It’s almost certain you’ve heard of many memorable social media campaigns, but have you ever noticed that the ones you hear about are always B2C? An expensive branding campaign like Oreo’s ‘Dunk in the dark’ tweet during the Super Bowl or NASA’s #AYearInSpace, reaches millions of people and is discussed endlessly in online and print media. Conversely, a B2B marketing campaign has different goals, typically reaching a targeted audience, and if you’re not part of that audience then it’s unlikely you’ll hear of a great B2B social media campaign. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. Here, we list some of the most compelling B2B social media campaigns you should take note of.
Lenovo
The company known for their laptops has cultivated a relationship with influencers in the education market. Many B2B markets have organizations that have built significant amounts of credibility with their audience. Lenovo bas built a relationship with some of these influencers, most notably NAF (formerly the National Academy Foundation) and MIT’s App Inventor program. How does this help them? Educators know these organizations and already trust them, which means every time Lenovo mentions the organizations in their social media campaigns, they get more attention from the educators, who are their audience.
Eventbrite
When you can create really simple content, it stands out in all of the chaos of social media. There’s a reason the ‘For Dummies’ books are still so popular. That’s because everyone wants to find an easy way to learn something, no matter how complex. That is Eventbrite’s role in the daunting world of Facebook Advertising. Eventbrite has created a super simple cheat sheet for event organizers called Facebook Advertising 101. It’s the perfect example of a simple B2B campaign, with a simple title, simple content, and accessible to all.
Heinz Marketing
Social media is fast moving in real time and filled with noteworthy content. However, most B2B marketers don’t do enough to share their old content. When you put a lot of time and effort into creating great content, but only share it for about a month, that’s not making full use of it. Every once in a while it’s worth it to go over your archives see what pieces are still relevant and were popular when you shared them the first time around. Heinz Marketing has a campaign called ‘From Our Archives’, where they do exactly that, thus ensuring that their content has a shelf life of much longer than just a month or two.
Salesforce
Good content usually starts with case studies for almost any B2B content creation strategy. Salesforce takes it one step further by talking about their customers. Highlighting the personal biographies of their customers and talking about how Salesforce changed their life puts a twist on the usual case study type content.
While case studies are generally about the results a business saw from using a product or service, the Salesforce campaign focuses on the person actually using Salesforce. It is important to keep in mind that social media is all about people, and a social media campaign that focuses on the lives of everyday people is a standout one.
MarketStar
Everyone loves a good blockbuster movie. There is something about the art of storytelling that appeals to all of us. Look at Hollywood and all the superhero movies. There’s a new one every year. What about a B2B social media marketing campaign told like a blockbuster movie? MarketStar has had great success with their ‘Zombie Leads’ campaign, which applies a favorite movie category – zombies! – to tell the story, and uses amazing graphics with it, to pull people in.
Acquisio
Events and conferences can be the very lifeblood of B2B marketing. Industry professionals get together often to discuss the latest trends, strategies and vendors, and of course this generates massive amounts of content. Naturally, not everyone can go to every single event or conference. This is where Acquisio’s ‘In Case You Missed It’ campaign comes in. Acquisio does a great job of using this campaign to get more visibility for their brand from the events they have attended, and that others may have missed out on.
There are a lot of creative ways to make your B2B social media marketing campaign stand out in the crowd. And every year will probably bring new tactics and strategies. Crafting an engaging campaign is half the battle won when it comes to B2B marketing, and doing so creatively will ensure that your content is reaching the right audience.
Read more relevant blog post:Why Companies Need to Invest Creative Time in These 3 Types of Content