A Year in B2B Marketing: Effective Strategies and Pitfalls

Over the past year, our B2B marketing approach underwent a significant transformation, shifting focus to LinkedIn and Facebook groups, as suggested by my supervisor. This strategic pivot yielded impressive results, establishing these platforms as our primary channels for client acquisition, far surpassing traditional methods like blogs and email newsletters. Below, I’ll share nine successful tactics we employed along with five strategies that didn’t quite hit the mark.

The Winning Tactics

1. Prioritizing the CEO’s Persona—A Game Changer

In our journey, I discovered that personal profiles often garnered far more engagement than company pages with thousands of followers. This insight led us to enhance our CEO’s personal brand instead of solely promoting the company, resulting in increased visibility with likes and views skyrocketing.

2. Engaging with Micro Facebook Communities

Micro Facebook groups (with memberships ranging from 6,000 to 20,000) turned out to be goldmines. By sharing valuable content in these communities, we consistently generated interest and filled our sales pipeline. The insights we gained from a “value posting fellowship” proved invaluable, leading to significant revenue without any marketing expenses.

3. Expanding Our Network Strategically

Initially, our CEO’s network was sparse and outdated. To remedy this, I joined professional groups and proactively sent connection requests. This tedious but necessary step paid off as LinkedIn and Facebook began suggesting relevant connections as our network expanded.

4. Personalized Invitations—Partially Effective

While LinkedIn promotes sending personal notes with connection requests, I found it time-consuming. Instead, I opted to follow up with targeted individuals after they had accepted the connection, which resulted in higher engagement and an enhanced relationship.

5. Upholding Authenticity in Communication

Authenticity is key in social media interactions. We committed to keeping our messaging true to the CEO’s voice, using his original content translated for a broader audience. This strategy enhanced engagement, as followers resonated with the genuine communication.

6. Using the CEO’s Influence to Promote Others

By leveraging the CEO’s preferences, we began using his interactions to promote our other executives’ content. This method allowed us to reach a broader audience through his endorsements without additional content creation requirements.

7. The Power of Slide Presentations

Interestingly, we stumbled upon slide presentations as one of our most effective content types. Posting these as PDFs