B2B Monday Myth: B2B and Instagram Don’t Mix Well
by MGB2B
The Myth: B2B and Instagram Don’t Mix Well
The Truth: There are Lots of Creative Ways B2B Brands Can Engage with Instagram Users
Many B2B companies feel it is unnecessary to use Instagram. If you are one of the many, you are likely missing out on a significant chunk of engaged users. The platform has over 500 million users. And when it comes to B2B marketing, Instagram has some of the most engaged users in the world of social media. This is a quality over quantity story.
Here Are 5 Instagram Tips for B2B Brands:
- Don’t Make It about Your Products. It’s a mistake to use Instagram as your product portfolio. Get creative and tell a story about your brand. Build a relationship. Perhaps you tell stories about craftsmen at your company to highlight their attention to detail. There are so many possibilities.
- Talk About Your History or Your Philosophy. Customers and clients connect with your brand more deeply when they see that you are authentic. Or amusing. Or smart. Instagram is where your brand voice can come to life.
- Include People in Your Photos. Whether it’s a buyer or a CEO looking at your Instagram feed, the one thing you can count on is that it’s a person. People do business with people, not with the business itself. So be sure to feature the people that make your organization great wherever you can. For instance, show a photo of your CEO with a quote from him or her. Show hands operating machinery. Post a photo of your Administrative Assistant on Administrative Professionals’ Day. Again, this is an opportunity to show that your brand has a good culture behind it, IN ADDITION to good products or services.
- Use Hashtags. This is important. Hashtags provide prospects a way to find your brand on Instagram. You can jump on the bandwagon with popular business hashtags, or even hashtags for the masses like #MotivationMonday as long as what you post is relevant to your audience. You can use them to promote events you’re hosting or simply to categorize your posts (e.g. #manufacturing, #construction, etc.). Do a little research to find out what is popular in your industry.
- Put Links in Your Bio. When you want to promote something in particular, you can put a link in your company bio and drive people to it in the comments section of the photo you’re posting. You can use this approach to promote events, new partnerships, and even new products, on occasion.
B2B and Instagram can be best friends when the platform is used to project company values and brand character. Emotion, values and brand character play a bigger part than you might think in the B2B decision-making process. And Instagram is a great place too influence that process.
Continue ReadingB2B Monday Myth: B2B Buyers are Different From the Average Consumer
by MGB2B
The Myth: B2B Buyers are different from the average consumer.
The Truth: B2B buyers are more like B2C consumers than you may realize.
B2B buyer behavior is commonly thought to differ greatly from that of B2B consumers. Many assume B2B buyers are solely logical consumers who are more cautious when it comes to making a purchase. Marketers, therefore, take a very factual tone with this audience, without adding in any emotion or depth. This can actually hinder your attempt to drive B2B buyers to purchase. For they are more like B2C consumers than you may realize. The myth that there are two different types of consumers you must market to is just that – a myth.
Here’s the the lowdown:
- B2B Consumers Are Emotionally Driven. B2C consumers are considered impulsive buyers who base their purchases on their emotions. Many marketers think B2B consumers, on the other hand, are capable of removing emotion from their decision-making process. Because of this perception, B2B marketers often assume that these customers want their content to be dry and informative. Many forget that B2B buyers are often driven by emotion as well. In fact, 71% of buyers who see personal value – as opposed to business impact – in a B2B purchase are likely to move forward with that purchase.
- They Buy Online. B2B consumers, just like the average buyer, prefer dealing with purchases online. This is despite the assumption that they purchase using more traditional methods. Last year, Forrester Research discovered that 59% of B2B customers prefer not to interact with a sales rep and 74% prefer the convenience of making purchases online. B2B buyers research products heavily before making a purchase to be confident in their decision, just like B2C customers.
- They Are Big On Reviews. You may assume that B2B customers are not reading your reviews online. They are, and they value the content of these reviews more than you might think. Just like B2C customers, B2B customers want to trust your company enough to make the purchase, and a significant number of people find that validation through reviews.
- B2B Buyers Are Not Robots. B2B customers are emotionally driven and shop online. Yes, they value reviews. Because they are human. Sure, they need to be informed and value the insights your company can give them, but the way you approach the content you distribute to prospects shouldn’t be markedly different from the way you would approach a B2C consumer. All consumers, to some extent, value convenience, clarity, and quality. Talk to them like you would if you were making a recommendation to a friend, not like a stiff salesman in a spiffy suit. Keep it conversational and helpful, and you may just earn their trust – and their business.
Email Marketing: What Manufacturers Are Missing
by MGB2B
In today’s fast-paced business world, it’s important to avoid email marketing mistakes. Email marketing is more than just a way to blast out new products and company news to your prospects; it is your company’s way of driving leads to your site and further along in your sales funnel.
For manufacturers, email marketing is a must, but it requires solid strategy, attention to detail, and good timing in order to be effective. Recently, IBM did a study on email marketing and its effectiveness for eighteen major industries, manufacturing among them. They focused on important benchmarks like unique open rates, bounce rates, and click-through rates. And the results might surprise you.
What’s Working for Manufacturers:
- Prospects Are Opening Your Emails. On the whole, the manufacturing industry has an average unique open rate of 25.9%. That’s higher than the Travel, Entertainment, Financial Services, and Retail Industries, just to name a few.
- Prospects Are Clicking Through to Your Site. If you’re like the majority of manufacturing companies, you have a unique CTR of around 3.5%. Again, this a solid showing, about smack in the middle of where other industries rank. That means you have good content that is relevant to whatever subject lines you’ve used.
What Manufacturers Need to Fix:
- The Bounce. Hard bounce rates for Manufacturers are higher than any other industry (1.59%). Manufacturing was the only industry with a bounce rate above one percent. It more than quadrupled industries like Retail (%0.285) and Real Estate (%0.315). A hard bounce rate is the percentage of emails that are sent which get rejected and are never received. This can be due to a typo, nonexistent email, updated email, etc. The number typically increases as time goes by if the errors aren’t fixed.
The study suggests that infrequency might be the root of the problem, and it very well may be a large part of the problem. So it’s a good idea to look at increasing the frequency of your emails. But there are a few other ways to lower your bounce rate:
- Keep Your Lists Updated: It is as important to update your lists as it is to send out emails. The longer you wait to update your list, the more changes need to be made. One way to avoid this altogether is to double opt-in your lists. This will ensure that your list is made up of quality leads who are interested in what you are selling.
- A Good Lead is the Best Lead: Leads are good. Good leads are great. It is important to make sure when searching for manufacturing leads that they are reliable and accurate. Purchasing a list of one thousand leads with three hundred errors and outdated prospects will hurt more in the long run than a list of five hundred top-notch leads. Quantity is important, but quality is even more important. It will be more cost-effective to enter only quality leads (preferably sorted into segments) than it will to buy a mass list and opt-out the bad ones.
- When You See Bounces…BOUNCE: As soon as a bounce comes across your desk, get rid of it. This is the most crucial part in lowering the hard bounce rate. If you send out ten thousand emails and your bounce rate is one percent, that’s 100 leads you need to delete. This lowers your bounce rate and increases your unique open and click-to-open rates, driving them into the sales funnel, where you can nurture them and eventually convert them into customers.