#2MinSWOT: B2B Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing for B2B organizations is not the easiest but it is SO rewarding and important. Inside B2B social media marketing comes many strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats - or in acronym form, SWOT.
A couple of weeks ago I jumped on FaceTime with my colleague Dustin Luther to discuss B2B social media marketing in a #2MinSWOT ... well mine was actually 4+ mins, OOPS.
Here are my thoughts.
Strength - BRAND AWARENESS
Have you ever seen a stop sign that has red lights on the edges and flash constantly? Well you knew you needed to stop but now you're like WHOA I REALLY NEED TO STOP. Social media is the flashing light and your B2B organization needs to say WHOA WE REALLY NEED TO BE ON SOCIAL.
Social media is always on which makes each platform accessible to users across the globe, 24-7. Organizations have the opportunity to use any social platform and get their brand story out there and get it known.
Weakness - B2B VS. B2C
B2B social media marketers walk a dangerous path when they toss the business-to-business mentality in the trash. The whole "business-to-persons/people/peers or whatever you call it" is wrong.
Yes, as B2B marketers, we are marketing to individuals who are buying products/solutions. BUT these people are NOT buying products for themselves - they are buying for the BUSINESS they work for!
We cannot lose sight as social media marketers as to what we are trying to accomplish in the B2B space. It isn't always about hopping on the latest trend or "going viral," it is about attracting and marketing to top organizations your company wants to do business with.
Opportunity - VIDEO
It is probably easy to say duh after reading my opportunity is video but there are still some organizations that have not picked up on this strategy yet.
Video will continue to see success in the coming years because of how versatile it is. New video content can always be created, but we can also take existing written content such as an eBook or whitepaper and turn it into a video.
With attention spans shortening and the "I need it now" mentality rising, video is a B2B social media marketers best friend...
and yes, GIFs count as video ;)
Threat - COPY CAT CAPABILITIES
Have you posted a Facebook story yet? Chances are your answer is a big fat no.
A threat to B2B social media marketing is every single social platform copying each other and trying to be the ultimate platform. We can't have organizations feel as if they only need to be on one platform, because it does everything the other platform does.
We need options and different areas to reach different audiences. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (just to name a few) all have strengths and weaknesses. Weaknesses can be fixed and updated, but each individual strength for each platform must remain the same...and unique.
I could probably spend 2 mins ... or an hour ... discussing this threat alone. Maybe I will!
I LOVE talking all things social media so it was great to sit down with Dustin and discuss a wide range of ideas and insights on B2B social media marketing.
While I hope you enjoyed my recap, I really hope you like the video too! https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6305489006473809920