The one social media post that’s destroying B2B marketing

Ripping apart my shameful past of tone-deaf B2B marketing for your benefit.

Link posts. They are everywhere in the B2B marketing world and I hate them with a passion. But the truth is I used to publish them all the time. So, it’s time to rip apart my past work and show you (using my mistakes) why link posts kill your B2B marketing strategy.

Link posts are simply social media posts with a link in them, just like this one below which I published earlier last year.

This is a typical link post. It includes a short introduction, has a link-derived image, and has zero engagement. Typical link post.

If you work in the B2B world then link posts are common and most likely clog up your feed with similar-looking content.

The issue with these types of posts isn’t the content. Actually, the content is very good and informative but it’s completely tone-deaf and the zero engagement rating proves this.

Let’s rip this post apart in 5 steps

1) The three E’s of social media

The 3 fundamental E’s of social media are engage, educate and entertain. This post was clearly created to educate but educate who and why should they care?

Taking the introductory line “Is your website ready for the WCAG accessibility deadline?” we can identify a pain point (the accessibility deadline) but I didn’t direct the post to a specific person or even mention why the deadline might be a pain point.

Educational posts are fantastic at addressing customer pain points and spreading exciting news. However, they need to be personal and direct.

When writing copy for an educational post think: who does this benefit? why does it benefit them? Why would they care?

Answering these three is the first step to take when producing top-tier B2B content.

2) Hashtags:

This is slightly embarrassing but I only included one hashtag and it wasn’t a good one. When posting B2B content include hashtags that cover who your audience (or ideal client) is e.g Head of merchandising and do some hashtag research to identify which hashtags work best when targetting these people.

REMEMBER: Avoid hashtags with over 1 million uses or risk losing your throwing your post into an oversaturated hashtag group.

3) Location:

Social media is changing and on Facebook specifically, community is becoming so much more important. Tagging where your business is situated means you’re refining your post and aligning with the new algorithm requirements. On Facebook use the check-in tag!

4) Structure:

This post is boring. I won’t deny it. The bland stock photo does nothing for this post, it needs something new. A Q&A session, going Live, even a sit-down video would be more engaging.

Using these new forms of content structuring might take longer to create but if the content is worth sharing then it’s worth the effort. Using video is highly recommended as you can repurpose it across platforms and will put a face to a brand.

Just remember if you’re going to post a video include captions or your video will flop.

5) Personalisaion:

Gymshark does it, MailChimp does it, even Facebook’s owner Mark Zuckerberg does it. What do they all do?

They all include faces and personalities in their social media content. I don’t mean the strict, clearly uncomfortable corporate staff photos B2B businesses like to use over and over again. I mean free talking, human and even funny videos and images that make your brand more than just a corporation.

What is the age-old saying? We buy from people, not brands and this is even more prevalent in B2B marketing which often comes across as machine-like.

Potential leads want to feel connected to your business on a human level, even if they don’t know it yet!

What’s the actual issue?

Behind these 5 reasons as to why this post flopped, there is a clear, singular reason why. This post is trying to perform hard-selling.

Marketing isn’t hard-selling. It shouldn’t be selling at all. Instead, it should be a place where clients and potential clients can learn, engage, and even be entertained by a brand.

It’s a very soft form of selling that focuses on creating personal relationships. So, if you’re a B2B business owner wondering why your marketing is flopping, it might be time to separate sales from marketing.

No more lead-generated targets. No more sales-focused posts. No more sales manager criticism.

Instead, you need,

more emphasis put on engagement. More user-focused content creation. More creativity.

Just don’t do what I did and publish a link post.