Best B2B Content Marketing: A Multi-Channel Strategy
Firstly a question, do you think you can improve your current best B2B content marketing?
Maybe content marketing your B2B solutions is not currently prioritised. However if you placed additional focus on content marketing, engaged better with your customers, you know there is more to accomplish.
And when we say ‘additional focus’, this can be in terms of greater quality of content. Additionally a wider range of content types produced and importantly a larger number of distribution points.
The more channels a sales organisation deploys, the bigger the market share gains. McKinsey
This is important as B2B marketing becomes more contemporary. Conversely our B2C counterparts have typically moved quicker to embrace a multi-channel approach. Think along the lines of influencers, video, podcasts and using trends.
However, the best B2B companies are catching up by scaling and improving their content marketing.
How
By adopting a multi-channel approach, this is where we improve the interaction between your company and your customer. At all of the touch points.
This shift reflects a deeper understanding of how modern B2B decision-makers consume and engage with content.
Understand Where B2B Audiences Really Live Online
According to HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report, as you would imagine, LinkedIn is the primary platform for B2B engagement.
However, 82% of B2B decision-makers actively engage across at least three different social platforms.
Does that sound right to you? About your own usage.
Consequently if you want your prospective buyers to deeply understand your business, brands and solutions leverage that opportunity of multiple platforms.
For example operate a multi-platform approach. Therefore customers and prospective clients will read, watch, partake in polls and generally engage with you across the different platforms.
Remember to maximise the coverage of your content strategy, content has to be high value, consistent and platform and person relevant.
The Evolution of B2B Audience Behaviour
It seems long gone are the B2B days of one buyer, making one decision.
In fact research from the Content Marketing Institute indicates that B2B buying journeys have become increasingly non-linear.
With modern purchase decisions typically involving:
- 6-8 decision-makers, each consuming content differently
- Multiple platform touchpoints before engagement
- A mix of formal and informal research across various channels
In other words to deliver the best B2B content marketing our strategy and approach must adapt. So our content can be seen by the key decision-makers across various platforms.
Data-Driven Platform Selection
Know one likes feeling lost.
And decisions based in data provide direction and confidence to execute.
Throughout the creation of a successful B2B marketing strategy it is data that informs activity. Furthermore data can be used to assess new platforms to create content on to enhance digital presence.
For example use Google Analytics to observe and understand the route people take to reach your website.
Analysing the route taken by visitors to get to your website allows you to identify where to prioritise. If the majority of traffic is coming from a specific social media platform that gives an indication content is performing.
Alternatively you may know that generally your prospects and customers use Facebook groups to grow community. Or regularly post LinkedIn articles.
But for example if both platforms delivered little traffic they could offer good opportunities to grow awareness, engagement and traffic.
Platform-Specific Best B2B Content Marketing Strategies
LinkedIn: The Professional Foundation
We are big fans of LinkedIn. And this is why.
LinkedIn’s significance for B2B marketing is proven, repeatable and well-documented. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions reports that businesses can generate 80% of B2B leads from the platform.
However, it is important to consider the quality of these leads. As the quality can vary significantly based on content strategy.
Effective LinkedIn strategies typically incorporate:
- Data-driven thought leadership pieces that combine industry insights with practical (value driving) applications
- Regular analysis of industry trends backed by research
- Customer focused content that addresses industry specific pain points
X (Twitter): Technical Engagement Hub
Okay so this platform gets a lot of press!
But regardless of what is going on globally it can create community.
Sprout Social’s research demonstrates that X has evolved into a crucial platform for technical discussions and real-time industry engagement.
The platform’s strengths lie in:
- Rapid dissemination of industry updates
- Quick engagement with your community
- Real-time event coverage
- Expertise demonstration through thread discussions
Meta Platforms: Building Brand Identity
Recent studies from Gartner highlight an often-overlooked aspect of B2B marketing. The significance of connection and brand affinity in purchase decisions.
Both these Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram can support this and both serve distinct roles.
Facebook is good for developing a culture and community.
For instance with Facebook reels you have a creative platform to generate short form video content. That can reach out to the significant user base of the platform whilst also being seen by your current audience.
Also with Facebook groups, niche sub-groups can be created and catered for. Providing high value content specific to that groups interests and needs.
Now Instagram, this is a visual platform. This makes it a good platform to present product, places and people in a visually creative manner.
Versus other platforms Instagram is one where users are looking to engage with interesting and entertaining content.
All these platforms offer something different. And therefore how your customer shows up to the platforms is different.
Where as on LinkedIn they will show up with a work-orientated mindset, Instagram and Facebook is about entertainment and connection.
Therefore as part of your B2B content marketing we have to consider what content style, tone and subject they are expecting.
Measuring Multi-Channel For Creating Your Best B2B Content Marketing
The best B2B content marketing strategies require measured approaches. Industry benchmarks suggest focusing on:
Key Performance Metrics
An article from Forrester identified critical metrics for an organisations measurement of analytics to drive B2B content success.
For instance they stated that 94% of B2B businesses are not advanced insight driven businesses. Comparatively they stated that non-B2B industries do leverage data significantly more.
Importantly they highlighted that this does not mean go away and create more data. Rather use the data you have to inform decisions. Ensure your department leaders are using the data and working with it to inform decisions.
In the context of metrics around your B2B content marketing informed decisions need to be driven from:
Engagement. On the quantitative side this relates to duration spent on platforms, reviewing the number of likes, video watch time and shares.
It is important to consider the qualitative aspect of who is creating this engagement. If they are not your customers and key prospects but instead your employees does the engagement have as much meaning?
Secondly conversions. Click through rates, landing page visitors when used as a click through call to action. Sales of product and sign up of new clients must all be analysed.
Doing this is Dreamdata, as shown below you can see a really clear breakdown of the progression of where engagement initially started. All the way through to deals and revenue.
Conclusion: Mastering Best B2B Content Marketing
It is clear that to develop our best B2B content marketing strategies we must embrace a sophisticated, multi-channel approach.
Based in data and insights whilst increasingly leveraging the unique strengths of each platform.
One platform as such is LinkedIn. LinkedIn remains a cornerstone of B2B communication, but its effectiveness multiplies when integrated with strategic presence across other platforms.
The presence and content across all platforms must evolve from a broadcast-focused approach, and to some extent attitude. To focus on creating meaningful engagement. This requires deeper understanding of audience preferences and behaviour patterns on each channel.
Finally, measurement and optimisation must become more sophisticated, moving beyond simple engagement metrics to track genuine business impact across the entire customer journey.
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James Ambel
With over a decade of B2B expertise across multiple industries and a passion for integrating new technology to elevate his ROI James’ writing allows all of this to come together. His belief is many B2B businesses could maximise their time, focus and ROI to an even higher level.
Experiment with different messaging, content formats, and communication channels to determine what resonates most effectively with your target audience. Use A/B testing and data-driven insights to refine your approach and maximise results over time.