It has long been a bugbear of mine that many so called social media experts insist that you have to be on every network going. As soon as Google+ gained attention you simply had to be on it. When Pinterest started generating some tremendous numbers we all had to flock to it. What these people fail to take into account is that not every network will be right for your business. Not every network will have your target market on it. Not every network will have users sharing content that is suitable for your business.
B2B is a prime example. Facebook is great for many things, but it is far from a natural fit for B2B campaigns. Pinterest is the same. If you're into food or DIY then Pinterest is a must for you, but B2B usage is more limited. LinkedIn however is fantastic for B2B marketing and engagement, a view that is supported by a new HubSpot study.
They asked over 3,000 B2B customers about their social media activity and found that LinkedIn achieved a considerably better visit-to-lead conversion rate than either Twitter or Facebook. Indeed so good is LinkedIn for B2B marketing that they beat both Twitter and Facebook by around 400%.
The methodology was a data dump of all of HubSpot customers' social media traffic and leads collected through the HubSpot system in 2011. From there, data was segmented to look at B2B companies that had generated visits and leads from social media. Companies that generated less than two leads in the year were excluded from the sample.
So please take some time to determine if a social network is right for you before jumping headlong into it and spending your valuable time building up a presence and community there. I'm not saying that a network might not yield results, merely that you could well achieve better results elsewhere. Time is limited and this is a classic opportunity cost issue.
If you'd like a few simple measures for whether you should join a new social network, try this blog I wrote last year.
Not at all surprised. LinkedIn is where the professionals hang out when they're in professional mode. Marketing is all about context. No good trying to reach someone for work things on Facebook if they're not there whilst in work mode. Pretty obvious isn't it?
Exactly what i have been telling some B2B prospects and clients. They need to fully leverage and take advantage of the power inside LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is not just for networking and job hunting – although I teach a group of job hunters LinkedIn's tactical use in a job hunt as well. LinkedIn has great potential for B2B businesses to create partnerships/relationships, brand visibility, build Subject Matter Experts from a company within an industry and generate leads if the Company page is fully utilized.
With LinkedIn, you can build your brand and profile to share with others, search for work, get valuable information about searching for work, and expand your network. All of these things are aimed at putting you in touch with people who can help you advance your career and network smarter.