B2B content marketing: Understanding its significa
The term, Social proof refers to informational social influence. When people copy the action of other people under the influence of their behavior, the event is termed social proof. Social proof carries significant importance in influential marketing. In B2B marketing, where the aim is to generate leads and sales, influence plays an important role.
The people around them majorly impact humans as a society. A person is more likely to go for something others think is right. Before the internet era, people used to take suggestions from their friends and families, colleagues, or advisors. During the internet era, people look for online reviews from previous customers. According to the experts, almost 92% of B2B buyers are likely to procure a product or service if positive reviews back it up.
B2B companies are a little skeptical about using social proof for marketing purposes. Only 20% of B2B companies are willing to use positive reviews as a part of their B2B marketing. It is because social proof is considered as following a herd mentality. Social proof has been seen as a tool to sell anything a company wants. Social proof is also considered to be a tool to market products with lower quality. Hence, many B2B marketers do not tend to use social proof in their marketing strategies.
But instead of feeling a stigma against social proof, one should see it as an opportunity to match or surpass the competitors.B2C and B2B markets have different customer bases. In B2C, the customer purchases products based on their emotions. It is driven by personal feelings and social proof in B2C, targeting those emotions.
In B2B, the customer is highly aware and educated regarding their needs and requirements. For implementing social proof in B2B marketing, the validity of the customer reviews is critical. The reviews should be from successful and well-known companies and owners, influencers in the respective fields, renowned publications, etc. The customer is likely to trust the sources who are leaders in their respective fields.
Another crucial thing while pitching your social proof strategy is the selection of communication channels. With the widespread use of the internet, many significant media are being used. LinkedIn and TikTok are two primary communication channels because of their vast active audience. LinkedIn currently has over 60 million senior-level influencers, catering to over 800 million active users. The platform is highly user-friendly and offers an easy way of reaching industry leaders and decision-makers.
As TikTok has become the biggest social media platform in the world, many businesses are looking to capitalize on this growth. Even though TikTok lacks the credibility level of LinkedIn, it is majorly used for B2-B marketing among small businesses. It offers innovative strategies to implement in your marketing strategy.
One can create social proof such as videos and customer reviews on the company website. Videos are always preferred by people, providing precise information and better understanding. TikTok is the current leader in the short video format, favored by the youngsters. But along with TikTok, Youtube has one of the largest audiences when it comes to social media platforms. Like the published reviews, one can create videos by industry leaders, influencers, and business owners to pitch your social proof strategy.
The pointers for highlighting accomplishments are the deciding factors for any marketing campaign. Along with the customer reviews, pointers such as quantitative data, awards, collaborations, case studies, etc., can provide a massive boost. Your quantitative data, such as your sales number, profit numbers, market performance, etc., highlight your strengths. These values increase your trust value in the eyes of existing customers and your leads.
Including case studies highlight your attitude towards the market. It highlights your work culture and how you handle challenging situations. Through case studies, customers can feel assured that they can hold on to their own during any challenging situation. While creating social proof for B2B marketing, one has to focus on implementing a perfect balance of creativity and authority. Even though a script is always followed in content creation for B2B marketing, it should always look as organic as possible.
The idea that the communication channels for B2B marketing should be professional is long gone. Instead, now the companies are using as many communication channels as possible. Leading brands extensively use social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, etc., for developing customer interactions. With the right mindset, you can also perfectly implement social proof in your B2B marketing campaign,