Don’t like B2B social media marketing?  Well let’s face it: traditionally, B2B social accounts are boring. Most businesses talk much about their product and as a consequence, B2B social media accounts often look like libraries – silent and desolate. This won’t do much for your B2B lead generation tactics.

But, when done correctly, social networks offer huge opportunities for B2B businesses. They can generate qualified leads and result in a positive ROI and boost a company’s bottom line.

So how do you turn a dusty social media account into an unstoppable lead generation machine? Here are five ways of improving your B2B lead generation tactics.

1. Choose the right social media channel and use it in full swing

94% of B2B businesses say LinkedIn is the best social media channel for qualified B2B leads. Predictably, putting more of your lead generation efforts into managing LinkedIn makes a lot of sense. Following this, Twitter is often claimed to be the next best social channel for B2B companies.

However, from our experience, we believe the only thing you should consider is your own data. For example, at Chanty – which is a B2B SaaS company – this is where our leads come from:

As you can see, for us Facebook is almost three times more profitable than Twitter in terms of leads. So don’t overlook the opportunities Facebook can offer your business and don’t always take general statistics on faith.

Twitter, for instance, isn’t the king of engagement it used to be and some business founders and big online publishers claim that engagement on the platform has fallen dramatically. What other B2B owners should do now is define the most effective channels for them, based on their own data.

Tracking tools will help you understand which of your social media channels ride high. Google Analytics does a pretty good job analyzing every nook and cranny of website traffic. However, if you are a fan of precise data and know exactly where your traffic is coming from, consider a link tracking platform like ClickMeter.

Beyond LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, other social media channels B2B businesses can consider for lead generation are Quora, Reddit, YouTube, Medium, Instagram and Pinterest. Consider what channel is best for promoting your product and the type of content you produce. Then try out your lead generation efforts on less overcrowded channels. Once you track your results, you’ll know if it’s worth your while and figure out exactly what works for your company’s B2B lead generation tactics.

Happy 3rd anniversary #TBT! See how "Throwback Thursday" cemented its status as a weekly Twitter tradition: https://t.co/IhGdmShWH6

— Twitter (@Twitter) April 30, 2015

If using Facebook, we recommend making use of custom tabs. Using Twitter? Don’t forget about Twitter Cards. If you go for LinkedIn, adopt its publishing platform and SlideShare. While on YouTube, make sure to use video annotations with clickable CTAs. Making use of each platform’s unique features can really help boost your efforts.

2. Synchronize social media, support and sales efforts

According to the Sprout Social Index, 90% of consumers use social media to communicate with brands. So synchronizing social media, support and sales departments to help generate B2B leads and move consumers smoothly through the sales funnel makes sense. These teams can fail to cooperate and this results in lost leads and revenue.

Everybody wins when departments are aligned. You’ll improve the overall public understanding of what your business is about. This will help attract more qualified leads and accurately track which social networks are most effective. For current customers, this will also result in the smooth handling of support requests.

The support team is also likely to know exactly what bothers customers and prospects and will be able to provide great content ideas for the marketing team. As a result, your blog articles, social media posts and help center will reflect your audience’s pain points and bring true value to them. This will help build trust and impress prospects.

3. Promote premium gated content to generate leads

If you’re not familiar with the term, gated content is premium online material – such as white papers, ebooks, articles and videos – which require users to fill out a form before they can access them. It often asks for a name and email address and if your content is in-demand, it’s an effective way to generate B2B leads.

You can promote this content organically, like any other blog post. But you can also pin it to the top of all your social accounts, change your cover photos to promote it or create custom tabs on your Facebook page. With a well-thought-out promotions procedure, you’ll drive leads to your website like there’s no tomorrow.

4. Avoid one-way communication. Be super sociable instead

1 in 3 people goes to a company’s competitors when ignored on social. Therefore, being responsive is important for generating leads and not scaring away current customers.

People tend to buy from trusted friends and, using social media, your brand should become one of them. Check out these simple ways to increase social engagement quickly:

Do your research

To transform social media users into leads, you need to analyze your target audience’s behavior. Consider their interests, location, time of activity, etc. The more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to produce content and target ads that will benefit your B2B lead generation tactics.

Feature a real person

Many corporate accounts take an impersonal approach to communication. Instead, write posts in the first person, sign comments with the name of the person writing it or share photos of your team.

Tag influencers in your posts

You are likely to mention dozens of industry-related influencers in your blog articles. Let them know that you appreciate their work. Email them – or even better – tag them on social networks. They will receive a notification, which will help you get noticed. You might get a share or a retweet and if the influencer sees you supporting their work, they might remember your brand and mention it in the future.

Keep a virtual ear to the ground

A crucial, yet often forgotten, part of communication is listening. It is important to know what your prospective customers are saying about you and your rivals. Social media monitoring can help you track conversations, find leads and build a community around your brand, which will ultimately result in more leads.

Be first to respond

If you don’t respond quickly enough, you risk pushing your audience away. Tracking and actively engaging in online discussions with potential prospects is crucial for generating leads. Be ready to earn the trust of prospects by giving away free advice, answering questions, asking questions, and engaging and entertaining.

5. Use social media to follow up with website visitors

So you’ve tweaked and tuned your social media strategy and started driving traffic to your site. But you need to make sure it’s fast and user-friendly too. Statistics show that 80% of time spent on social media is from mobile devices. Therefore, make sure your landing page is responsive, lightweight and fast. Double-check your website forms and buttons to eliminate any technical issues that might impede your lead generation.

Once your site is an impressive B2B marketing machine, when someone visits your site, there’s a good chance they’re interested in what you have to offer. Recapturing their attention through social media ads is an effective way to turn them into valuable B2B leads. Use tracking pixels on your website to present social media ads to people who have already visited your website to turn these visitors into hot leads and, hopefully, customers.

To Wrap-up

Generating B2B leads requires plenty of your time and effort, but optimizing your social media channels to make them a key part of your lead generation strategy can be a game-changer for your business.

Make sure you focus on the most profitable channels that have been tried and tested by your business. Then to make sure a single lead doesn’t slip, coordinate your social media efforts with support and sales, as well as follow up with prospects ad retargeting.

These are our five winning ways to improve your B2B lead generation tactics with social media. What other great ways do you and your marketing team use social media to generate leads?

Guest author: Julia Samoilenko is a Marketing Manager at Chanty – a simple AI-powered business messenger and single notification center. This free Slack alternative aims to improve team productivity and communication at work. Having 5-years of experience in digital marketing, Julia is responsible for Chanty’s social media presence and PR. You can connect with her on Twitter.

Related Reading:

• Track Facebook: Click, views and conversions
• The top conversion tracking tools for marketers
• YouTube video tracking in ClickMeter
• Spider Bots on Twitter

This blog post is about:

• B2B lead generation
• Generating leads on social media
• B2B lead generation tactics
• Finding leads online

Photo in the main image by Tim Bennett via Unsplash

Originally Posted: April 4th, 2016

Post Updated: April 01st, 2022