KKom, Inc.

Serving Milwaukee's Web Marketing, Design, SEO, Social Media, Direct Mail and Color Printing needs for over 22 years

Social Media Marketing

Benefits of Social Media for Your B2B

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Having a professional presence on social media is almost a necessity these days, and while most often we hear about B2C companies engaging with their customers on social media, more and more business professionals look towards these platforms as a source for news, recommendations, and networking. So even a B2B focused company can reap great rewards by setting up a social media strategy.

Research has been done investigating B2B companies and their social media usage for branding purposes as well as acquiring new customers.The biggest barrier found for companies in deciding whether to participate or not was “the lack of perceived relevance for particular sectors”, however the majority of these were also not attempting to assess the effectiveness of social media. Nearly half of the studied companies that were using social media were planning on increasing their market spending on it.

As you begin to brainstorm where your company could go with this, here are some helpful first steps to get you moving in the right direction…

B2B Social Media Tips

Do not be salesy

To put it bluntly, people always and will always only care about themselves, not you or your company. So, if you can successfully send a message that tells people what’s in it for them loud and clear, you’ll be rewarded. “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” – Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Think “thought leader”

Take your favorite niche part of your business and position yourself as a thought leader in that niche, build relationships with “influencers” – people who have built up a following who have similar interests to what your business does.

Showcase Employees

Besides being a great way to show how much you care for your employees, this also humanizes your business, improving internal morale and giving your customers a positive image of your brand.

Spy on Competitors

Seeing what your competitors are doing on social media is a great way to help shape your strategy and learn from other’s mistakes without wasting valuable time.

B2B Content Ideas

Pick a content theme

Choose a few relevant topics you want to be known for that relate to your business and your customers, and find informational articles to share on your social channels (just don’t share articles written by competitors!). Popular content types for business people include things like trends, quotes, stats, infographics, and how-to’s.

Write a blog

If you already do this, more SEO power to you! Make sure to share these on all your social platforms. If you have many frequently asked questions, write them out and answer them, or take a few and expand them into full articles.

Share your events

Do you attend networking or educational events? Tweet about them on Twitter and tell your network new things that you’re learning while you learn them. Even throw in an Instagram video/story if you find value for your company with that platform. This shows dedication and that your business strives to be on the cutting edge of knowledge in your industry. You can also share the event on a company LinkedIn page and describe it in more detail. Don’t forget photos!

Engage in your online community

Ask people for their opinions on hot or trending topics in your industry, and when someone participates, publicly recognize it as a reward for them.

 

If you’re curious about what kind of advantages you might be missing out on in the B2B social media marketing world with your company, please contact us anytime and we’ll be glad to answer your questions!

If you’re interested in B2B marketing services or brand building for your company, we specialize in the B2B sector and will gladly build a custom strategy based on your unique needs.

 

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The Benefits of Having a Pro Manage Your Brand on Social Media

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For large and small businesses, with the semi-new popularity of brand management comes skepticism and question as to whether or not it’s really as important as some businesses make it out to be. But for any of the globally-successful names that come to mind right away, they would tell you that yes branding is incredibly important (learn more about this in a recent blog post What Exactly is Brand Marketing).

So first, what does a brand manager do?

A brand manager or branding agency begins by researching the marketplace in which their client resides, determining the level of competitiveness based on the big players and comparable rivals, competitive positioning, products and pricing. After analyzing this data, the brand manager then goes in and develops a brand strategy which can include marketing, budget management, helping with digital and print design, promo activities, price and sale analysis, and a thorough evaluation of how the brand can be seen by a wider consumer base, while maintaining relevancy. Telling a clear story in a genuine way causes those that resonate with the story to be more loyal; in an age like today where loyalty is scarce, this is becoming invaluable.

Win More Sales

The idea is to take the four P’s of marketing (product, placement, price, promotion) and put them on a sort of autopilot. Consumers have so many choices between all sorts of products, it’s often difficult for them, if not impossible to tell the difference between each. But, if you have a brand that is well known with a good reputation, you are more likely to win that decision and sale.

