Tag: social media marketing

4 Reasons to Use LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation

A lot goes into running a successful B2B company, but lead generation has to be right up there at the top.

Obviously, without any leads, you can’t have any sales.

However, without a sufficient amount of leads, it’s almost impossible to effectively test your funnel and make sure you’re seeing as many sales as possible.

So, while there are countless avenues you could take, this is why every company needs to invest in LinkedIn B2B lead generation.

4 Reasons to Focus on LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation

With all of the options out there, why does LinkedIn B2B lead generation deserve a spot in your budget?

There are actually dozens, but if you’re on the fence, these four reasons should convince you it’s time to start looking for leads on LinkedIn right away.

1. LinkedIn Is the Best Social-Media Platform for B2B Lead Generation

For years after its inception, social media was a four-letter word among B2B marketers. An easy way to make sure no one took you seriously was by advocating the use of sites like Facebook and Twitter for advertising purposes.

Obviously, a lot has changed since then. Plenty of companies use social media for B2B marketing and have seen incredible results.

With that being said, while there is no shortage of social media platforms to choose from, none are as good for lead-generation as LinkedIn, and it’s not even close.

LinkedIn B2B lead generation represents 80% of successes among companies that use social media. Twitter is in second place with just 12.73% and Facebook trails by almost half that at 6.73%.

So, while every B2B company is different and you should test out all of your options, it’s best to begin your investment with LinkedIn.

2. LinkedIn’s Membership Is Increasing Dramatically

There’s more good news, too: LinkedIn’s users are increasing. Again, it’s by no small amount, either.

In 2016, the company reported that they were at 106 million active users every month. A year later, that number more-than-doubled, reaching 260 million active monthly users.

That, alone, is a substantial statistic. It means that, if you begin focusing on a LinkedIn B2B lead generation strategy now, there’s no reason to think that it won’t pay off for years and years to come.

Furthermore, this isn’t a matter of simply more people becoming Internet users all around the world or a global surge in social-media users. In fact, many reports claim that social-media giant Facebook is actually losing users and the same goes for Twitter, making LinkedIn’s staying power all the more impressive.

3. LinkedIn’s Active Users Are Really Active

The term “active user” can be a vague one as there’s no one definition accepted across every platform. Even “monthly active user” could mean someone who simply signs in once and then never returns.

However, in the case of LinkedIn, 40% of their monthly users are actually using the site every single day. That equates to roughly 134 million people logging into LinkedIn on a daily basis. Do you think any of them might be your leads?

Keep in mind, too, that unlike, say, Twitter or Facebook, there’s most likely a lot less mindless meandering happening on LinkedIn. People are on there for professional reasons, not arguing politics or sharing family photos. So, those 100+ million active users are extremely valuable.

4. Current and Future Decisionmakers Are on LinkedIn

Finally, LinkedIn seems to be especially popular among a very important cross-section for B2B companies. Not only are decision-makers – the most valuable leads possible – on LinkedIn, but Millennial decision-makers especially love the site. Of the 82 million Millennials using LinkedIn, more than 11 million of them are decision-makers. Lock them in now, and you could enjoy their companies’ business forever.

Increase Conversions from Your LinkedIn B2B Lead Generation Efforts

As you just saw, placing a bigger emphasis on LinkedIn B2B lead generation is a phenomenal way to increase the ROI on your marketing budget. Better still, it could also reduce how long you have to wait to see conversions.

Both are big wins.

However, we can actually take your LinkedIn B2B lead-generation efforts and supercharge their results. At Hushly, we created a platform specifically for B2B companies that often face high costs-per-acquisitions.

Best of all, you don’t have to change any part of your site, landing pages, or ads. Just add our platform to your current strategy and we guarantee an increase to all lead-gen and ABM conversions of at least 51%.

Ready to see how?

Just contact us today for a free demo.

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3 Opportunities to Improve Your B2B Marketing Strategies

In the Digital Age, it’s never been more apparent which companies are using B2B marketing strategies that earn results and which are struggling with plans that don’t work.

The former is constantly able to chase new initiatives, often breaking ground on channels the rest of their industry hasn’t leveraged quite yet (e.g. social media). At best, the latter is forced into playing catch-up.

Even if you’ve seen some positive feedback from your current strategy – say, an uptick in traffic – that’s no reason to assume your plan couldn’t use a review. Instead, look for opportunities to improve.

3 Ways to Improve B2B Marketing Strategies

While B2B content audits are one of the most important ways to improve your organic traffic and convert the leads who come to your site, it’s not the only opportunity you have to improve your company’s online presence.

1. Add Some Element of Account-Based Marketing

More and more, B2B marketing strategies that don’t take an account-based approach are going to lose to those that do.

After all, as the name indicates, account-based marketing (ABM) zeroes in on the specific needs of each prospect. Blog posts, social media posts, webinars – these are all great forms of content, but they can’t compete with the kind of tailored-approach that account-based marketing represents.

Now, maybe you’ve already considered ABM but concluded it just wasn’t a good fit. Maybe your company requires far too many leads every month to make ABM a realistic option.

Then, consider only applying ABM to your most valuable leads.

You could use lead-scoring to immediately make this evaluation the moment you’re able to get any feedback from a prospect. Chatbots will give you this opportunity, but you could also email any new leads a quick questionnaire to find out what kind of returns they might represent.

Then, anytime it becomes clear that you’re speaking with one of these high-value prospects, you dispatch your team of trained ABM specialists to reach out and start nurturing them, bypassing the rest of your normal funnel and accelerating their path to converting.

