B2C vs B2B: Social Media Marketing Comparisons

B2C stands for “business to consumer” and is the type of marketing that everyone is familiar with. A company wants you to buy this item or use this service, so they appeal directly to you. B2B, or business-to-business, is an industry that sells a product or service that is targeted at other businesses. Think of Microsoft Teams and other software, office cleaning companies, food and drink vendors for restaurants, etc. In contrast, a consumer in the restaurant scenario is the person eating the meal. In fact, marketing itself is a B2B industry that offers businesses marketing expertise.

So, how do you get started? Take a look at our guide to B2B social media marketing to understand the different approaches.

How Do You Approach This Difference?

Well, luckily, switching your brain and, therefore, your marketing campaign approach from B2C to B2B doesn’t mean wiping everything you already know and relearning from the beginning. Moreover, it means a difference in language and attitude. Instead of telling the world, “You need this”, you’re saying, “Your business or customers need this”. Once you’ve got that in your mind, your approach to creating content for your social media marketing campaign should also shift and you can then curate content to this new audience. For more information on B2B communication, click here.

Curated Content

Speaking of curated content, this is a very helpful tool in B2B marketing. Curated content is very similar to collaboration. You can shout out another business with a similar demographic and target audience to you or ask them to shout out to you and share in the audience. The biggest perk here is that it’s a good way to fill a hole in your content calendar if all your plans for Monday’s post keep falling through.

But where it especially aids B2B companies is the sharing of demographics. They are a B2B business appealing to businesses. You are a B2B business looking to appeal to businesses. It’s a mutually beneficial deal that could see the two companies benefiting from one move.

Choose Your Platform Wisely

A major difference in B2C versus B2B marketing is where you direct your marketing campaign. Where consumers are busy finding what they want on TikTok and Instagram, the B2B side tends to favour Facebook, Instagram, and, of course, LinkedIn. It’s part of the personality of these platforms. Facebook and LinkedIn both take themselves more seriously than Instagram or TikTok, but Instagram has cemented itself too well as the place to find what you’re looking for, and the place to find professionals in your area to aspire to be, which includes a lot of entrepreneurs, finance experts, lifestyle coaches, and other hustle culture influencers.

Affiliate Marketing

This is where affiliate marketing comes in. If you want to stick strictly to social media marketing, all the influencers mentioned above are available to work. They can try out your service and recommend it, or you can commission a shoutout to their audience of aspiring entrepreneurs, start-ups and business owners.

But, if you’d rather be more subtle, you can seek out blogs that point to the same demographic, like tech and business blogs, and commission some affiliate blogs. These blogs can offer some insight into an industry and include a link to your business to send traffic to your site.