Blog Series: B2B Tech Marketing (Part 1 - Social Media)

Most of your small business’ marketing efforts will take place online.  This is because digital marketing has proved itself to be strategically efficient, cost effective and more flexible than traditional marketing.  In a digital world, it’s imperative that your small business is effectively utilizing online marketing resources and has a strong online presence.  In this series, we will share the importance of social media for your business, as well as the best channels to focus your efforts.

Social media refers to the virtual interaction on social networking sites. Social media is the talk of the town in terms of new online marketing strategies and is critical for your marketing plan development, as it drives website traffic and raises awareness of your brand. It also is a great platform for content marketing promotion and encourages link building in support of SEO. The most popular social media sites used by tech businesses today are Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

Twitter is a great social media site to engage with your target audience because it embraces dialogues and conversations with followers.  By using hashtags and twitter handles, Twitter is a great way to search and track your target audience to figure out the best way to connect with them.

LinkedIn is another social media site that is very useful for small businesses. While Twitter is geared more towards younger audiences, the majority of LinkedIn users are between the ages of 30 and 64. LinkedIn is a great way to showcase your business’ expertise by sharing and discussing relevant industry news and trends.  Check out Paragon, a small business that specializes in business and technology consulting, and their LinkedIn page, in which they share their original blog posts to engage their audience.

Google+ is often an overlooked but valuable social network.  Its value lies in its integration with Google’s search engine.  Having a presence on Google+ increases the likelihood of your business ranking in Google search results.  Google+encourages sharing content by allowing you to share posts, photos, links, videos and also facilitates an arena for creating a dialogue with your followers.  You also have the opportunity to participate in Google+ communities, which allows you to build both awareness of your brand and connect with others who have similar professional interests.  Need an example? Check out small business Lowry Porter Ophthalmology’s success story in using their Google+ page in building awareness of their brand and upgrading their search rankings.

Be sure to choose your social media presence wisely.  Only dedicate your time and talent for social media marketing on sites that your target audience engages.  This can take some trial and error.  For example, if you spend equal times on LinkedIn and Twitter, and then find that you’re seeing much more targeted engagement through LinkedIn, it may be best to increase your time to that particular network.  Remember, it does not necessarily matter how many followers you have on your sites, but instead that you’re targeting and engaging with the right audience in the right ways.

Social media is an excellent and innovative marketing mode to share original, helpful and useful content and voice your business’ expertise and opinions on industry trends and news.  In part 2 of our blog series, we will discuss the importance of content marketing.

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