In a World of Great Social Sites, Is LinkedIn Still the Best Platform for Driving B2B Sales?

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Marketers have to manage multiple campaigns across a variety of social media sites. Sometimes it can become a challenge because of continually changing algorithms. Whenever that happens, it can make even the savviest B2B marketers anxious.

For example, Facebook and Twitter recently changed their algorithms to boost user experience. However, these same changes have more or less limited the organic reach of posts (from brands) which in turn restrict their ability to generate sales leads on these platforms.

However, B2B marketers need not stress as LinkedIn is still the leading social media site for driving B2B sales. In fact, it’s still a goldmine for generating leads and driving traffic to company websites through promoted thought leadership content.

Why Does LinkedIn Continue to Dominate B2B Marketing?

LinkedIn continues to reign supreme within the B2B marketing space because people use it differently when compared other social networks. For example, people invest time in LinkedIn because they’re looking to solve professional problems.

So if your content has all the answers they’re looking for, you’re more than likely to get some excellent results. This is evidenced by the fact that 80% of B2B leads are generated from LinkedIn. It’s also the primary reason why 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to engage potential clients with relevant content.

If you’re still not convinced, take a look at the following statistics:

  • 46% of social media traffic to corporate websites originate from LinkedIn
  • 79% of marketers consider LinkedIn to be the most effective source for generating B2B leads
  • 43% of marketers state that they have sourced at least one customer via LinkedIn
  • 51% of companies have acquired a user via LinkedIn

As a result, it’s safe to conclude that LinkedIn, home to over 500 million users and three million businesses across 200 countries, is still by far the best platform for driving B2B sales.

 

 

Still don’t believe me?

Let’s take a look at the percentage of B2B leads that have been generated through social media networks:

  • LinkedIn – 80.33%
  • Facebook – 6.73%
  • Google+ – 0.21%
  • Twitter – 12.73%

So if you’re hoping to drum up some new business and you’re looking for new customers in the market, LinkedIn is definitely the place to be.

In fact, it should be the first place to look for new customers. This is because engaging with a potential client on this social platform can boost the chances of them buying from you by as much as 50%.

How Do B2B Marketers Leverage LinkedIn to Generate Sales?

Running a successful marketing campaign on LinkedIn or any other social media network starts with strategy. When you formulate a robust strategy, you’ll be able to ensure that your marketing endeavors stay on point.

However, regardless of the marketing strategy you choose to go with, you should only use this professional social network to engage with your peers, followers, and prospective clients with content that’s relevant to them. This can be achieved by posting compelling brand stories or thought leadership pieces.

Once the content is ready, an excellent approach is to post these on group discussions. This is a great tactic to get potential customers to start a dialog with you. However, whenever you do this, be aware that your competition will be doing the same.

Although it can be highly competitive, it’s certainly worth the investment because LinkedIn is the most popular social media platform for Fortune 500 companies. In fact, according to a study of 488 companies, a whopping 98% were using LinkedIn regularly.

Research suggests that discussion groups are the most effective places to post your “lead generating” content:

  • Company Pages – 0.59% of posts (10.07% of conversions)
  • Discussion Groups – 96% of posts (86.30% of conversions)
  • Personal Profiles – 3% of posts (3.63% of conversions)

Unlike the retail market, B2B sales and purchasing cycles are long and involve a large amount of money. So it’s quite natural for potential customers to gather as much information as possible before making a commitment.

Getting involved in group discussions helps B2B marketers provide relevant information to potential buyers in various stages in the buying cycle. It’s also an approach that can provide additional leads like email addresses in a non-intrusive way.

From LinkedIn video ads to Sponsored InMail ads, the platform offers a wide range of advertising opportunities through the LinkedIn Campaign Manager. However, it’s important to identify decision makers and create a roadmap that will effectively support your marketing plan.

While all the tools available on this platform are useful, it’ll be critical to use the right approach when targeting a potential B2B customer. If you have ever received an irrelevant sponsored message on this platform, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

While LinkedIn continues to be derided, B2B marketers shouldn’t be fooled. If you let that happen, you will undoubtedly end up overlooking the best platform to generate B2B sales.

 

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Chris Hall

Marketing Recruitment / Group Social Media and Marketing

James Gray Associates Ltd, Marketing, Payroll, HR & Reward Specialist Recruiters

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @JGA_Marketing Tel: 01727 800 377

Why not visit our website where you can access more blogs, whitepapers and social content. You can also download our latest Whitepaper: A Payroll Blueprint Towards Successful Transformation with Marketing Whitepaper ‘Digital Marketing in the New Virtual Experience Economy’ and HR Whitepaper ‘Employee Engagement: A Critical HR Problem in the 21st Century’ also available

 

Photo by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash

Photo by Marc Schäfer on Unsplash

 

References:

Llewellyn, G. (2018). The implications of Facebook’s most recent algorithm update | Smart Insights. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/facebook-marketing/implications-facebooks-recent-algorithm-update-can/

Wong, J. (2018). Twitter announces global change to algorithm in effort to tackle harassment. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/15/twitter-ranking-algorithm-change-trolling-harassment-abuse

Rynne, A. (2018). 10 Surprising Stats You Didn’t Know about Marketing on LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-b2b-marketing/2017/10-surprising-stats-you-didnt-know-about-marketing-on-linkedin

Elder, R., & Gallagher, K. (2018). Linkedin reaches a half billion users. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-reaches-a-half-billion-users-2017-4

Sabbouh, A. (2017). Social Media Marketing: What social media is Best For B2B Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/social-media-marketing-what-best-b2b-ashley-sabbouh/

Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., N., & Pavao, S. (2018). The 2017 Fortune 500 Go Visual and Increase Use of Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.umassd.edu/cmr/socialmediaresearch/2017fortune500/#d.en.963986

Hunt, E. (2018). LinkedIn is the worst of social media. Should I delete my account?. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jun/09/linkedin-is-the-worst-of-social-media-should-i-delete-my-account