like a recipe for failure. However, this doesn’t have to be the case.
Apart from revolutionizing lead capture, Facebook Lead Ads will also enhance the mobile experience for social media users. No longer will mobile users have to fumble with cumbersome forms on their touchscreen devices. With auto-fill, submission on mobile social platforms is as simple as tapping “submit.” This increased usability could potentially skyrocket your mobile social conversion rates and allow you to easily reach users with a mobile-first preference.
Video
Social content is no longer limited to text or photo posts, users can easily stream high-quality video on any device, no matter where they are. With this increased accessibility to video content, it’s no surprise that social users overwhelmingly prefer to consume media in the form of video.
This poses a huge problem for marketers: good video is costly and time-consuming to produce. Not to mention, it’s pretty difficult to create quality content if your team isn’t seasoned in filming and editing. Even worse, low-quality video content is a negative reflection of your brand. Unlike with other forms of media, you can’t really get away with making mediocre video content. If you’re producing video, it’s essential to make sure you are following video production best practices. Don’t be afraid to outsource your video efforts if necessary. Paying to produce high-quality video will be well worth the money, especially considering the current social trends.
Social media can be a powerful B2B marketing tool, but only if you know how to effectively capitalize on emergent trends and features. To make the most of your time and resources, pay attention to the way social media continues to evolve and adjust your social strategy accordingly.
Tag(s):
Demand Generation
