4 Tips for Selling Your B2B

Company on a More
Innovative Social Media
Presence
B Mike cha�er
Published Dec. 13, 2018

If ou’re a B2B marketing director or social media manager, our

week ma be split between the following modes:

�. Grinding out uninspired but necessar content that ou aren’t

proud of and don’t imagine will lead to an significant
engagement.

�. Being told b the “technical” gus that the compan’s social

media presence is “all fluff” and needs “more substance.”

�. Politel receiving suggestions on “how to do it right,” based

on something trul frivolous from napchat that an executive’s
niece showed him over the weekend.

�. Getting trul inspired and tring to innovate our compan’s

social media presence.

�. Being told after three das of our new strateg that “This
isn’t working; let’s just go back to the old stuff.”

There’s a lot of nuance to social media that's often lost on

people who don’t spend their das elbow-deep in it, and for
somebod who works hard to achieve a certain master of the
form – keeping up on best practices, algorithm updates, new
platforms and features, etc. – it can be ver disheartening to
keep having our expertise and our instincts second-guessed.

But perhaps the problem isn’t what ou’re doing, but how ou’re
selling it. In this post, we’ll look at some effective strategies for
communicating the value of what ou believe will work best for
our compan’s social media presence, in order to help ou
secure executive and peer bu-in.

1. ocial Media Is a Conversation

Even people who read technical manuals for fun don’t get on
Twitter or Facebook to read techspeak. Talk to them like a
human being, about the things the like to talk about, and ou’re
more likel to get a human response.

How to ell It

Tell the folks who think our social posts are “fluff” that ou
want our feed to feel more like the conversations that people in
our industr have on their lunch breaks, or at trade show happ
hours. Being a fl on the wall in such situations can help ou get
a better handle on what sorts of issues are trul compelling to
the veterans of our industr, and this approach leans more
toward that focus.

2. Compromise on More Technical Content

o, oka, mabe ou lose the argument about keeping the more
“technical” content out of the social feed. But ou can still work
our magic to make that content as engaging as possible.

How to ell It

Casting the technical content in a “mentor/apprentice”

framework ma lead to simpler, more engaging content. For
somebod who’s too deep in the industr jargon to realize that
the’re speaking gibberish half the time, imagining that the're
talking to a new emploee ma help them to simplif and
crstallize their talking points in a wa that actuall makes them
more universal and compelling.

3. Flip the cript

ometimes, the people who complain the most are the ones who
are most guilt of the sin that the’re railing against. o, ask
them the questions that the want to know the answers to.

How to ell It

As satisfing as this ma be, make sure ou’re tactful. You can
pose this as: “You're the expert in this field; ou’re exactl our
target demographic – what do ou love seeing in our social
media feeds? What are ou most likel to comment on or click
like on?”

You ma get to see them squirm a little, but ou’ll probabl also
get extremel valuable insights – and ou ma even get to watch
the “Aha” moment where the finall understand what our job
is.

4. Cite Your ources

For man B2B companies (especiall the more technical ones),

there's an onus on authorit and precedent. o, lean into that b
showing that our suggestions aren’t just hunches – the have
been proven to work.

How to ell It

Prepare a rationale for each of our suggestions, and come

armed with examples of other companies that have successfull
implemented these or similar suggestions. When the ees in the
room can see all the wa to the other end of the strateg (i.e.,
success), it will be much harder for them to sa no.

These four tips ma not completel change the more annoing
aspects of our job (or what other people think our job is), but
changing our mindset about how ou communicate the value of
our work can help to reframe the role that ou pla within our
compan.