3 tips to help B2B brands increase engagement on social media

B2B brands are increasing their content creation but are you just creating more thoughtless drivel to clog up already overwhelmed social media feeds?

So, let’s start at the beginning.

What do we mean by ‘engagement’?

Engagement on social media can be measured by the number of comments, likes and shares a piece of content receives.

This is a base measurement but an important start point, as each engagement can amplify content further so it is seen by more people.

Why is social media engagement important?

Without engagement it is hard to measure or benchmark the value of the content you are creating and posting.

Social media engagement allows you to:

Build greater brand awareness – You don’t need to be Kim Kardashian level famous in order to get good engagement. You just need a great strategy aimed at the right audience.

Thought leadership – post content that demonstrates your knowledge in your specialist field and start developing your authority in your desired area.

Measure results – monitoring likes, shares and comments can create a benchmark of the type of content that is resonating. As before, this is not a true measurement but is a good way of gathering and building a picture.

Create a community – content that resonates helps your potential customers align their challenges with your content and help develop a sense of community.

Expand reach – posting content that has a call to action will help users share your content and in turn expand your reach, beyond your network.

Create a game plan

I hear a lot of people saying, “I just don’t know where to begin”. Or, “I planned before and it didn’t work”.

Take a step back. Get a fresh pair of eyes and ask someone you trust. Here are some questions to begin with.

• What did I measure last time?
• What is it I am looking to achieve? 
• Don’t just say sales. Be specific.An example could be – increase my follower base by 50 new followers in the next 3 months.
• Look at your analytics data – where are your customers coming from?
• Work back from your objective, create a timeline and build a process.

Create content that gets attention

So much of the content I see is all about the company that’s producing it. It’s all about me!

It needs to be all about your customer.

• Get into the mind of your prospective customers.
• What is their pain?
• How will your service help address that pain?
• Give examples of where you’ve previously helped people in a similar situation to them

Tailor your messaging for different channels

Facebook is different from LinkedIn. Twitter is different from Instagram. Not only are the formats different, the audience is different. Even if the user is the same person, they engage with different social platforms in different ways. While you should keep your brand message consistent, tailor your messaging for each channel to suit the audience on that platform.

• Understand where your customers are
• What platforms do they use and why?
• Use Google analytics data to see where your traffic is coming from
• Use the social media channels’ own analytics tools and look for a trend.

Remember it’s also important to have a clear understanding of who your ‘ideal’ customer is, what they look like, and how they behave online.

In summary, create a game plan, create content that gets attention and send the right message on the right channel.

These are just 3 of numerous ways you can start generating better engagement across your social media channels.

If you would like to learn more, please contact the team @digitalclarity