Social media is an essential component in marketing for all types of businesses. It does not matter if a business’s customers are businesses or individuals, social media works great for marketing to both groups. There are some differences in approach, and it is important to recognize the difference between business to business (B2B) marketing versus business to consumer (B2C) marketing.
B2B – Typically, the way social media is used to connect with B2B entities is by building associations and groups for them to interact with each other and the product creator. So you might find like-minded professionals meeting in a group on LinkedIn.
Usually the group is put together by a business that sells something to the business people who join. QuickBooks might form a group for accountants. They’ll provide the possibility for professional cooperation, participation in studies, educational content and more to the group in hopes that the members will continue investing in their goods.
B2C – When it comes to business to consumer marketing, social media can be used to announce information to the consumer about the product or company, or even provide customer service to the consumer via social media through user groups. The brand could also form communities based on a particular living style and not be directly marketing to the group, like a cake decorating forum or discussion group formed by Wilson the leading manufacturer of cake decorating supplies for individuals.
In both cases, involvement through social media is very beneficial. It can take the form of professional collaboration, shop talk, and also as a way to disseminate information. It shouldn’t really matter if it’s B2B or B2C; the idea and principle is the same, only the material differs in regards to the audience. The business owners may understand the jargon, while the individual may need to be educated more about the jargon.
But, the objective of each is quite different. In the case of B2C the purpose of making use of social media is to either help the business distribute information to the customer, expand brand awareness to the consumer, or to deliver a platform for customers to network with one another and representatives of your brand. When it comes to B2B the purpose is usually to develop long-term working relationships with the members and increase brand loyalty.
In both cases the goal is to produce content that informs, increases and educates the customer for better engagement. Because when you think about it, even in the case of a B2B situation they’re still also consumers – they just happen to be a little more informed consumers, so the content is going to be a bit different. It’s about knowing your audience and the purpose of utilizing social media.
If you know the audience and you know your purpose, social media will be very useful. If you have no idea what your purposes are and what you would like to accomplish, you will likely not be successful – and even if you were, you wouldn’t know it.