B2B Business and Public Relations: Linking Up with Buyers on a Personal Level

Proper public relations is essential for any company, especially with such wide access to social media. After all, social media itself is a form of public relations that allows businesses to connect with buyers on a particularly personal level. With the ease of access to social media, it's easy to forget that public relations doesn't always mean a focus on social media. While B2B businesses can connect well there, you need to take some other steps first to truly understand the public.

The bottom line is that in addition to social media, businesses have other outlets in which they can nurture a powerful sense of connectedness with the buyers who matter. Do your research before you embark on any social media public relations campaign. Here's how to link up with B2B buyers on a personal level:

Understanding Your Prospective Buyers

In order to implement a public relations strategy that works, you need to know your audience. Most likely, your prospective buyers already know about your B2B business based on what you provide on your website or other content. Yet, do you really know everything you need to know about your current or future buyers?

Perhaps you don't know what your buyers want, which it could explain why you've had a recent dip in sales. In today's business world, you need to dig deeper into what your buyers need so that you don't overlook anything.

Creating buyer personas is a way for you to understand more than what's on the surface. By researching your desired buyer demographic, you're able to decipher such variables as income, education level, general buying interest, and past purchase history.

This insight comes from listening to your prospective buyers, which you can't get if you just study a database of existing information. In addition to social media, conduct email surveys, or even engage with prospective buyers on online forums. By doing so, you get more current information about what those people are thinking now.

Creating The Right Content

Creating content is one of the most effective ways to nurture public relations with your buyers. While content creation might seem like an indirect public relations method, it can actually be incredibly effective when it resonates personally. It's why you need to know what kind of content your buyers are reading. This takes research on what's worked best in the past.

In some cases, you'll discover that one type of content you think would work really doesn't. While B2B buyers want as much information as possible before they commit to buying products, they may want it in varied forms.

For example, you may discover that past buyers preferred more consolidated information in an infographic, rather than in a detailed ebook that you offered online.

The Proper Use Of Social Media

Once you understand your buyers and what they're looking for, you still need to use social media in a smart way to connect with the public. This can happen through natural conversations on places like Twitter, while avoiding hard-sell tactics. The problem with some in the B2B industry is that they immediately try to hard sell their products on social media, rather than nurture friendships first.

Take a look at conversations under specific hashtags, and start conversations as you would at a cocktail party. Nurture real relationships and your buyers will naturally follow you and listen to what you have to say.