The secret behind the LinkedIn algorithm, like the recipe of the original Coca-Cola, is safely guarded. And while we don’t know how either is formulated, we can safely draw conclusions on their components by conducting various experiments. Since this is a B2B marketing agency and not a competing soft drink company, we’ll look to decipher the former.

Unlike the recipe for one of America’s most celebrated soft drinks, the composition of the social network’s building blocks is ever-changing, making it difficult, but not impossible to uncover the strategy for success. To crack the code, the team at Just Connecting analyzed a staggering 1.5 million posts, from 34,000 individual profiles, and over 26,000 company pages, spanning over 50 countries and 25 languages. The results of their research revealed exactly what you need to break through the noise, capture new audiences, and reap all the benefits of being seen on the world’s epicenter for B2B professionals.

As anticipated, the report is comprehensive, covering topics ranging from the most effective formats to the nuances of commenting and everything in between. Here, we’ll delve into what we consider the most impactful data points and insights on crafting a hook, video posts, formatting, Text + Image posts, nurturing, and more.

Break through the feed: Tips for B2B marketers on LinkedIn

Craft a unique hook to pull your audience in

Imagine writing something and no one reading it… ever. Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence for many brands and users of LinkedIn. Imagine if Jonas Salk, the man who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio, shared his initial findings on LinkedIn. Very few people would arrive at the point where he revealed his findings if he started his post with several mundane sentences.

While you may not spend years on your work like Jonas, you don’t want your efforts to go unnoticed; ensure the two to three sentences of your LinkedIn text post start strong and capture the reader’s attention – testing proves you can increase reader retention by 30% by doing so.

Take notes: Casey Borrero, Influencer Marketing Strategist at TopRank Marketing, shares the details on crafting an opening and conclusion that gives your audience a reason to keep reading, engaging, and clicking.

Draw viewers in by creating the perfect video post

Visualize this: It’s 2046, and you can create a social video projecting a hologram onto the viewer’s wall. Okay, that might sound invasive and overstimulating, so let’s revert to present day. Despite minimal evolution in video technology over the past decade, there are still innovative ways to engage your audience. Crafting the optimal video post ensures that your behind-the-scenes video production efforts don’t go to waste. Ensure your video is 1-2 minutes long, in vertical format, features an impactful hook, and is uploaded natively.

Need help visualizing the perfect video post? The video below featuring me, Alex White, Social – Influencer Lead at TopRank Marketing, serves as an excellent example of all the components coming together to create an effective piece of media.

Choosing the right format for your content

When will the next George R. R. Martin novel be released? What is the best format for sharing your LinkedIn content? Who closes the door after the bus driver departs? Unfortunately, we only have the answer to one of these questions. While various formats are available, including Text + Image, Text Only, Document (PDF), and Video Posts … Text + Image reigns supreme, promising higher engagement than all other options.

Which format is right for your content? Theresa Dorsey Meis, Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, shares how matching the post purpose with the right format can boost the amount of engagement you receive on the platform.

Increase reach with Text + Image posts

Do you want to get noticed by the LinkedIn algorithm? As mentioned previously, it’s very keen on Text + Image posts. Using the format to gain reach is akin to using an air horn to get the attention of the staff in a library. It’s called “The Default Post” for a reason, as it provides the best results. It’s no wonder 48% of posts on the platform fall into this category.

Now, you can’t just produce any text and expect great results; no, that would be way too easy. For best performance, your text should range from 900 to 1,200 characters, feature short sentences under twelve words, and avoid using language that comes off as too promotional.

On to images. Have you ever seen a stock image that stopped you in your tracks? Yeah, we haven’t either. There’s much to be gained by sharing personalized photos, including an increase in engagement by up to 45% and stronger authority. Be sure to incorporate brand colors and themes, too, doing so can help with a 15% increase in brand recall. Oh, and avoid screenshots when possible as they generally receive 15% fewer clicks.

