Essential social media advice for B2B companies

My work now deals mainly with B2C clients, but I’ve had plenty of experience working with B2B companies, and I’ve seen their challenges in trying to be consistent and relevant in the social space.

Here are four things the B2B world can learn from B2C social media best practices:

1. Devise a clear strategy before you dive in (and update yours if you’re already in the water).

It’s not enough for a business to just “be there” when it comes to social media, and that applies to consumer brands and B2B companies. There have to be good reasons for you to engage in the media you’re using.

Ask yourself these questions, and perhaps even poll your customers or members to get clear answers:

• Is my intended audience already on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn? This question will become especially relevant when you’re deciding which social media channels your company should use. Chances are your customer base is using LinkedIn, so that should be a no-brainer. It gets a little trickier with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. It’s even trickier to determine whether your customer base will want to find you in emerging social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram.