Over the past few years, we learned just how important digital marketing – social media, in particular – is to B2B life sciences businesses. But, with so many different platforms and a constantly changing landscape, it’s difficult to keep up. As the person in charge of your company’s social media, you need to have a clear vision for what you want to achieve and you need to share that vision with your team.
While social media is a great way to connect with customers and promote your brand, none of that can happen without your input. In order for your team to be truly successful, there are a few things they need to know from you.
Here are seven things your team, whether they are an internal group or an outsourced partner, needs to know from you in order to create and maintain a strong social media presence for your company. When we work with life science companies, our first step is a discovery and research phase to dig deep and achieve clarity around the first six items in this list.
1. Your Company’s Goals and Objectives
What are your company’s overall goals? Knowing your goals, objectives and current marketing plan helps your social team better understand how we can use social media channels to achieve these goals.
For example, if one of the company’s goals is to increase brand awareness, then we can work on strategies to increase the visibility of the company’s content. If another goal is to increase web traffic, then we can develop a strategy to do that. It might mean sharing links to various website assets or creating a paid social plan to drive your audience to the website.
A social media team can’t produce great results if we don’t know what you’re trying to achieve. Make sure your team knows what your goals are so they can create content and campaigns that align with those goals.
2. Your Target Audience
Who is your target B2B audience? First and foremost, you need to think about who you are trying to reach with your social media presence. Are you targeting potential customers? Existing customers? Other companies? Understanding your audience also includes demographics (age, gender, location, etc.) and psychographics (interests, values, etc.). The more your social team knows about your target audience, the more the content we produce will appeal to that audience.
3. Your Competitors
In order to help your company stand out from the crowd, your team needs to know who your competitors are and what they’re doing on social media. This way, we can develop strategies for differentiating your brand and attracting potential customers who may be considering other options. We spend time during our research process looking at how your competitors use social media – from the voice they use to the types of content.
4, Your Brand Voice
Your brand’s voice is the personality you want to project to your audience. It’s how you want people to perceive your company. Do you want to be seen as friendly? Approachable? Formal? Serious? Professional? If everyone in the office is laid-back and informal, that should come across in your social media posts as well. On the other hand, if your company culture is more formal and traditional, that should be reflected in the way you communicate online. This knowledge will help your team determine what kinds of content to post and how to present your brand on social media.
When you create your overall brand messaging platform, it is a good idea to include your social media brand voice in that exercise as well.
5. Your Company Culture
For your social media voice to be consistent, it needs to align with your company culture. It is one of the most important aspects of your social media program. It is also one of the most difficult for a company to provide to a social media team. Showcasing your company’s culture lets your customers and prospects know who they are doing business with. Consumers today – whether B2B or B2C – want to do business with those whose values align with their own. Showing that your company is involved with supporting local communities, educational opportunities, driving sustainability initiatives and celebrating employees gives your audience confidence in your company.
6. Your Expectations
What are your expectations for your social media team? Do you have a clear idea of what your social program should consist of or achieve? Or do you, like many companies, need the guidance and strategy an experienced team can provide? It’s critically important that you let your team know what you expect from them right from the start, so we can better align our efforts with your goals.
7. Your Social Media Budget
It is vital for your social media team to understand your budget before we create a program estimate! This will determine what kind of campaigns the team can run and how often we can run them. If you have a limited budget, we may need to be creative with our strategies to get the most bang for your buck. For example, we may need to focus on organic growth strategies – such as creating engaging content – versus paid LinkedIn campaigns.
Make sure you set your social media team up for success by being clear about these seven items. With this information, your social team can produce content and campaigns that align with your overall marketing goals and help you achieve the results you want.
Creating a strong social media presence takes much time and effort. But, it does deliver results like increased website traffic, higher conversion rates, and improved SEO rankings.
Author – Jen Mizak
Jen heads up Brandwidth Solution’s social media area. She has worked with both startups and Fortune 500 firms helping businesses increase their visibility and boost sales by tapping into their customers’ needs and engaging them with persuasive social media content. Jen specializes in integrating content marketing and social media with other marketing initiatives.
Brandwidth Solutions serves the healthcare, life sciences, technology, and contract pharma industries. We work with companies that want to make the most of their marketing – who want their marketing empowered to help drive leads – and ultimately sales. If you want to move your product or service forward in a smart way, we want to work with you. Call us at 215.997.8575.