Unlock the keys to a great Text + Image post: Josh Nite, Senior Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, shares the benefits of messaging and images that are unique, original, valuable, and meaningful.

Publish and nourish to see your LinkedIn posts flourish

Remember that rotisserie chicken commercial from the 90s? The one where the star would say “Set it and forget it.” This approach is precisely what you want to avoid with your LinkedIn posts. Far too often, brands and creators set their posts for publishing, only to forget about them, when they should be actively engaging on the platform. The publishing of the post is only the beginning of your journey. For optimal results, you must:

• Comment on your post: Initiating 2 to 5 comments with further insights or inquiries can further the conversation. (Be sure to do so within the first hour.)
• Repost on the second day. (Good for an increase of up to 20% in engagement.)
• Tag your connections in the comments: be sure to alert those who are likely to engage for best results.
• Show your connections‘ posts some love: 5-10 comments can lead to a 15% increase in your post’s reach.
• Add a call to action: the previous penalty of providing one appears to be no longer applicable.

Nourishing tips in video format: Debbie Friez, Associate Director, Influencer & Social Media at TopRank Marketing, shares the insights you need to boost your engagement via thoughtful engagement of your own.

The Algorithm Insights 2024 report is just one of many resources you can dig into to improve engagement and reach, and achieve new heights of marketing excellence. But to truly unlock the algorithm, you must use these insights strategically and be sure to utilize all of the platform’s often-overlooked features.

And, let’s not forget the benefits of having a team of marketers who have 20+ years of experience on the platform. Contact us today to see how our social media marketing services can help you increase content reach, drive thought leadership, build an engaged community, and increase your brand’s share of voice.

The post LinkedIn B2B Marketing Tips from Top Experts and Insiders (New Data) appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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If your organization has been publishing content for many years, chances are your website has more content than you can keep track of. This makes managing a content strategy harder than it needs to be. When you don’t know what content already exists — or the quality of that content — any efforts to create new content may actually work against your overall search performance.

To combat this, we recommend conducting an SEO content audit. This process will help you understand everything that has been published on your website so you can make an informed choice about how to use it more strategically.

A step-by-step guide to SEO content audits

Step 1: Define your goals

Before you can start an SEO content audit, you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish. Without clearly articulated goals, the analysis derived from the audit is likely to lack focus and meaningful insights. Setting clear goals provides a framework for prioritizing tasks, evaluating the effectiveness of implemented changes, and demonstrating the impact of the SEO content audit on overall website performance.

When you define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your SEO content audit, you set yourself up to have direction, purpose, and measurable outcomes. Whether the aim is to improve keyword rankings, enhance user experience, increase organic traffic, or achieve a combination of these, well-defined goals are the key to a targeted and strategic approach.

Step 2: Compile a content inventory

The first step in the content audit itself is gathering a comprehensive list of all the content on your website, including blog posts, articles, product pages, and any other destinations where content is crawled. This inventory clarifies exactly what content lives on your site, where it’s located, and its performance data. This lays the groundwork for all the work that comes next.

Without this information, your audit could miss hidden opportunities or tackle irrelevant content, hindering your SEO efforts. But when you have a full picture of your content ecosystem, you can confidently understand what you have, what you need, and what you can improve.

Step 3: Keyword analysis

Once you have an inventory, review the keywords associated with each piece of content. This process reveals whether your pages are targeting the right search terms, attracting the desired audience, and ranking where they should be.

Analyzing the keywords that your content targets and comparing them to search trends, competition, and user intent. Doing this will help identify missed opportunities, address keyword cannibalization, and guide your content optimization efforts.

Step 4: Assess content quality

For each piece of content on your website, evaluate the accuracy, readability, and how closely it maps to search intent. High-quality helpful content is more likely to perform well in search engine rankings, especially after Google’s 2022 helpful content update.

