Using Facebook for B2B marketing: taking action for business growth.

• Author: Arnold, Tyler
• Position: SOCIAL MEADIA

In the B2B world, Facebook is highly underutilized. Even though 39 percent of B2B marketers have used Facebook to generated leads, studies show that Linked In is the most used social platform for B2B companies. Facebook is more difficult to engage with as a business platform, but that doesn't mean it should be overlooked.

Keep the following seven items in mind as a B2B marketer using Facebook to take advantage of the world's largest social network.

1 Make a Strategy

It's all about strategy. If you haven't created a strategy yet, we recommend a free tool called Social-StrategyBuilder.com. Whatever your trade, start by building a database of your target. Then ask questions that will incite responses and be sure you have participants from your company to enhance your presence. A conversation is bound to spread, and even if it doesn't, the engagement on Facebook will naturally rise. Persistence is key, so be sure to encourage your employees to share their opinions on your company's activity.

Example: Read how IBM is embracing social media internally.

2 Use Images

Remember that pictures can grab attention faster than text or videos. Share advice or even statistical data accompanied by pictures. People tend to look for things that catch their eye and that they can understand in a jiffy.

3 Reward Curiosity

Play on people's natural curiosity. Everybody is curious about how things are made, so show the "behind the scenes" of your business. What happened at an interesting event? How did the office prepare for the last networking meeting? Post and then add pictures.

Example: Peddinghaus goes behind the scenes to share stories of its employees and factories.

4 Create Incentives

Offer a free demo or a way for customers to directly interact with whatever you are selling. A free trial will attract people to your page. That means likes and shares and a lot of talk generated on Facebook and other social platforms. Also offer other kind of things for free: e-books useful in your line of business, videos with advice, or informative graphics. Remember to keep it useful and relevant.

5 Promote Other Content

You're probably creating content on some other platform like a blog or webinars. Don't just put a link to Facebook. Find a good excerpt or make a short summary and post it. You'll definitely get both Facebook likes and your blog visits up.

Action Step: Reshare and retweet content that will resonate with your audience. Promoting content from other sources...