Date: December 14, 2021 Author: Greg Forster — Edit BLOGCAST Prefer audio? Listen to the blog article instead. Channel partners understand that social media marketing should be a vital (and completely free) part of their overall marketing strategy, but they are unsure how to start, or they have tried with minimal results. We’ve learned through our conversations with channel partners that many find social media marketing confusing and question if it can truly benefit their business.

1. Five Best Practices for
Social Media Marketing
FORSTER’S CHANNEL PARTNER INSIGHTS

2. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
Channel partners understand that social media marketing should be
a vital (and completely free) part of their overall marketing strategy,
but they are unsure how to start, or they have tried with minimal
results. We’ve learned through our conversations with channel
partners that many find social media marketing confusing and
question if it can truly benefit their business.

3. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
Social media marketing provides channel partners with the
opportunity to engage buyers, build connections and share their
expertise. While engagement and connections are vital, we all know
that ultimately, our marketing efforts need to promote sales. Social
media marketing is the sales platform of the future — Gartner
predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales transactions will take place
on digital channels.
So, as a channel partner, what steps can you take to give your social
media marketing efforts the best chance at success? Here we offer
up five best practices to maximize the effectiveness of your channel
partner social media marketing efforts.

4. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
Just because it’s easy to spread your messaging to multiple social
media platforms doesn’t necessarily make it a good idea. Choose
your platform(s) based on your brand, the specific message and
target audience. Here’s a good article on choosing which platform for
your goals.
1. Choose the right social media platforms
• LinkedIn is widely considered to be the best B2B marketing platform,
used by 96% of B2B marketers over the past year. According to
HubSpot, LinkedIn generates almost three-times more leads than any
other social networking platform. As the only one of the top three
platforms that focuses specifically on business, your presence on
LinkedIn is a must.

5. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
•
•
Twitter ranks as the second most popular B2B marketing platform
with 87% of B2B marketers choosing this platform. Twitter posts are
an ideal way to engage new users with interest in your topics or
products. We recommend you post under your company’s account,
not your personal Twitter handle.
Facebook’s popularity with B2B marketers rivals Twitter with 86% of
B2B marketers choosing this platform. Facebook is in nearly
everyone’s face, so it makes sense for B2B brands to maintain a
presence here. Facebook is ideal for showing your company’s human
side with longer posts or personalized videos.

6. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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How often to post is a surprisingly controversial question. Some
industry players, like Hubspot, recommend posting between one and
five times each day. For companies without a dedicated social
media maven, this volume seems unachievable — and perhaps
unnecessary. At StructuredWeb, we strive for weekly posts.
2. Maintain a consistent cadence
Whether you choose to post daily, weekly or monthly, we think that
consistency and relevancy are more important than frequency.
Create, curate or syndicate relevant content that offers something of
value every time. Next, draft a social media marketing content
calendar — with room for timely ad hoc posts — and stick to it.

7. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
Identify your goals for each post and each platform to help you
measure the success of your efforts. Some common goals are:
3. Know your goals
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increase brand awareness
Drive traffic to your website
Generate new leads
Increase sales
Promote signups
Boost brand engagement

8. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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With a goal or goals in mind, carefully craft the messaging and call-
to-action for the post that prompts the desired action. Measuring
whether your posts are delivering on those goals can be tricky, but
there are indicators (such as likes, shares and comments) and tools
(Google Analytics is a free one) to help you determine if your efforts
are paying off.

9. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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When deciding on the content you promote through social media,
we’d encourage you to keep the “rule of thirds” in mind. The rule of
thirds divides content into three categories:
4. The rule of thirds
•
•
•
Point: Devote another third of your social media posts to
sharing relevant posts from influencers in your market.
Personal: The last third of your marketing content should be
focused on sharing thought leadership collateral and personal
anecdotes that demonstrate your understanding of the space
and your audience’s challenges.
Promote: One-third of your content can be promotional, as long
as you’re delivering real value in the other two-thirds.

10. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
Video is rapidly becoming a mainstay in B2B marketers toolbox, and
for good reason. Research shows that including video can boost a
campaign’s ROI by 49% or more.. The Content Marketing Institute
found that 69% of B2B content marketers expect video to be the top
content marketing area of investment in 2022. Video has the benefit
of working effectively across multiple channels You can embed video
within your website, or share across various platforms including
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and many more.
5. Consider video

11. FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
STRUCTUREDWEB.COM
Along with email marketing, social media marketing is an effective
way for channel partners to reach and engage customers and
prospects alike. By selecting the right platforms, choosing a schedule
and curating the best content, you can maximize the value of your
social media efforts. Join me next time when I’ll share some key tips
for hosting and promoting webinars. Until then #HappyMarketing!
Make it count

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