An abundance of content on your website that search engines deem “low quality” can have a significantly negative impact on overall search authority. An SEO content audit will help you identify your lowest-quality content, which you can either remove or enhance with a content refresh. Either way, addressing these pieces of content will help you improve your site’s overall search performance.

Step 5: Internal linking

Another aspect of the content itself that should be audited is how other pages are linked within your content. Internal links guide users to relevant content and help search engines understand the relationships between different pages.

But internal linking is more than simply adding a list of additional resources at the bottom of the page (although that has its place). These should be relevant, contextual links embedded within the content itself. By optimizing internal linking, you enhance the overall SEO performance of your website and contribute to a more seamless user experience.

Step 6: Check for duplicate content

Google’s bots will penalize your search performance if it finds two pieces of content that cover the exact same topic. Not only that but creating duplicative content is a waste of resources.

Duplication analysis will help you identify instances of duplicate content within your website or across external sites. This isn’t so simple as identifying duplicate keywords, because sometimes different keywords are targeting the same user intent. Expert guidance will help you filter out these instances.

Step 7: Content gap analysis

Now that you know what content you have, it’s time to figure out what’s missing. A content gap analysis helps you identify those missing pieces in your content ecosystem by comparing your existing content with the needs and interests of your target audience.

By understanding what your audience is searching for and comparing it against what you have already published, you can create a list of new relevant content to fill these gaps. This strategic approach ensures that your future content creation will align with user intent while targeting a more comprehensive and strategic range of keywords.

Step 8: Make a plan for each piece of content

With your audit complete, it’s time to analyze the data and make a plan of action. A well-structured plan provides a roadmap for addressing specific issues identified in the content audit and implementing improvements strategically.

Your plan should include tasks such as refreshing content on low-quality pages, optimizing internal links, or totally removing duplicate content for each piece of content on your website. This will ensure that all your subsequent efforts adhere to the broader content strategy and are tailored to the unique needs of each piece of content.

An SEO content audit is one component of a broader SEO audit. To learn more about this more comprehensive approach, read our guide: Here’s Why You Should Conduct an SEO Audit, and What You Can Learn From It

The post Conducting an SEO Content Audit appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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The latest update to Google’s algorithm has potentially major implications for brands and marketers who are focused on showing up for their audiences in search. As with many recent updates, this one is designed to surface genuinely helpful results that align with search intent.

The March 2024 update to Google’s algorithm primarily targets low-quality, AI-generated content and spammy SEO techniques. Read on to learn more about what this means and how it impacts your SEO content strategy. First, a quick overview on the state of the Google algorithm, and why it is valuable to stay in the loop.

“The March 2024 core update is a more complex update than our usual core updates, involving changes to multiple core systems. It also marks an evolution in how we identify the helpfulness of content.” – Google

About the Google search algorithm

When it comes to search, Google is the primary gatekeeper between your content and your potential buyers. As of last year, Google was still processing 8.5 billion searches per day and HubSpot reports that, “While close to one in three consumers use social search to find answers, traditional search engines are still dominant, used by 88% of people.”

The last few core algorithm updates have been all about promoting better content. Each one has caused a shakeup in rankings — brands that enjoyed unassailable top spots lost positions, and new, more relevant content rose up the search engine results page (SERP).

The March update is no different. If you’re seeing changes in your content performance, here’s what you need to know.

• Get caught up: Learn about Google’s major core algorithm update from October 2023

What marketers need to know about the March 2024 core algorithm update

Algorithm updates are coming faster than ever. The last core update was in November, which was preceded by updates in October and August. These various enhancements from Google have openly shared a focus: increasing visibility of high-quality content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). The latest follows a similar theme, but is more geared toward penalizing content that fails to meet these standards.

