Tag Archive for: TikTok

SOCIAL MEDIA ADVICE FOR B2B COMPANIES

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Social media marketing is pretty vital to every company, but it’s easier for some than it is others. Marketing plans can be particularly tricky to navigate at the best of times, so we’re here with some social media advice for B2B companies from The Source team. We have a wealth of experience in B2B PR support, which includes content marketing, social media and media relations and from that experience, here’s what we recommend.

Top Social Media Advice For B2B Companies

Click on the links below to jump to specific social media advice for B2B companies…

  1. Find the right social media platforms
  2. Utilise industry news
  3. Remember that people like people
  4. Keep things interesting
  5. Leverage appropriate hashtags
  6. Don’t underestimate Facebook groups

Find The Right Social Media Platforms

Not every platform will work for every company, that goes for B2C industries as well as B2B. For example, TikTok marketing is a great opportunity for brands with a visual appeal, such as tourism providers, wedding dress manufacturers and cosmetic companies. Other platforms, such as LinkedIn, work much better for B2B marketing, especially for service products such as CRM software, for example. There’s no one way to decide which social media platform will work best for your B2B company, so the best way to approach is through trial and error. See which types of content get the most engagement, and where. Traditionally, though, we’d match the following top platforms to the following sectors..

  • Instagram – mainly B2C, with opportunities for B2B
  • Twitter – mainly B2B, with opportunities for B2C
  • Facebook – both B2C and B2B
  • TikTok – mainly B2C, with opportunities for B2B
  • LinkedIn – mainly B2B
  • Pinterest – mainly B2C

So, if you’re heading a B2B company and want to give social a go, it’s worth dipping your toe in the water with LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and potentially Instagram and TikTok also. We have some more social media advice on what kind of content to focus on below.

Utilise Industry News

You shouldn’t be content curating all of your posts, as most of your audience will be following your accounts because they want to hear from you, however, utilising relevant industry news in posts is a good way of keeping your audience informed of relevant and interesting developments. It keeps you abreast with your sector and positions you as an expert in that field, furthermore, it creates a good mix of content to keep your strategy fresh and current. We’d recommend around an 80:20 ratio of curated to original content, but don’t be afraid to mix this up week on week.

People Like People

As we mentioned above, people like people. Though you’re selling ‘business to business’, there’s still a person behind that brand at either end. A study by Princeton University proposed the stereotype model, which boils down to the fact that people judge others on their warmth and competence. The more ‘friendly’ you appear, the more likely people are to trust you – this applies to your social media followers too. Though it’s important to draw a line and remain professional, it’s also a good idea to be conversational in your content and help build trust in your brand. Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy says it’s important to demonstrate warmth first and then competence, especially in business settings. A lot of effective social media marketing begins with an understanding of human psychology.

Keep Things Interesting

It’s a common misconception that B2B communications have to be stiff and corporate, try injecting a light tone of voice into your content or experimenting with light-hearted competitions for engagement. With one of our B2B clients Altecnic, they ran a 12 days of Christmas giveaway which included a daily video of their Technical Manager dressed as Santa. You need to remember that your audience is human and keeping things engaging is a sure way of retaining engagement and growing following. If there’s a certain lull, never underestimate the power of a social media giveaway either, no matter your industry.

Social media advice for B2B companies: competitions

Leverage The Right Hashtags

Researching into hashtags is never time wasted. You can now use hashtags in your posts across LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and more recently, Facebook. One of our B2B clients frequents the ‘#PlumbersHour’ hashtag because this is where their core audience is. Hashtags are often followed by those interested in that kind of content, so if you have a specific audience of your B2B brand, then find out what the kind of conversations that they’re already in, and join in. You can discover hashtags through researching related terms on Instagram and Twitter, and also by looking at what other influential accounts are tapping in to.

Don’t Underestimate Facebook Groups

Finally, our last piece of social media advice for B2B companies is not to underestimate the power of a Facebook group. Similarly, to leveraging hashtags, Facebook groups can be a great way to find your audiences. In 2019, Facebook announced that Facebook says there “are more than 400 million people in groups that they find meaningful”, meaning there’s a huge potential audience if you know where to look. Start by searching keywords on Facebook that are relevant to your brand for example “food manufacturing”, “plumbing” or “health and safety”.