2. Get into “the Media Business”

In a now-famous interview Gary Vaynerchuk gave back in 2013, he told the story about how Guinness Beer invented The Guinness Book of World Records because research showed that when their demographic went to pubs, they largely talked about two things: soccer and trivia.

By starting their own media company dedicated to the latter, they enjoyed a direct connection with their market, which included the opportunity to advertise their product.

Interestingly, Vaynerchuk told this story to a lawyer who asked about the kind of content she could publish to grab the attention of her prospects. He recommended she take Guinness’ approach by first thinking about what her market is already interested in.

Now, does that mean you need to start your own media company to generate more leads?

No.

However, it does mean that you should be generating traffic from every possible source – including those that may not be dedicated to your industry.

Even though this advice is almost seven years old, very few B2B marketing strategies utilize it. Sure, plenty of B2B companies invest in paid traffic, but they tend not to stray too far from social media, Google Ads, and industry sites. Those are good opportunities, but competition is high.

Where else does media provide you with opportunities to connect with your audience uncontested? That’s where you should go looking for leads.

3. Add Another “Content-Type” to Your Social Media

Speaking of social media, there’s probably a lot of room on your current platforms to diversify the kind of content you post.

There are all kinds of social media content-types you could post to mix things up and stand out from the crowd. For example, if none of your competitors are posting videos, that would be an excellent opportunity. Similarly, if they never post testimonials, think how good that will make your company look if you start doing so regularly.

If your current B2B social media strategy is just industry news and little more, you have plenty of room to grow. Adopt a type of content you don’t see competitors using and start implementing it.

Using These B2B Marketing Strategies to Increase Conversions Right Away

As we mentioned at the beginning, you should always audit your approach to look for where new opportunities lie. Long after you surpass your competition, it’s worth considering other B2B marketing strategies that may help to increase that distance.

At Hushly, we’ve created a platform that is able to take any strategy and immediately improve its results. Contact us today and we’ll show you how all you need to do is add our software to your site to immediately enjoy an increase in your ABM and lead-gen conversions of 51% – guaranteed.

B2B vs. B2C Social Media Marketing

In the last few years, social media marketing has gone from a method that almost no one in B2B was using to a strategy that’s been proven across almost every industry.

As just about everyone in the world uses at least one social media platform, B2B companies have an opportunity to engage their leads directly.

Still, widescale adoption hasn’t necessarily coincided with a widescale understanding of how to use these platforms for best results. Far too many don’t understand the difference between social media for B2B vs. B2C companies, which results in lackluster results.

B2B vs. B2C Marketing on Social Media Platforms

We’ve talked about B2B vs. B2C marketing before because it’s a persistent problem on this side of the fence.

Here are some of the main differences between B2B and B2C companies when it comes to using social media.

1. Understanding the Consumer Mindset on Social Media

When Facebook first introduced the idea of being able to use their platform to run ads, most marketers scoffed. They pointed out that people weren’t in a purchasing mindset when they visited Facebook. Google Ads was still the best bet, they contended because people use the search engine when they want to make a purchase.

Obviously, we now know that Facebook marketing works for most businesses, but much of that sentiment should still be considered.

B2C companies that use social media marketing can often get away with linking directly to product, service, or landing pages. They can literally advertise what they’re offering in a post and then funnel the resulting interest to a page where leads can make purchases.

The same can’t be said for most B2B companies. As you probably know, yours has a much longer buying cycles compared to B2C buyers. An average of 6.8 decision-makers are involved in each buying decision, as well.

All of this is to say that your social media presence needs to involve sharing content – not just your own, either – and building authority. As you do this, your prospects will be more comfortable with converting.

2. There’s No Need to Be Boring

In recent years, there’s been a push for B2B companies to put a little more personality in their copy. Traditionally, it’s been acceptable – even expected – for B2B companies to create fairly boring copy, no matter the industry.

Even though that’s begun to change among blogs, the same can’t necessarily be said for social media posts.

In this way, B2B and B2C companies should be on the same page. It is “social” media, after all. It’s okay to adopt a more informal tone and have a bit of fun. Boring social media strategies won’t just fail to garner leads. Given the way these platforms put your company right next to others, it can actually position your business in a rather unflattering light.

So, while you still need to take the above advice into consideration, that’s no reason to risk putting your followers to sleep. The best way to earn those followers in the first place is by adopting a fun, engaging tone with your posts.

3. Invest in LinkedIn

Maybe one of the biggest differences between B2B and B2C social media marketing is LinkedIn. For B2C companies, it’s almost never a good investment. However, LinkedIn is amazing for B2B businesses. Your prospects are definitely waiting for you there.

Instead of just direct messaging them, though, see if you can’t first grab their attention by sharing helpful posts.

With that being said, B2B companies can find success on other social media platforms, too. It would be a real shame if you missed an opportunity on, say, Twitter only to let one of your competitors enjoy it uncontested.

The key is doing your due diligence. Don’t just assume you have prospects on a certain platform. Don’t think you’ll be able to lure them over to one, either.

Instead, find out where they’re already congregating. Search for topics related to your field and see how much engagement they get. Otherwise, you run the risk of investing in a social media strategy that may have never had a chance of succeeding.

B2B vs. B2C: Converting Social Media Leads

When you understand the difference between B2B and B2C social media marketing, you should also find it much easier to attract leads to your website who are ready to convert.

Still, it’s usually not that easy.

That’s why so many B2B companies from across multiple industries rely on our platform. At Hushly, we’re so sure that our software will get you more leads and conversions that we guarantee it. We’re that confident that our platform will increase your lead generation and ABM conversions by no less than 51%.

Of course, we’d be more than happy to show you how.

Just contact us today to schedule a demo.

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