B2B Social Media Marketing: The Best Places To Prove Your Expertise

Social media marketing in the B2B industry still gets far too much neglect as B2B businesses struggle to connect personally with their buyers. The benefits of connecting with buyers on top social media sites are probably greater than you realize. Use social media sites to prove your expertise in your industry.

No doubt you've learned in recent years that your buyers are more likely to purchase products exclusively from you when they have complete trust in your products and in the information you provide. While many businesses are still using whitepapers and ebooks to convey industry information or specs on products, social media outlets offer much more flexibility and responsiveness. Here’s how to show how knowledgeable you are on the major social media outlets:

PROVING YOUR EXPERTISE ON TWITTER

Twitter adsmake it easy to target the leads you want to link up with. Once you do, though, you need to put the hard-sell tactic to rest. Once you gain followers, answer questions from prospective buyers, or start conversations–don’t act as if you’re selling. Hard-sells are often looked at as spam. Instead of selling to your leads, it’s a good idea to keep most Twitter conversations to industry discussions only.

If Twitter seems like a place where most people just shoot the breeze or play around, someone who tweets serious and knowledge-based information is sometimes a welcome surprise. Your followers will appreciate that you know what you're talking about and be more apt to keep following, read your marketing content, and check out your website.

PROVING YOUR EXPERTISE ON FACEBOOK

Recently, Facebook has implemented ads that better target the buyers you need to find. You can now search by job titles or business behaviors. Once you reach those potential businesses, they may start asking questions about your products and will undoubtedly want industry-specific answers.

If leads ask questions via private message, don't delay in answering them. Since Facebook gives you plenty of character space to write lengthy messages, take the opportunity to show off your expertise. Once again, stick to information rather than automatically giving links to your products on your website.

PROVING YOUR EXPERTISE ON LINKEDIN

You'll be surprised at how effective LinkedIn is for a B2B business’ growth. One reason for its effectiveness is the ability to put in more detailed information on your main page. The other reason LinkedIn is so useful to B2B businesses is the variety of groups where industry discussions take place.

In a LinkedIn group, you can demonstrate your industry expertise in near real-time. It's also a place to nurture relationships with prospective buyers, since discussions can continue for days, weeks, or months.

PROVING YOUR EXPERTISE ON GOOGLE+

It's amazing how underutilized Google+ still is. A Google Hangout is another perfect opportunity for networking and nurturing customer relationships. You can invite prospective buyers from your email list to join you in a Hangout, where industry chats are held every day. These are private, so the only people in attendance are the ones you invite.

For any business still on the fence about buying from you, your demonstrated knowledge in these Hangout chats could quickly turn these prospects into customers.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ allow you to link up seamlessly with the buyers you need, while also providing outlets to approach with them more personally. When you need to prove your expertise, sometimes direct communication is the best way to show you know your industry by heart.