Social Media Tactical Plan for B2B
“My business doesn’t need social media!” This may have been true in years past but in 2023, a social media tactical plan is a necessary piece of your sales and marketing mix.
Most assuredly, B2B social media is here to stay. In fact, recent Sprout Social statistics note that social advertising is practiced by a staggering 83% of B2B marketers second only to search engines in terms of success.
From nurturing customers to demonstrating your business as an industry influence or subject matter expert, the social space has a ton to offer B2B brands. There’s no denying that B2B social media marketing has some delicate nuances. This is why you can’t simply start by posting whatever wherever. You need a solid strategic plan – a social media tactical plan.
Below is a cheat sheet of sorts breaking down objectives, action items and metrics for each of the core social media platforms
First things first…
Before you get started on your social media tactical plan initiatives, here are some housekeeping guidelines to get you started:
- Assign ownership of each channel or strategy to someone within your organization.
- Create target personas and know which personas are present on each digital channel or social media sites.
- Train your sales teams to use social media tactical plan for lead generation and customer acquisition.
- Create an internal social media communications policy and distribute it to your employees and your agencies.
- Encourage employees to be active participants in social media—don’t be afraid to incentivize.
Blogging
How many hours will you commit to blogging each day/week/month as part of your social media tactical plan?
Who will be assigned the task of writing / reviewing / publishing / promoting the blog?
Objectives
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase thought leadership throughout your industry
- Encourage comments and engagement
- Lead generation through blog subscription
- External linking
Action items
- Choose a managing editor to own the blog
- Choose a blogging platform
- Create an internal blog evangelist program to get employees to contribute
- Decide on a weekly cadence
- Recruit guest bloggers
- Add social sharing icons
- Add a Tweet This button
- Promote each blog on social channels
Key metrics
- X number of posts
- X number of bloggers
- X number of social shares
- Audience growth—unique and return visitors
- Conversions
- Subscriber growth
- Inbound links
- Directory listings for infographics
- SEO improvement
Social media platforms
In creating your social media tactical plan, there are overarching action items you should consider before jumping right in to posting on a regular or irregular basis. These include:
- Choosing an owner for all social media. Individuals might own be responsible for one or more platforms but there should be one individual that ‘owns’ the entire digital medium.
- Set up a social media posting cadence. How many posts will you produce and publish per day? Per week? Per month? Each platform has different objectives and followers so the answer for each is also very different.
- Choose a social media management and publishing platform. You can plan out and create dozens of posts at a time and use a scheduler to plan out the next 7 days, 7 weeks or even 7 months at a time.
- Determine your social media voice. Be consistent and always have the audience in mind.
Objectives
- Brand awareness and engagement
- Lead generation or customer acquisition
- Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content
- Promote upcoming events
- Engage with influencers
Action items
- Set up sponsored posts and ads
- Set up Facebook tabs that synchronize to your marketing automation platform
Key metrics
- X number of posts per day
- Page follows
- Likes
- Engagement and comments
- Referring traffic
- Shares
- Lead generation and new customers
Objectives
- Brand awareness and engagement
- Lead generation or customer acquisition
- Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content
- Promote upcoming events
- Engage with influencers
Action items
- Create and join relevant groups
- Encourage employee participation
- Monitor and participate in Q&A
- Set up sponsored posts and ads
Key metrics
- X number of posts per day
- Page follows
- Comments, likes, and shares
- Group participation
- Referring traffic
- Lead generation and new customers
Objectives
- Brand awareness and engagement
- Lead generation or customer acquisition
- Share a mix of relevant links, blog posts, and engaging content
- Segment influencers and create lists
- Communicate issues from social media to support team and ensure follow-up
- Listen and respond to relevant conversations
- Build reputation
Action items
- Utilize promoted tweets and pinned tweets
- Set up Twitter Lead Generation cards
Key metrics
- X number of posts
- Followers
- Mentions
- Retweets
- Number of lists
- Hashtag usage
- Influence of Twitter Followers
- Lead generation and customer acquisition
- Referring traffic
- Favourited tweets
Online videos: YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram Video, and TikTok
Objectives
- Brand awareness and engagement
- Viral sharing
- Showcase company culture
- Post product videos and demos
- Create a video series to share
Action items
- Determine ownership of video execution
- Choose a production agency
- Determine distribution channels
- Create a social strategy for promotion
- Get customers, partners, and influencers involved in video creation
Key metrics
- Views
- Shares
- Referral traffic
- Pages ranking on key terms from YouTube
Photo-sharing sites: Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr, Snapchat
Objectives
- Brand awareness
- Engagement with visual assets
- Showcase products
- Showcase company culture
- Showcase marketing events
- Link back to website, blog, and other content assets
Action items
- Determine ownership of photo sites
- Decide on general branding guidelines for photos
- Encourage employees to participate and share their own photos
Key metrics
- Referral traffic
- Shares and comments
- View of photos
- Page rankings on key terms from photo-sharing sites
- Product purchasing and lead generation
Presentation sharing: SlideShare
Objectives
- Brand awareness
- Engagement with visual content assets
- Lead generation and customer acquisition
- SEO optimization
- Generate additional content views
Action items
- Determine ownership for visual content on SlideShare
- Work on regular SlideShare presentation creation
- Choose an agency for stellar design
- Turn on the forms feature in SlideShare so you can synchronize leads to your marketing automation platform
Key metrics
- X number of presentations
- Followers
- Views
- Shares
- Lead generation and customer acquisition
- Downloads
- Favourites
Flight Log (Conclusion)
B2B brands quite literally can’t afford to shy away from social media anymore. Whether you’re looking to primarily build awareness or promote your content, the best practices above can help guide your strategy in a way that makes sense.
Don’t know where to begin? That’s where Wingman comes in. You don’t have to fly solo. Book a Wingman today for a consultation on how to use a social media tactical plan for your business.
