The Five Most Common Mistakes in B2B Social Media Marketing

Many B2B companies have started a digital transformation journey in recent years, a process further accelerated by the pandemic. As a result, marketing departments now face new challenges requiring quick and flexible adaptations to new trends. Simultaneously, the use of digital platforms, especially social media, continues to rise. This provides B2B companies with unprecedented opportunities to conduct their business digitally. However, despite these favorable conditions, some companies have not succeeded in this area. Why is that?

Discover the importance of communication: Embrace customer centricity in B2B marketing § B2B companies face several challenges in social media marketing. Firstly, there is a misconception that social media is better suited for B2C companies, leading to limited use. Secondly, the lack of collaboration between marketing and sales departments hinders effective management and evaluation of leads. Thirdly, B2B companies struggle to communicate in a customer-centric and emotionally engaging way, often focusing more on technical information. Fourthly, many companies have not digitalized their sales process, leading to inefficient tracking of marketing investments and their results. Finally, the absence of a proper technical implementation hinders accurate evaluation and measurement of social media campaigns, complicating the assessment of ROI.

Five challenges to overcome to boost your B2B marketing

Overcoming uncertainty, improving collaboration, changing communication, digitalizing sales, and ensuring accurate evaluation.

"Addressing these challenges is crucial for B2B companies to fully leverage social media marketing's potential and achieve sustainable growth."

We have summarized it into 5 focus areas

There is an outdated skepticism, lack of collaboration between marketing and sales in lead handling and evaluation, reluctance to adopt a more customer-centric communication strategy, lack of digitalization in the sales process and lead handling, and inadequate technical implementation for fair measurement - Let's explore each of these challenges in detail below;

1. There is an outdated skepticism: "Social media marketing doesn't work for B2B companies like ours, with complex operations compared to B2C companies"

This is a common misconception among B2B companies, believing that new media channels are better suited for B2C companies - where a purchase is just a click away - compared to traditional methods.

For a long time, B2B marketing relied on classic tactics such as seminars, events, emails, and newsletters. Many companies are now starting to publish organic content on social media, but they still mainly measure engagement metrics like likes and comments. This content tends to focus more on employer branding than driving sales. Due to a lack of understanding of digital marketing's potential, there is general distrust of its effectiveness, as it differs significantly from traditional reach-based media.

B2B companies that have been brave enough to try digital marketing are often quick to evaluate results. It is important to consider how long it takes for your salespeople to convert a lead into a deal. Similarly, it takes time for an ad to build brand awareness, showcase products or offers, and ultimately lead to a deal. On average, we can expect to see results within 3-6 months, depending on the complexity of the deal. Social media marketing can contribute to long-term growth and profitability if managed strategically and given the right conditions.

2. Lack of collaboration between marketing and sales departments in lead handling and evaluation

A challenge many B2B marketing departments face is the lack of collaboration with the sales department. Even though both units work towards the same business goals, they often operate independently of each other. This results in a lack of joint communication and understanding of the customer journey and touchpoints with the target audience.

There are opportunities for these departments to work together and leverage each other’s knowledge and insights. The marketing department should focus on generating high-quality leads through social media, which can drive higher volumes compared to the sales team. This would streamline the sales team's time and significantly improve their conversion rate. Meanwhile, the sales team can provide valuable insights and crucial information for the marketing team to reach the right audience with effective communication. It is important to prioritize and act on the activities identified by the marketing department.

3. Reluctance to have a customer-centric communication strategy

A key difference between B2C and B2B companies is how they communicate with their respective audiences. B2C companies tend to highlight their brand and services in a more emotional, engaging, and digestible way. In contrast, B2B companies mainly focus on information-heavy messages promoting their products or services, often with material designed for internal use. These materials highlight what the company excels at rather than emphasizing the end consumer's added value. It's time to change perspective and think more from the outside-in by adopting a more customer-centric approach.

It's often overlooked that behind every purchasing decision is a person with real emotions and interests. We humans have both rational and emotional sides. While in our professional roles, we may prioritize efficiency and rationality, as individuals, we make purchasing decisions that shape our lifestyle or fulfill our personal needs. Therefore, it is crucial to tap into the emotional side of the audience by leveraging insights such as demographics and interests.

Let's imagine a shift from B2B to B2E, "Business to Everyone," and draw inspiration from how B2C companies communicate. This would allow salespeople to focus on facts while the marketing team translates them into emotional and engaging contexts based on soft values. Ultimately, B2B marketing aims to create value and interest among relevant audiences, reducing the time spent on unqualified leads and increasing focus on qualified leads.

4. Lack of digitalization in the sales process and lead handling

Many B2B companies still rely on manual work and have not fully digitalized their sales processes. This makes it difficult to track the return on investments in social media and understand their impact on actual business results.

Each sales process is often assigned to an individual salesperson, and the results of marketing activities tend to fall through the cracks. To develop and streamline the process, it is important to map the current workflow and identify areas for improvement. This method allows you to track the entire process, from the audience's interaction with your ad or website content to lead qualification, CRM-checked events, contract signing, and associated deals. This way, you can more accurately measure the return on investment and identify patterns that contribute to more cost-effective campaigns based on valuable insights.

5. Ineffective implementation of technical aspects for fair evaluation

Finally, when a B2B company has established a digitalized sales process and begun generating leads through social media, it is common to miss out on following up on the final return on investment. To effectively evaluate results, it is necessary to have the right technical conditions in place. By implementing tracking pixels that capture the entire customer journey, a value can be assigned to each conversion, and the cost per lead and actual revenue generated from each channel in the media mix can be understood.

Start by defining your cost per lead and determining how many leads you need. Work with the sales team to analyze sales price and sales cycle. Set an acceptable investment for each lead in relation to your profit margins on a deal and consider what resources are required to close a deal. By aligning your actual sales process with your social media investment's measurement, you can create a fair starting point and set realistic revenue expectations based on past sales results.

By addressing these challenges, B2B companies can pave the way for success in their marketing efforts. Social media marketing, promoting collaboration, a customer-centric approach, digitalizing sales processes, and implementing accurate evaluation methods are crucial steps to achieving growth, profitability, and a competitive edge in the dynamic business landscape.