There’s a lot for B2B social media marketing professionals to like about Facebook. It’s responsible for almost a quarter of all referral traffic on the web, and 89 percent of marketers say it’s a useful tool for attracting leads and staying in touch with customers. But even if brands think they’re doing all right on Facebook, the network may be working to improve the situation.
According to the Financial Times, Facebook is secretly working on a B2B alternative to the most popular social channel. The details are murky, but it seems it will function similarly to the existing framework, including a News Feed, groups and content sharing. However, it will lack personal updates and be targeted directly at enterprises, professionals and brands.
Cutting through the noise to reach other businesses
This addresses one problem brands may have when conducting social marketing. While individual users can customize their News Feeds based on the pages they Like and follow, it may be hard for B2B brands to reach customers who just want Facebook to be a truly social experience. A separate network could combine the business-oriented community of LinkedIn with the popularity and functionality of Facebook, giving B2B brands yet another invaluable tool for social.
But whatever comes to pass, Facebook shouldn’t be seen as a marketing red herring for enterprises. In fact, it’s still great for driving qualified traffic so long as brands post the right content.
For example, one Brafton client in the commodities space wanted to establish thought leadership by posting blog content on Facebook. By linking to 2-4 pieces of content each day and wisely selecting headlines for maximum resonance among the company’s followers, we helped to increase their FB follower count and drive up Facebook referral traffic by 7 percent – not to mention big upticks in social engagement.
Half the challenge of B2B social media marketing is choosing the right network where customers spend time. If they’re congregating on Facebook, it’s possible to reach them with relevant content. But new commercially oriented channels could make cutting through the social fog even easier in the future.
Want to learn more about how how B2B customers engage with content? Check out this resource:
Optimize B2B content for re-readability [study]
