Do you want to improve your business' social media presence in 2024? Komal Khedkar, social media account director at R&Co Communications, shares her top five tips for creating impactful B2B content and reaching a bigger audience on social media.

Learn how interactive and user-generated content (UGC), and social SEO will transform your posts in the year ahead.

1. Incorporate social SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is essential for getting your website seen, but did you know that it is increasingly important for social media marketing?

Social SEO means using keywords – the words and phrases your audience are using to search for content - and optimising your social media posts to ensure they can be found.

As audiences move away from searching with hashtags, research from Hootsuite shows that this approach is effective for increasing engagement rate - posts with good SEO have an increased engagement rate of 30%.

Incorporate social SEO by:

• Find relevant keywords via free tools:
  • Ahrefs Keyword Generator

  • Answer the Public

  • Google Ads Keyword Planner

• Optimise the titles and captions of your post by including these keywords in your copy

• Include an image alt tag – this is a written description of what an image depicts, which is picked up by screen readers for the visually impaired. It is also crawled by search engines, so try to include your keyword.

2. Introduce User-Generated Content (UGC)

Most business-to-business (B2B) brands haven't caught up with the benefits of utilising UGC to provide their audiences with authentic content and third-party endorsement.

But UGC is the best way to utilise brand advocates as a way to increase customer trust, examples include:

• Customer reviews

• Images of your products or services from customers

• Videos – unboxing of products, screen recordings of software, examples of problem solving

• Case studies – written or video content

Start by asking your most loyal customers for testimonials, then encourage more of your audience to participate with an incentive, such as a prize draw or discount.

3. B2B influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a key tactic for consumer-facing brands, but B2B brands are still lagging behind.

If you're wondering how an influencer could promote your products or services then there are a number of tactics to consider.

Reviews and demos are a good place to start when dipping your toe into B2B influencer marketing, but there is an opportunity to think bigger - webinars, social media and blog posts are the preferred medium for most B2B marketers.

To identify relevant B2B influencers try:

• LinkedIn to search for vocal people in your target sectors

• Checking keynote speakers at conferences

• Viewing webinars from industry experts

Consider relevance, expertise and trustworthiness when selecting influencers to work with.

4. Try interactive content

How can you make your social media posts stand out in a crowded feed? Try using interactive content.

Communicating with a business audience doesn't always have to be informative or educational, it can also be entertaining and encourage participation.

Content that requires action, like a quiz or poll, is much more likely to be remembered than content that is passively consumed.

Brainstorm ideas around the following:

• What are the biggest topics of conversation in your industry?

• What would audiences be surprised to know?

• What is up and coming in the sector?

• Are there any national days or events that you can link your poll to?

5. Prioritise video content

Video content has been a social media must for years, but B2B brands aren't making the most of it.

Cut through the noise by making video your number one priority – whatever platform you're on.

HubSpot Blogs research found two thirds of consumers (66%) have watched video content to learn about a brand or product, including product demos, reviews, FAQs and unboxings.

Video content for social media doesn't have to be expensive or of blockbuster quality. Here are our tips for making quick video content:

• Still images and blog content can be used to make video content – use written content as captions and overlay it onto your images using a free tool like Canva.

• Capture talking heads – record business experts talking through the details of your latest news or blog post. All you need is a phone, ring light and microphone to get started.

Find out more about social media marketing and how to improve your content in 2024.