Key Facts to Know:

• Name: Google March 2024 Core Algorithm and Spam Update
• Launch Date: March 5, 2024
• Rollout Duration: March through May 2024
• Scope: A comprehensive update that evaluates all content types
• Effect: Devalues low-quality content, including AI and spam.
• Global Reach: Affects all regions and languages worldwide
• Impact: High — could reduce prevalence of certain SERP results by 40%
• Wide Influence: All sites are being analyzed under this new update
• Recovery: If your site is affected, review your content and implement Google’s core update recommendations.
• Ongoing Evolution: Google will continue to strengthen its algorithm against spammy SEO tactics and AI-generated content.

What’s included in the March 2024 core update

The new update includes two main components: a spam update (completed as of March 20, 2024) and a core update (currently rolling out). These changes are designed to help searchers “see more useful information, and fewer results that feel made for search engines.”

The core update focuses on filtering out low-quality, inaccurate or unoriginal content, especially pages that are generated by AI or those with poor E-E-A-T scores. Google shared that they expect these and previous changes to collectively reduce “low-quality, unoriginal content” in search results by 40%.

The spam policies target three manipulative SEO techniques that Google is aiming to halt:

• Scaled content abuse: Use of AI to produce high volumes of low-quality content.
• Site reputation abuse (parasite SEO): High authority websites that host third-party content with little editorial oversight can expect to be affected.
• Expired domain abuse: Spammers who buy up expired domains to host low-quality content and get an initial boost will also be targeted with this update.

The big takeaway here is that if you’re trying to game the system, it’s a losing battle. With their wealth of resources and expertise, Google is constantly innovating their search engine to circumvent the new era of black hat SEO.

While incorporating AI into its own search experience, Google is taking active steps to ensure that unhelpful applications of the technology from others don’t diminish that experience.

What’s next for content marketers

As we often say, the secret to good SEO is quite simple: great content. Plenty of data and analysis should go into selecting the right keywords and how you approach them, but at the end of the day, quality is what matters most to rank. Focus on showcasing your brand’s expertise, building connections, and providing concrete value.

Do not use artificial intelligence to directly produce content. Generative AI can be helpful for content marketing in many ways, but only as a complement to human skill and perspective. Ultimately, this Google algorithm change should be good news for brands that place domain expertise at the heart of their content strategy. Your authentic and credible content will further differentiate you from competitors who might be drawn to the allure of spammy AI tactics.

How to respond to the spam update

The site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse updates are a bit more technical in nature, and could merit exploration if your brand posts content to third-party sites. If you’re concerned about how your website might be affected by these changes, you can get out in front of it with a thorough SEO audit.

Reviewing the latest updates:

At TopRank Marketing, we keep a close eye on the ever-changing Google algorithm so we can make sure our clients are in the loop. Here’s a rundown of the latest core updates and where they’ve focused.

November 2023

• Name: Google November 2023 Broad Core Update
• Launch Date: November 2, 2023, at around 11:30 am ET
• Rollout Duration: Ended November 28, 2023
• Scope: A comprehensive update that evaluates all content types
• Effect: Higher ranking for high-quality content with an emphasis on firsthand content
• Global Reach: Affects all regions and languages worldwide
• Impact: High — over 10% of top 10 rankings are new
• Wide Influence: Extends its impact to Google Discover, featured snippets, and more
• Recovery: If your site is affected, review your content and implement Google’s core update recommendations
• Ongoing Evolution: We can expect more core updates to come, focused on the goal of providing higher-quality content to searchers

October 2023

• Name: Google October 2023 Broad Core Update
• Launch Date: October 5, 2023, at around 12 pm ET
• Rollout Duration: Anticipated to span one to two weeks
• Scope: A comprehensive update that evaluates all content types
• Effect: Not a penalty; it rewards high-quality web pages
• Global Reach: Affects all regions and languages worldwide
• Impact: Google hasn’t disclosed specific figures, but the impact seems wide-reaching, typical of core updates
• Wide Influence: Extends its impact to Google Discover, featured snippets, and more
• Recovery: If your site is affected, review your content and implement Google’s core update recommendations
• Ongoing Evolution: Google will periodically refresh this algorithm, with potential future updates unannounced

Previous core updates

• August 2023 Core Update: Rolled out from August 22 to September 7.
• March 2023 Core Update: Rolled out from March 15 to March 28.
• September 2022 Broad Core Update: Completed on September 26.
• May 2022 Broad Core Update: A significant and fast update.
• November 2021 Core Update: Impactful changes to search rankings.
• July 2021 Core Update: Another important update.
• June 2021 Core Update: A significant update that rolled out gradually.

