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B2B Social Selling
B2B Social Selling is different from B2C Social Selling because of the difference in audience and sales cycle.
When you work in B2B you know what we are talking about. For B2C there is often just one person to convince of your value; in contrast, even the smallest B2B project has multiple stakeholders and often more than one department involved in the decision making process. This difference makes it significantly more challenging and exciting at the same time. Not only do you need different tactics (hands on actions and hacks), your strategy will be different as well. As you can see, we are not preaching the “a B2B buyer is also a B2C buyer” philosophy.
What is B2B Social Selling?
In the vast landscape of digital business, B2B social selling is akin to cultivating relationships in a well-tended garden. It’s an artful approach to nurturing connections, providing value, and fostering authenticity. Picture your business as a thriving garden, and B2B social selling becomes the intentional care you take to ensure each connection is like a flourishing plant in this digital ecosystem.
Know your Audience
A successful gardener knows their soil – its composition, its quirks, and the unique needs of each plant. Similarly, in B2B social selling, understanding your audience is paramount. It’s like knowing the specific needs of each plant in your garden. Who are your potential clients? What challenges do they face? By sowing seeds of understanding, you can tailor your social selling approach to resonate with the unique characteristics of your audience, ensuring that your efforts bear fruit.
Provide Value
In a well-tended garden, the harvest is bountiful. Likewise, in B2B social selling, providing value is the key to a rich yield. Think of your content and interactions as the nutrients that nourish your business plants. Share insights, offer solutions, and contribute meaningfully to the digital ecosystem. A garden thrives when it provides value to its inhabitants, and similarly, your B2B social selling efforts will flourish when they enrich the lives of your audience.
Be Authentic
Authenticity is the sunlight that helps your garden bloom. In B2B social selling, let your brand personality shine like the vibrant colors of your garden. Be genuine, transparent, and true to your values. Just as a gardener embraces the unique qualities of each flower, embrace the uniqueness of your brand. Authenticity fosters trust, and a trustworthy garden attracts admirers. Let your B2B social selling garden bloom naturally, and watch as it becomes a haven for meaningful connections and fruitful relationships.
Know your Audience
Define your Ideal Customer
In the garden of B2B social selling, defining your ideal customer is like carefully selecting the seeds you’ll plant. Just as a gardener chooses plants that thrive in specific conditions, identify the characteristics of your ideal customer. What challenges do they face? What are their aspirations? This is akin to understanding the specific needs of each plant in your garden. By defining your ideal customer, you’re laying the groundwork for a garden that will yield a rich harvest.
Find your Customer
Imagine LinkedIn as a specialized section of your garden – a fertile patch where you sow seeds with precision. Here, finding your customer is akin to selecting the perfect spot for each plant. Utilize LinkedIn’s search and filtering tools to identify and locate your ideal customers. Just as a gardener carefully places each plant for optimal growth, strategically connect with individuals who align with your business goals. This targeted approach ensures that your garden, or in this case, your LinkedIn network, flourishes with relevant connections.
Connect
In the nurturing landscape of B2B social selling, connecting and growing your audience is like tending to your garden’s growth. After planting the seeds and finding the ideal spot, now it’s time to water and cultivate. Engage with your LinkedIn connections authentically. Share valuable content, participate in discussions, and provide insights. This is akin to the ongoing care a gardener provides to ensure their plants flourish. By nurturing your connections, you’re fostering a thriving garden of relationships that will continue to grow and bear fruit over time.
Provide Value
Cultivate Rich Soil (Tailoring Content to Address Challenge)
Just as a gardener tends to the soil to ensure it’s nutrient-rich, tailor your content to address the challenges and needs of your audience. Your content is the fertilizer that enriches the ground for business relationships to take root. Understand the pain points of your audience and create content that provides solutions. Whether it’s informative articles, how-to guides, or industry insights, cultivate content that adds value to your audience’s journey.
Offer a Variety of Blooms (Diversify Content to Keep it Engaging)
In a vibrant garden, diversity adds beauty. Similarly, diversify your content to keep your audience engaged. Offer a variety of blooms in the form of different content types – from blog posts to infographics, webinars to podcasts. Just as a diverse garden captures attention, a diverse content strategy captivates your audience. Each piece of content is a unique bloom contributing to the overall beauty and richness of your B2B social selling garden.
Prune and Weed (Regularly Review and Optimize Content)
Gardeners know the importance of pruning and weeding to maintain a healthy garden. Similarly, regularly review and optimize your content. Remove outdated or irrelevant materials and refine existing content to keep it fresh and valuable. Pruning and weeding in the context of B2B social selling involve an ongoing process of refining your content strategy based on the evolving needs and preferences of your audience. This ensures that your garden remains vibrant and continues to yield a rich harvest.
Be Authentic
Plant True Seeds (Align Your Brand with Genuine Values)
Just as a gardener carefully selects seeds that will grow into authentic representations of their chosen plants, align your brand with genuine values. Plant seeds of authenticity by communicating your brand’s core values transparently. This alignment is the foundation for an authentic garden, where each plant (or aspect of your brand) is a true representation of what you stand for. This authenticity becomes a guiding light for your audience, fostering trust and connection.
Let Your Unique Blooms Shine (Showcase Your Brand Personality)
Every garden has its own unique charm, shaped by the personality of the plants within it. Similarly, let your brand personality shine. Showcase the authentic voice of your brand in all interactions, whether it’s through social media posts, emails, or presentations. Just as a garden’s personality attracts admirers, your brand’s authenticity attracts a loyal audience. Let your unique blooms shine, and watch as your B2B social selling garden becomes a beacon of authenticity in the business landscape.
Tend to Your Garden with Honesty (Transparent and Genuine Interactions)
A well-tended garden requires honest and transparent care. Similarly, in B2B social selling, engage with your audience authentically. Be transparent in your interactions, respond genuinely to feedback, and admit when you make mistakes. This level of honesty is the water that nourishes your garden, ensuring that it remains resilient and continues to grow. Authenticity in your interactions builds a solid foundation for lasting relationships, just as an authentically tended garden stands the test of time.