Picture this: You had a busy morning at work, and you finally sit down to eat your lunch and take a break from the world by scrolling through your LinkedIn feed. The first thing you see is a post from a software company that says, “Our software is rated #1 by customers”. You yawn and immediately scroll past it. Then you see a post from your competitor that says, “Happy National Cat Day”. You chuckle under your breath and think, “At least our social content isn’t THAT bad!”
When it comes to B2B social media posts, there are some blatantly obvious don’ts.
For example, the classic rookie mistake of accidentally posting your personal Facebook story to your company’s Facebook account. Obviously, don’t do that!
And everyone knows that sharing photos of your cat on LinkedIn is bad. Like almost as bad as the movie Cats bad. Almost.
But the truth is most B2B social media content isn’t that bad. It’s really just… meh.
The social content that you post for your B2B business probably doesn’t raise any red flags or result in the dreaded “do you have a minute to talk?” Slack message from your boss.
However, few B2B businesses really excel at social media. So, when it’s time to cut marketing spend, what’s the first thing you throw out the window? Say it with me—social!
Booooo.
Stop doing that.
B2B social media done well can be transformational for your business, widening your sales funnel and exposing your brand to a significantly larger audience. It can also do things like boost your brand credibility, increase customer loyalty and retention, boost traffic to your website—all that good stuff!
But what should you actually start and stop doing to turn your “meh” social content into content that does all of those great things?
Well, that’s what we’re covering here!
Hey Siri, play *Never Gonna Give You Up* by Rick Astley. Let’s get into it.
B2B Social Media Dos
A great B2B social post is like the golden child in a family full of B-grade students. It gets all the love and attention.
Take a scroll through your LinkedIn feed and make note of the kinds of posts that stop your scroll, hold your attention, and make you want to engage or participate in the conversation.
What makes those posts so special?
At Konstruct, our team of B2B social media specialists has spent countless hours unpacking that exact question.
Here’s our take on what to do to make your B2B social content magnetic, drawing in and holding the attention of your target audience.
1. Start with a Scroll-Stopping Hook
How fast do you scroll through your LinkedIn feed?
Do you stop and read every post that meets your eye? Probably not.
Life is busy, and there’s simply not enough time to waste on reading content that doesn’t pique your interest.
We’re willing to bet that you scroll through most posts in less than a few seconds.
And that’s true for most people too, including those in your target audience.
This all proves just how crucial that first line of your caption really is.
There’s no better way to capture your audience’s attention and get them engaged in your content than with a scroll-stopping hook.
Here are some hooks you can try to get your audience to “stop the scroll” and spend their precious time reading your post.
- Here’s something you probably don’t know about X….
- Contrary to popular belief…
- Calling all [job title]
- This industry secret will surprise you…
- Struggling with X? You’ll want to save this post.
- The #1 question we’re asked is…
- X doesn’t have to be so complicated.
- A common misconception about X is that…
- What if we told you…
- When was the last time you…
2. Use the Pas Formula
A fundamental truth about humans is that we all like to feel heard.
Like the kid at the playground saying, “Mom! Mom! Mom!” incessantly as his mother continues to ignore him and scroll through her phone, we all just want to feel like someone is listening to our problems and is there to help us with our needs.
When it comes to copywriting, the PAS formula is known for helping content marketers connect with their audience.
If this is your first time learning about this formula, here’s how it works:
When the PAS formula is done well, it not only makes readers feel heard, but it can also influence their behaviour.
Here’s an example of how you can use the PAS formula in your social content:
Pro tip: If you don’t know your audiences’ specific pain points, check out their competitors’ reviews and see what their customers are saying!
3. Make Your Customer the Hero
Who watches a Batman movie and thinks, “I would love to be Robin”?
No one.
Everyone wants to be the hero.
Okay, maybe not in the conventional sense. Risking your life to fight the bad guys isn’t for everyone.
But everyone likes to see themselves in the content they read.
Making your customer the hero is one of those things that sounds great in theory but is much more challenging to do in reality. It’s easy to list all of the ways that your company is great.
What’s harder is putting yourself in the shoes of your target audience and accurately portraying their innermost feelings, wants and needs.
But that’s where the magic happens.
Let’s try it together:
Company as the hero:
“We are #1 in the industry with hundreds of awards proving that we have unmatched expertise in our niche.”
Yawn.
Who cares?
Now let’s flip the switch.
Customer as the hero:
“Here’s how to reduce your admin time by up to 50% so you can focus on priorities that really make a difference.”