Make your content algorithm-worthy

The path to performing better in search is two-fold: First, evaluate the content you have with an inventory and performance audit. Then develop a content strategy to create content that’s helpful to — and created by — humans.

Learn about TopRank’s SEO services and let our experts help you take the lead. We’ll get you started with a free SEO report card.

The post What Marketers Need to Know About the Latest Google Algorithm Update (March 2024) appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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TopRank Marketing has worked with clients in both the B2B and B2C realms over the last two decades. In that time, we have definitely witnessed the much-discussed convergence of these two previously diametric categories; the so-called consumerization of B2B.

But we also fully recognize the enduring factors that distinguish successful marketing in B2B versus B2C. Even as brands rightfully embrace the humanity of professional audiences, it still must be acknowledged that buyers in B2B experience contrasting motivations, challenges and dynamics in their journeys compared to consumers. The information B2B buyers seek out in making decisions, and the ways they search for it, remain very different from the standard B2C purchase.

Crafting a B2B SEO content strategy that fully accounts for the unique intricacies of this buyer journey holds the key to long-term digital growth.

Drawing the line between B2B and B2C SEO content

The defining difference between B2B and B2C is that one targets businesses and professionals, while the other targets individual consumers. A company’s SEO content strategy should be built around this core distinction.

Compared to B2C strategies, B2B SEO focuses more on reaching specific audiences through niche keywords and topics. The approach is guided by personas, which often span verticals, functions, or buying committee roles. In B2B, marketing goals are often more granular and incremental compared to simply generating an instant sale, so measurement is nuanced.

The content designed to fuel a B2B SEO strategy must then suit this purpose. It should be planned and crafted with these distinct priorities in mind.

5 critical cornerstones of a B2B SEO content strategy

Organic search traffic is immensely valuable to B2B companies, especially when their SEO strategy is designed to attract visitors based on search intent. These specialized B2B techniques will ensure you’re targeting the right keywords, attracting relevant traffic and driving valuable outcomes with your SEO content.

#1. Address the full funnel with your SEO content.

The 95-5 rule tells us that within any given B2B product category, only 5% of buyers are in-market and actively searching for a solution. That math may not be exact for every industry or niche, but the underlying premise is universal: No matter what you sell, a vast majority of your potential audience is not looking to buy at this moment.

Gaining visibility and familiarity with those who aren’t ready to make a purchase, but will be in the future, holds the key to sustainable long-term growth. Organic SEO content plays a powerful role in brand building, serving as perpetual magnets to attract visitors from the 95% out-market audience.

Upper-funnel keywords tend to have higher volumes and broader reach, meaning more opportunities to get your brand and message in front of key audiences. This, in turn, will set up lower-funnel content to be more effective.

#2. Build topical authority to establish your expertise.

The complexity and stakes of making a B2B purchase means the research process tends to be lengthy and thorough. Each challenge you can help solve has many dimensions to be explored. Using a cluster-based approach to provide comprehensive topical coverage helps your website gain authority.

This approach offers many benefits, but chief among them is the ability to rank and dominate share of search for topics that matter to your business. “Many of Google’s algorithm updates and statements have reaffirmed its preference for trustworthy, knowledgeable, and experienced publishers,” explains Semrush. “In other words: It favors content creators with topical authority.”

#3. Target long-tail keywords to address specific search intent.

This goes part and parcel with a cluster-based SEO content approach. Long-tail keywords are characterized by specificity: They tend to include more words and detail, adding another layer of depth beyond the main keywords they branch out from. An example of this might look like:

• Head KW: “SEO strategy”
• Long-tail KW: “how to develop an SEO content strategy in B2B healthcare”

By nature, long-tail keywords have lower volume, but higher intent – people running these searches are filtering and qualifying themselves as more relevant to your brand based on the information they are seeking.

A strong B2B SEO content strategy will feature a balance of head keywords and long-tail keywords to maximize both quantity and quality of organic search traffic.

#4. Focus on educational B2B SEO content and deliver value.

Google’s algorithm updates are openly intended to prioritize helpful content and provide satisfying experiences for users. Being too promotional or light on substance will impede your content’s ability to earn search rankings.

Because B2B purchases are so complex, there is ample room for education, and information is flowing at all times. Consider all the different roles and functions involved with a buying committee, and how much these stakeholders often have to educate one another. Your brand’s content can help greatly, building trust and relevance in the process.

Put user value at the center of your B2B SEO content. Offer clear and compelling insights or takeaways to help your audience accomplish their goals.

#5. Optimize and measure for a diverse range of conversion outcomes.

Effective SEO isn’t just about generating web traffic. What really matters is driving valuable results with that traffic, which is why it pays to be thoughtful about your conversion and measurement strategies.

What are the desirable outcomes for visitors at different stages of your marketing funnel? These might range from signing up for a newsletter to downloading an asset to signing up for a demo. Make sure you’re always offering an action that aligns with the intent of their search.

Strategic B2B marketing measurement accounts for all of the various conversion types, as part of the proven recipe for revenue and business growth. Marketing attribution can help you connect and weigh these different actions on the way to optimizing your efforts.

Organic SEO has a reputation for being difficult to connect to impact, but that’s only if you’re not taking the right steps to set up customized reporting and event tracking.

Set your B2B SEO content strategy up for success

Through all the algorithm changes and technology shifts, the fundamental premise of B2B SEO (or B2C SEO, for that matter) remains the same: create quality content based on reliable data around your personas, keywords and industry.

From there, it’s all about optimizing around your buyer journey and meeting the unique needs of your audience.

Learn about the many ways in which TopRank Marketing can help you step up your B2B SEO game.

The post What Makes a B2B SEO Content Strategy Unique? appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it “X,” it seems like a day can’t go by without the social media platform making headlines.

In the wake of increasing controversies including a substantial rise in bot traffic and hate speech, scores of users and companies are reassessing their relationship with X. Most recently, more than 100 of X’s most prominent advertisers, including Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Netflix have indefinitely paused advertising after Musk posted an endorsement of an anti-semitic conspiracy theory.

Given how volatile the platform has become, it’s understandable if you’re reconsidering how you use X for your B2B marketing initiatives. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer.

X can still be a valuable tool for B2B marketing under the right circumstances. Whether or not it still makes sense for you comes down to how you’re using the platform, what you’re promoting, and – most importantly – to whom you’re promoting it.

We may not be able to tell you whether it makes sense for you to keep using X outright, but we can help you figure it out for yourself. Try answering each of the following questions to determine whether the platform still has something to offer your B2B marketing.

Is your audience still active on X?

As with any channel you’re considering using, this is the most important question to ask. If your audience is sticking with X, then you probably should too.

You can first evaluate whether the platform is still driving significant traffic to your website and landing pages. If you run ads, are they delivering results?

Beyond metrics, the best way to figure out if your audience is still on X is to look up decision maker’s profiles. Check their activity on the platform to see how frequently they post and — even more importantly — how frequently they react and respond to other posts. You should also see how many of these decision makers already follow you. If you already have an audience on X, you shouldn’t give that up.