Brand Strategy FTW

So, to approach this the right way takes dedicated time and effort, which is why many companies turn towards professional brand management companies or a brand strategist, so you can keep running the business and doing what you need to do, and can leave the details to someone who is familiar with the ins and outs, has the resources for continuous research, and will dedicate time each day specifically for improving your brand image.

Social Media Is Still In It’s Early Stages – Take Advantage

Social media has become increasingly important for brands as a way to communicate directly with customers for entertainment purposes, surveys, direct feedback about what the business is doing as a whole, or customer service. Customers and potential customers can see what kinds of people belong to the company, and you can address widely known issues to many people at once which is very helpful if you must have a recall or if negative rumors are spreading through the media. Admitting your mistakes and telling people how you’re going to improve them improves customer loyalty and kills negative Nancy’s pretty quick!

If your business is ready to try out social media, could use some new marketing ideas and brand management, or you just want to know more about corporate branding services, contact K-Kom and we’ll be happy to tell you more and get you going in the right direction!

 

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What Types of Marketing Does My Business Need? Part 2: Social Media

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Social Media Marketing

The following is a graph showing Google’s volume of searches for “social media marketing”, compared to “TV advertising” just as an example, over the last five years. Social media marketing has recently been increasing in popularity (minus the dips between Christmas and New Year’s), while TV advertising has slowly been losing ground. Google Trends. Not only are more people incorporating this social media marketing strategy into their businesses, but some of these people could be, and probably are, your own competitors.

Social Media Marketing with K-Kom Inc.Not all businesses have begun to take advantage of these opportunities; social media popped up suddenly and is thought by some to be an unprofitable, passing fad. However, after looking at some stats, more businesses might want to rethink this potential business-grower:

  • Average daily time spent online is about two hours, and one third of that time is used for messaging and social networking.
  • 97% of 16-64 year olds who use the internet say they’ve visited or used a social media platform within the last month.
  • More than half of these people use more than one platform between Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Facebook, the majority using Facebook.

Stats on individual platforms

  • Facebook has 1.23 billion daily active users
    • Posts with videos, photos, or links are the most successful
  • While Facebook has the most members, YouTube has slightly more visitors
  • Pinterest boasts two billion searches per month, the majority coming from women.
  • 25% of US adults use LinkedIn and 21% of US adults use Twitter

Ok, so plenty of people are using these platforms, but exactly which ones are the most relevant for your business? In some instances all of the popular ones can be used, depending on the various audiences a business might be targeting.

Facebook

The social of all socials, the crème de la crème. Young people use this more often, but older internet users are increasing in number – on up to 62% of online users that are 65 years old+! Facebook has been expanding their ad platform allowing for great audience targeting, where you can target nearly any industry out there and expect some sort of success. Visual or nonvisual, as long as you have something to talk about, something to offer that’s of value to someone out there, and you think you’ll have a better/cheaper reach than on Google’s ad platform, it’s worth at least an experiment.

Instagram

Widely used by the younger population (59% of online users age 18-29 vs 33% of online users age 30-40), and about 12% more women use the platform over men. This is mainly a visual platform, so your business may benefit if you have something visually exciting to share on a regular basis. Don’t be afraid to get creative – people love a good laugh. Take Denny’s Tumblr account for example.

Twitter

This has become a source for the most up-to-date breaking news, though continues to be more popular with the younger crowd (36% of internet users ages 18-29 use Twitter vs 10% of internet users who are 65+). More college graduates use this than those without degrees. Messaging here is limited in length to just a phrase or sentence, so if you have quick snippets to share, quotes, news, sales, try it out.

LinkedIn

This is a widely used professional network which attracts college graduates and higher income earners. Longer form content finds more success here than other platforms. This can be of use for B2B and B2C companies in a variety of ways, from attracting leads from relevant companies, to selling continuing education and skill-building programs.

Pinterest

This remains popular for visual content, but is used twice as much by women than men. If your business has products or services that benefit from being seen, it may be beneficial to start pinning some great photos for everyone to “ooo” and “ahh” and become a lead!

If you’d love to get started with your social media marketing and presence but don’t think you can devote the necessary time to learning each platform, creating content, posting, and networking, feel free to contact K-Kom and we will be happy to help your brand out!

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