Ding ding ding! We have a winner.
Now your audience is locked in and ready to hear what you have to say.
4. Make Your Posts Shareable
Out of all of the different ways that your audience can engage with a post, shares really take the cake.
Here’s why:
When your audience shares your post, your content is dispersed to their followers, an entirely new audience previously beyond your brand’s reach, filled with many people that likely have a similar role, interests or needs as the person who shared the post in the first place.
But how do you make posts that are shareable?
In our experience, shareable posts have to do at least one of the following:
- Inform your audience about something interesting that they previously didn’t know.
- Entertain your audience with something highly relatable to their day-to-day work life.
- Surprise your audience with a unique perspective that they otherwise wouldn’t have considered.
- Inspire your audience to rethink their approach to something.
Pro tip: You can also make content more shareable by adding a call-to-action that literally asks people to share the post!
Basically, it’s the reciprocity effect in action. If you offer something highly valuable to your audience, they will be more likely to do something for you in return—especially if you tell them exactly what you want them to do!
3. Include CTAs
Tell a dog to sit, and it sits.
Try to transmit the word “sit” to your dog telepathically, and it looks at you like you’re a weirdo.
Where am I going with this? I swear I have a point!
You can’t expect people to behave in the way you want them to while providing literally zero instructions.
That’s not how life works.
That’s why CTAs, specifically very clear CTAs, are so important.
See! I told you I had a point!
When writing your CTAs, you need to make them compelling enough that your audience would actually want to click on your link or comment/share your post. Here are some examples of good CTAs:
- Want more X tips like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter! *link*
- In our recent blog post, we talked about X. You don’t want to miss it: *link*
- Do you X? Let us know in the comments below!
- What do you think about X? Let us know below!
6. Ensure Your Graphics Create Intrigue
Do you catch more fish with a neon pink gummy worm or a big wriggly earthworm?
While humans might prefer the gummy worm, it’s not very intriguing to your target audience—the fish.
When it comes to social media graphics, the same rules apply… kind of.
Your graphics not only need to look visually pleasing, but they also often benefit from having text that piques the interest of their intended audience—like the earthworm that wriggles rather than the gummy worm that stays still.
In fact, your graphics are just as important as the first line of your caption when it comes to hooking your audience.
The key is to create intrigue without giving too much away.
For example, instead of including text that says, “Our software will help you reduce admin time by 50%” try, “Here’s how you can cut your admin time by 50%.”
It forces your audience to do more digging, and the more they dig, the more they learn about your brand.
B2B Social Media Don’ts
Now for what you shouldn’t do…
1. Don’t Be Overly Self-Promotional
It’s probably no surprise to you that boastful, self-indulgent content doesn’t tend to perform well on social media.
Nobody likes the “friend” that constantly brags about their five annual vacations, their timeshare in Vermont, and the massive bonus they got for Christmas.
To put it bluntly, no one cares about what makes your company great.
Seriously.
But people do care about themselves and what you can do for them.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a time and place to share social proof on your social media accounts, but it’s all in how you frame it.
2. Don’t Make Your Hook Too Long
Get. To. The. Point.
The first line of your caption is primo real estate! Don’t waste it babbling on and on.
If your hook is too long, it will be truncated, automatically losing a ton of value for your audience.
You’re only going to get people to click “see more” if you’ve intrigued them enough in the content before the truncation.
So try to keep your hook concise!
However, if you plan your hook out correctly, you can use the length to your advantage.
In the following example, we wanted the audience to click “see more”, so we added an ellipsis to intrigue the audience.
3. Don’t Make Your Social Post a Mini Landing Page
Hot take: if someone wanted to read a landing page, they would visit your website.
Sorry, not sorry!
Ready to Craft a High-converting B2B Social Media Strategy?
Now that you know some of our top dos and don’ts when creating social media content for B2B businesses, it’s time for you to give it a try!
Or…
You can rely on our content marketing experts to tackle the B2B social media marketing challenge for you.
Creating engaging social media content takes a lot of trial and error.
People often think, “It’s social media, it can’t be that hard”.
But with ever-changing algorithms and trends, staying on top of social media best practices can become more tedious than remembering to change your oil.
That’s why we’re here!
At Konstruct, our content specialists stay up-to-date on all things B2B social media and know exactly how to produce content that packs a punch and drives tangible results for your business.
Get a proposal, and let us help you level up your social media marketing strategy so you can have a solid social media presence that builds brand awareness and pushes your potential customers through your marketing funnel.
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