If you’re not sure about whether relevant decision makers are still on X, consider recent X demographics as compiled by Pew Research Center. According to their findings:

• The most common age group of X users in the US is 18 to 29 years old (42% of respondents)
• More men use X than women (26% vs. 19% of respondents in the US)
• X users in the US are more likely to live in the suburbs (26%) or cities (25%) than in rural locations
• Adults with higher incomes use X at slightly higher rates

Reassess who you’re trying to connect with on X and why. If your goals still make sense and seem achievable based on who’s still active X, consider keeping your marketing on. Otherwise, ask yourself the rest of these questions:

Are your competitors still on X?

Are the brands you’re competing with still maintaining an active presence on X? Even more importantly: what are they using X for, exactly? If they’ve actively promoting their services, live tweeting news and events, and responding to other posts to start conversations, then chances are they’re still achieving their goals on the platform.

If they’ve stopped posting as frequently and they rarely respond to other posts, however, then chances are they’re downscaling their involvement.

If your competition is still active on X, then you should strongly consider remaining there, as well. Even if X’s influence is waning, it is still a primary social media channel. Pulling out of a major channel while your competition remains there means ceding the share of voice that the channel provides to them. As your posts disappear and your competition’s continue, your audience will begin to associate your brand with your category less and start to think of your competition first instead.

Do you live-tweet events and breaking news?

For a long period, Twitter was the go-to social media platform for keeping up with news and events as they happened. In an October 2022 survey by Hootsuite, many more Twitter users said they use the platform to “keep up to date with news and current events” than for any other purpose (61.2% vs. 38% for the next most-popular usage).

The rapid-fire nature of tweeting made it easy and engaging to watch reactions to events and news as they unfolded, making Twitter especially popular during major cultural events such as the Super Bowl. This use of Twitter has largely continued following the X rebranding. That means using X to contribute to unfolding conversations about events and news as they occur could still be a very valuable application of the platform.

Of course, whether or not that matters to your brand depends on how valuable it would be for you to do this. Do you think your audience is interested in your brand live tweeting industry events and news? Do they follow industry hashtags and contribute to ongoing discussions?

If you’ve ever benefited from being active on Twitter during a major industry event, then there’s reason to believe that you’ll continue to benefit from doing the same thing on X. If your audience isn’t engaged with ongoing news and events in your industry, however, this may not be a reason to stick around.

Can you use it to provide better customer service?

Thanks in large part to social media platforms like X, brands have never been more publicly and immediately available to consumers.

These days, many customers aren’t interested in sending emails to support or going through an online portal to get answers to their questions and concerns. Instead, they might direct-message the brand on social media or even call them out publicly. Threatening as this may sound, it can also be a great opportunity.

Every time your B2B customers interact with your brand on social media, you have a chance to provide an excellent customer service experience.

First, ask: do your customers reach out to you on X at all? Do you want them to? If your customers reach out with legitimate, good-faith questions and concerns, providing them quick help can be a great way to prove to your audience that you’re looking out for them. If you can’t help solve their problems, however, then responding might only make that clearer.

What is your budget and bandwidth?

Finally, it’s worth considering how X fits into your social media marketing budget. If you’re already tight on money or time, then you should consider prioritizing only the most important social media platforms for achieving your goals — whether that’s X or not.

If you have budget and bandwidth to spare, on the other hand, then it’s worth continuing to experiment with X. Try posting new things, interacting with your audience more frequently, and live tweeting events with their hashtags. If you don’t see any positive effects from your efforts, you can always scale back later — and then at least you’ll know.

Even amid its seemingly never-ending controversy, X can still be a valuable tool for B2B marketing for some brands. If your audience is there and you’ve got something to tell them, consider keeping the account active a little longer. Otherwise, it may be time to move on.

If you want help managing your social media — or any other aspect of your B2B marketing — the experts at TopRank Marketing are ready to help.

The post Should You Still Use Twitter (X) for B2B Marketing? appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

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