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| Jamie Kightley |
The status quo of B2B social strategy is being shaken up on two fronts. First, there’s a proliferation of channels stealing market share from LinkedIn and X: Threads, Bluesky and the rise of open-source channels. Second, there’s a shift in purchasing personas as Gen Z enters the buying cycle. That generation prefers to research brands themselves as opposed to getting in touch with sales directly. Social is very much the new frontier for this research, as that’s where just under half of consumers say they now find brands.
In this new arena, B2B brands need to think differently to ensure they carry through their leadership and sell their brand equity via the right social channels for their campaign audience.
Is LinkedIn’s B2B reign on the decline?
First, B2B marketers need to understand where their target audience is. For years, LinkedIn has been king of B2B social media, with 80 percent of B2B marketers worldwide using the platform. In fact, LinkedIn now boasts an impressive billion-plus users from more than 200 different countries. But is the platform capable of constantly updating and evolving with the ever-changing B2B social media landscape?
There’s been a lot of movement recently in the B2B social media landscape with the introduction of Meta offering an alternative platform for targeting audiences for a fraction of LinkedIn’s price. Bluesky, a microblogging platform, has also burst onto the scene with 20 million users. And of course, let’s not forget the rise of TikTok.
Then there was the decline in X following its transition from Twitter, a former mainstay of B2B social media marketing. The introduction of paid subscriptions, reduced analytics tools and being named one of the biggest sources of fake news and disinformation could be the main reasons behind this downfall, which has seen nearly one-fifth of its daily users drop off the platform.
So far, no other platform has been able to knock LinkedIn off its B2B social media throne, but this is a potential shift that B2B marketers should keep an eye on.
Threads joins the Fediverse—decentralized social is on the rise
Elsewhere, the social media world was rocked in 2024 when Mark Zuckerberg announced that X’s rival Threads was joining the Fediverse, an open-source and decentralized network of interconnected social media platforms that has amassed more than 200 million new users. By operating on a decentralized model, the Fediverse offers users increased control over their data and interactions as there’s no central authority governing the platform.
When leveraged correctly, it’s a great opportunity for users and B2B marketers alike to follow, like and engage with experts and B2B buyers of similar interests and industries, no matter the social channel.
Now is the time for B2B marketers to react early and join the Fediverse. With the future of other social media platforms up in the air—take TikTok’s ban/reinstatement in the U.S. as an example—could we soon see a mass movement of organizations entering the Fediverse? This is another area B2B marketers should keep tabs on in 2025.
Embrace zero-click content for B2B visibility
To keep pace with the evolving nature of social media, what tactics must be a part of B2B marketers’ social media strategy?
Have you ever tried to find information online and ended up clicking on links that never gave you what you were after? Enter zero-click content. As the name suggests, it refers to content that requires zero clicks as the information is presented to the user in one place without them having to leave the page.
B2B marketers should start taking note of the importance of zero-click content due to its growing popularity among users and social media algorithms such as LinkedIn and X. Witness its rise on LinkedIn, where more than 50 percent of posts are now zero-click due to that platform offering in-house blog and article publishing features. These posts are getting, on average, six times more reactions compared to posts with external links, as algorithms are increasingly being designed to keep users on specific platforms without venturing to external sites. So, it’s up to B2B marketers to create content that fits with these algorithms and, in turn, experience the payoff of greater engagement and brand visibility.
Zero-click can apply not only to social media but SEO as well, with search results now showing a snapshot of content before users click through. Content needs to be precise, engaging and informative. That’s no easy task, so finding the right hook, utilizing your assets and content and keeping up to date is more important than ever for B2B marketers.
Social becomes the new SEO battleground
SEO is already a staple tactic in B2B marketing to stand out in the search engine results pages. But with 31 percent of social media users now using social platforms as search engines instead of traditional search engines, it’s making headwind in the social media world as well. Social media SEO involves utilizing traditional SEO strategies such as keywords on profile pages and posts to increase traffic and opportunities to connect with target audiences.
Witness the new trend on LinkedIn to optimize your profile for LinkedIn SEO, a strategy geared toward increasing LinkedIn visibility and its search results. First, B2B marketers need to understand what and how users are searching for like-minded LinkedIn profiles and optimize social media content, pages and profiles. But this isn't applicable only to LinkedIn: take the example of TikTok increasing its video captions from 300 to 2,200 words or Pinterest actively encouraging users to use the right keywords to affect content distribution positively. Now more than ever, B2B marketers need to consider the importance of keyword selection.
Tap into the conversation with social listening
With all the recent updates, changes and developments across social media, 2024 was a historic year as social media users surpassed the five billion mark and increased by 266 million compared to 2023. It’s now harder than ever for B2B brands to keep tabs on their brand’s position and reputation across the ever-widening range of social channels. This is where social listening comes to the fore!
Social listening is often a term more regularly associated with B2C brands for analyzing consumer conversations, but it’s now essential for B2B brands as well. This strategy is key to help companies monitor social media conversations and gain insights on key customer pain points, market trends and brand narratives. It doesn’t stop there, though, as B2B brands can track and analyze competitors and industry influencers, their views, issues and customer reactions to help position brands in a positive light.
Brand equity is a growing influence in the B2B landscape, with more than 90 percent of B2B buyers completely or somewhat trusting peers in their industry. Through social listening, B2B brands can tailor their content to ensure it hits customer pain points, addresses customer concerns that have been identified from social conversations and builds a stronger brand image across all social channels for potential B2B buyers to see.
The brave new world of B2B social media
The social media playbook for B2B is being rewritten. With the rise of new platforms and changing buyer behaviors, standing still isn’t an option. Those who move early to experiment with the Fediverse and remain mindful of zero-click experiences, optimize content for social search and truly listen to what’s resonating can turn uncertainty into success.
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Jamie Kightley is Head of Client Services at IBA International, a B2B PR agency serving global technology clients.
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