Five mistakes B2B companies make in their paid social media marketing.

Many B2B companies have gone through a digital transformation in recent years, which has sped up even more due to the pandemic. As a result, marketing departments are facing new challenges to keep up. At the same time, digital usage is growing, especially on social media. This means B2B companies have better opportunities than ever to run their businesses digitally – so why haven't some succeeded yet?

1. There is an old disbelief – “Social media marketing doesn't work for B2B companies with complex deals compared to B2C companies.”

This is a common misunderstanding among B2B companies. They often think that new media channels, unlike traditional ones, are only tailored to B2C – in other words, always just one click away from a purchase.

The classic B2B marketing playbook has long relied on seminars, events, emails, and newsletters. Many companies are just starting to post organically on social media, but they still only measure likes and comments on content that focuses on employer branding rather than sales. They distrust digital marketing because they don't fully understand the power of targeted ads, which work very differently from traditional reach media.

B2B companies that actually give digital marketing a try are often too quick to judge. Ask yourself – how long does your sales team take to nurture a lead before closing a deal?

It will take just as long for an ad to build brand awareness, introduce your products, and keep you top-of-mind before you can expect a sale. On average, we don't see results for 3-6 months, depending on how complex the deal is. Social media marketing can drive both long-term growth and profitability – if you keep your cool and give it time to work.

2.

One challenge we see many B2B marketing departments face is collaborating with sales. Typically, marketing and sales work on two different fronts. Their communication and view of the customer journey aren't aligned, even though both teams are working toward the exact same business goals.

There is a great opportunity to look at how these departments can team up and share insights. Marketing should support sales by delivering hot, qualified leads via social media in larger volumes than the sales team can find on their own. This saves the sales team time and boosts their win rate. In turn, the sales team can share key insights to help marketing target the right audience and prioritize the best activities.

3.

The main difference between B2C and B2B communication is tone of voice. B2C brands naturally showcase their products with an emotional tone in easy-to-digest formats. B2B, on the other hand, often relies on info-heavy text to sell a product or service – frequently using internal materials that focus on how great the company is, rather than the value they bring to the customer. It's time to think from the outside in and focus more on the customer.

It's easy to forget that behind every buying decision is a real person with feelings and interests. As humans, we have both a logical and an emotional side. The logical side usually dominates your professional role, where efficiency is key. Yet as individuals, we still buy things that fit our lifestyle and personal tastes. This means you can still hook your audience by appealing to their emotional side based on demographics, interests, and insights.

Let's think of it as B2E – “Business to everybody” – instead of B2B, and take a cue from how B2C companies communicate. Let sales handle the hard facts, and let marketing translate those facts into an engaging, emotional story based on human values. Ultimately, B2B marketing is about creating value and interest for the right audience. This means sales spends less time chasing cold leads and more time closing warm ones.

4.

It is quite common for B2B companies to still spend a lot of time on manual tasks instead of digitizing their sales process. This makes it hard to see what social media investments are actually bringing in for the business.

When every sale is handled individually by sales reps, the connection to marketing efforts gets lost. To streamline this, you need to map out your process and spot the bottlenecks. Only then can you track things from start to finish – from the moment a prospect interacts with an ad, visits your site, downloads a lead magnet, and moves through your CRM to the signed contract. This way, you can accurately measure your ROI and optimize your campaigns.

5.

Finally, once you have digitized your sales flow and started generating leads from social media, you need to track your final return. Proper technical setup is key. Having tracking pixels in place across the customer journey lets you put a clear value on conversions, so you know exactly what a lead costs and how much revenue each channel brings in.

Define your cost per lead and figure out how many leads you need. Work backwards with your sales team to see how many leads it takes to close a deal. Look at your margins and sales cycle – how much are you willing to spend on a lead compared to your deal size? How much time does it take? Once you know this, you can calculate what you should pay for social media leads to keep things profitable. Aligning your tracking with your actual sales process sets realistic expectations based on real data.

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