 

For more advice and support for B2B PR, social media, content marketing and more, please get in touch with our friendly and experienced team through our website. Or, you can keep up to date with what The Source is up to on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER TIKTOK MARKETING FOR YOUR BRAND

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TikTok is a social media platform that has grown rapidly. 2 years ago, it’d have been hard to imagine a channel that could compete with the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. But now, in 2020, there’s a new player in the game – and it looks like TikTok is here for the long haul. So much so, that TikTok marketing campaigns are now being launched and the app becomes more profitable by the day.

Today, the news has broken that people in the U.S will be banned from downloading TikTok from Sunday onwards. However, it’s hard to dismiss the marketing potential available on this app – it’s certainly not worth sleeping on.

Initially released in 2016, just over 4 years ago, TikTok’s popularity grew steadily before rocketing in the past year or so. Now, TikTok has approximately 3.7 million active users in the UK who engage with the app for an average of 41 minutes a day. Not only this, but it’s the 7th most active social media app in the world and is set to reach 10 million UK users by 2021. Not bad for a platform founded a few years ago, whilst the other key players have been established for decades.

With such a huge, interactive audience, it would be crazy not to consider TikTok marketing for your brand, below we’re discussing exactly why this is an avenue worth pursuing.

5 Reason To Consider TikTok Marketing

  1. Fantastic Engagement Rates

Reach on TikTok reaches into the millions daily. It only takes a scroll down the FYP (For You Page) to see videos with 1m+ likes and many more views. It’s also estimated that the biggest TikTok influencers in the UK have higher engagement rates on that platform, than on Instagram. Cloutmeter indicates that TikTok users average a healthy 52.1% engagement. Influencer marketing has long been a dynamic option for brands with multi-level marketing campaigns, and there are many reasons as to why you should be considering influencers in your strategies. The idea of TikTok marketing is a relatively new one, but one well worth utilising in its early stages. The reach of content has potential to exceed even traditional media such as newspapers and online articles.

  1. Wide Demographics

Most would discount TikTok marketing, thinking you can only reach a younger demographic. This isn’t actually the case. In the US, over 51% of viewers are 35 or older and 37% have household incomes of $100k or more. There are various different niches to the app, from food to art, travel to fashion. No matter your business, there’s likely an audience that you can reach on TikTok with the right kind of targeting.

  1. Current And Trendy

As with all marketing campaigns, it can be easy to fall guilty to sticking with what you know. However, this often means that activity can become tired and ineffective. This is one of the reasons why it’s important to vary content on paid social ads, and to update your PPC campaigns regularly. It’s also a reason to consider TikTok marketing. If your brand is in need of a boost, then why not ditch the status quo and try something new? If you work with only one or two influencers initially, then the stakes are rather low – your returns could be far greater, making it a risk worth taking.

  1. Avenues For Lots Of Businesses

You might think TikTok marketing is only for fashion and lifestyle brands, but this isn’t the case. One of the reasons that TikTok is so popular amongst a massive demographic, is because it caters to different audiences. Clever algorithms mean that users see the kind of content they’re interested in, and you’d be surprised at how niche these topics can go. Niches spotted by The Source PR team include…

  • Dancing & singing
  • Comedy
  • Fashion
  • Makeup & beauty
  • Reading
  • Art & crafts
  • Farming
  • Dog grooming
  • Cake making
  • Cooking
  • University & learning
  • Marketing
  • Science
  • Cars & transport
  • Cleaning

And so much more. If your company is open to exploring new things, then you can almost certainly give TikTok marketing a go.

  1. Opportunity For Virality

Last but not least, another reason to consider TikTok marketing is that it appears to be easier to achieve virality than on any other social media platform. When a post gets over a million likes on Instagram, it’s rather a big deal. However, on TikTok, content exceeds this figure on the daily. If you create a great piece of marketing with an influencer with a respectable following, then the chances of a great reach are really quite favourable.

If your brand isn’t already utilising a TikTok marketing strategy, perhaps it should be. For advice on influencer marketing, as well as PR, social and digital, you can get in touch with our team here.