Increasingly, B2B purchase decisions are being made by personal and professional drivers, which means both challenges and great opportunities for B2B companies especially in relation to establishing trust and developing strong relations through social media. Through tactical use of social media and with maintaining an always on strategy, companies can not only improve their brand presence but also create long-term connections with their audiences.
Understanding the role of Social Media in B2B:
Social media for B2B is not about one-off product led ad campaigns or once in a while organic posting on company pages. It is about cultivating enduring relationships, establishing brand confidence and being in the line of sight of the target audience perpetually. In this space, the adage "trust is earned over time" holds particularly true. The objective is to grow the reputation of the brand steadily so that when the target decision makers are ready to act, your brand is the first they think of.
Which brings us to the famous 95/5 rule which simply states that, at any time, only 5% of your target audience is looking for any of your products or services. As for another 95% of the audience, they do not want to make a purchase right now but many of them may be potential buyers in the future.
Social media provides a platform to stay visible, nurture trust and awareness so that your brand is remembered when the need arises.
Effective applications of social in B2B:
LinkedIn’s ABM Capabilities: With almost every organization being present on LinkedIn, it has become an ideal space for B2B marketers to get insights about the audience and connect with important buyer groups. LinkedIn’s ABM capabilities allow for targeted outreach and personalised content, helping businesses build relationships and increase the chances of conversion. LinkedIn is a complete solution for implementing effective ABM tactics with the company and job level targeting options which helps in fostering long-term relationships with high-tier accounts.
Evolution of Reddit in B2B: Reddit nowadays is carving out its own niche in B2B, and has seen broader success in B2B, particularly with thought leadership and community engagement on specialized forums. Based on GWI Core Survey, Q2 2021, 48% of Redditors in Australia have some type of decision-making power at work making it a crucial platform for B2B marketers to tap into.
Meta’s Advanced Capabilities: Meta’s diverse ad formats, hyper-targeting capabilities, extended scale and new B2B targeting audience segments make it a must-use platform for B2B marketers to reach key decision-makers across small, medium and enterprise businesses. One of our recent campaigns for a B2B tech client saw 20% increase in sign-ups when we piloted Meta for lead gen.
With over 200M businesses worldwide across Meta platforms, it empowers B2B marketers to create highly engaging, targeted campaigns that build brand awareness, foster relationships, and drive business results.
Here's how B2B companies can leverage social media to build deeper, long-term connections and establish themselves as credible authorities:
Connecting with the Target Audience via Webinars
B2B companies usually get great benefits from webinars in terms of establishing relationships and showcasing expertise. Platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook make it very easy to hold these webinars virtually. The companies can transfer their knowledge, promote their products or services and speak about the current happenings in the industry to a live audience.
Based on the campaigns we've run for our clients at Dentsu B2B, event ads generate 2-3 times more engagement compared to traditional ad formats. It is easier to build nurturing relationships with webinars because they provide educational value while subtly positioning your brand as an expert. The direct communication encourages the companies’ capabilities of reaching out to their potential customers soliciting and receiving instant responses and discourse.
Establishing Thought Leadership: Building Authority and Trust
One of the most impactful ways to build credibility on social media is by positioning your brand as a thought leader. This can be done through both paid and organic content, where key figures within your company like CEOs, industry specialists, or influential partners share expert opinions, valuable insights, and solutions to current and relevant industry challenges.
According to the 2024 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report by Edelman and LinkedIn, 73% of decision-makers trust thought leadership content more than traditional marketing materials when assessing a company's capabilities, and 75% report that reading thought leadership content has prompted them to research a product or service they hadn’t previously considered.
Thought leadership posts resonate because they offer more than just promotional content. They encourage conversations around topics that matter to your audience, strengthening your position as a reliable source of industry knowledge. When potential clients consistently see your brand associated with trusted voices in the industry, their perception of your credibility and authority grows.
Moreover, this content can be amplified using Thought Leader Ads on platforms like LinkedIn. This paid amplification ensures that your message reaches beyond your immediate network, engaging a broader audience and reinforcing your brand’s presence in their minds.
The Always-On Campaign Strategy: Consistent Visibility
Occasional advertising efforts will not be enough to keep your brand on the radar of prospective customers especially among decision makers. This is where an Always-On campaign comes into play, which is a strategy designed to keep your brand consistently visible and engaged with your audience year-round.
This strategy leverages the “mere-exposure effect”, a psychological phenomenon popularised by Robert Zajonc where people tend to develop a preference for things simply because they are familiar with them. In social psychology, this is also known as the familiarity principle. For brands, this means that the more often your audience sees your ads, the more likely they are to develop a positive association with your brand even if the exposure is brief.
An Always-On branding approach ensures your brand is continuously interacting with your target audience. Whether through educational posts, thought leadership pieces, or industry insights, this strategy helps you stay fresh into the minds of clients, and they remember your brand when the need for a solution arises.
Once we have finalised our strategy, it is important to choose the format that works best for longer exposure. Out of all the campaigns we have experimented with video content often work better in always-on campaigns due to their ability to capture attention and engage users over a longer period. Other formats that have seen success are image and carousel ads.
Takeaway:
Success on social media for B2B companies is a multifaceted approach which not only builds immediate engagement but also nurtures long-term relationships that are critical in B2B marketing. Rather than adopting a single tactic, it is better to blend various strategies to create a cohesive and powerful presence. Performance and branding campaigns work best when used together, creating a strong synergy that enhances your brand’s credibility while fostering relationships that can lead to business growth.