By Joshua Nite

When I think about social media marketing, especially for B2B, I’m reminded of words of wisdom from one of my favorite bands:

The more you try to shave the cat
The more the thing will bite and scratch
It’s best, I think, to leave its fur
And listen to its silky purr
Some people like to make life a little tougher than it is.

— Cake, Tougher than It Is

(Seriously, give it a listen, it’s a bop).

How does this apply to B2B social media marketing? Well, marketers, we’ve been trying to shave that particular cat for a decade. 

The Problem with Most B2B Social Media Marketing

The goal of a social media site is to keep people on the platform — reading, commenting, interacting, infinitely scrolling.

Meanwhile, marketers are trying to get people off the social media platform. We create blog posts, white papers, assets of every flavor, and post links to social media. We want social to be a gateway to our content.

And as we work at cross purposes, social media algorithms bite and scratch: Organic reach shrinks, our posts get buried in the feed, and our engagement goes kaput.

One Solution: “Social First” Content

Now, our agency hasn’t given up on blog posts, or on any other type of long-form content. There’s plenty of value in building a content library, staking out your position in the SERP, creating assets — it’s just that organic social isn’t always the best fit for promoting content.

Instead, we’re creating content that does what the algorithm wants it to do: Engage people on the platform, start a conversation, and rack up comments, likes and shares. 

We call it Social First, not Social Only, because it’s still content that can be repurposed in blog posts and other assets. But the primary goal is to maximize engagement on the platform. We measure success by views, comments, reactions and shares.

The result: Content that makes the algorithms purr. It’s more visible in people’s feeds, which leads to more engagement, which leads to more visibility.

In a social first pilot program for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, the social first posts tripled their usual engagement rate.

How to Create Social First Content

Our platform of choice for social first is LinkedIn. Long-form content doesn’t really work on Twitter, as anyone who has tried to read a Twitter thread can tell you. Facebook supports longer posts, but we want to reach people in a business mindset.

People come to LinkedIn for thought leadership and practical business advice. We’ve found that to be the perfect fit for our content.

Here’s how to create a great social first post:

1 — Hit the Sweet …read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog