social

REWRITING

THE SOCIAL MARKETER'S

HANDBOOK

As the global population has been spending increasingly more time online, social media usage has skyrocketed. So much so that Global Web Index’s Social Media Marketing Trends 2021 report suggests that as many as 95% of the connected population are on social media platforms.

Gone are the days where the likes of LinkedIn is the only platform reserved for business. Today everyone online is a consumer of content and advertising, making social media a business-to-all playground, rather than focused merely on business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B). 

Social media has become a mainstay in the modern marketer’s arsenal by providing businesses with the ability to target specific audiences, promote sales and generate leads –  all of which are crucial to any marketing strategy. In fact, Content Marketing Institute’s 2021 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report says that 89% of B2B marketers choose social media platforms to distribute organic content.

Social media continues its climb

Hootsuite adds that as of July this year, social media platforms have seen an increase of more than half a billion users in a mere 12 months. This, combined with the now more than 4.48 billion social media users around the world (around 57% of the global population), means that the possibilities for marketers to harness the potential of the various platforms are many and varied.

REWRITING

THE SOCIAL MARKETER'S

HANDBOOK

As the global population has been spending increasingly more time online, social media usage has skyrocketed. So much so that Global Web Index’s Social Media Marketing Trends 2021 report suggests that as many as 95% of the connected population are on social media platforms.

Gone are the days where the likes of LinkedIn is the only platform reserved for business. Today everyone online is a consumer of content and advertising, making social media a business-to-all playground, rather than focused merely on business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B). 

Social media has become a mainstay in the modern marketer’s arsenal by providing businesses with the ability to target specific audiences, promote sales and generate leads –  all of which are crucial to any marketing strategy. In fact, Content Marketing Institute’s 2021 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report says that 89% of B2B marketers choose social media platforms to distribute organic content.

social

Social media continues its climb

Hootsuite adds that as of July this year, social media platforms have seen an increase of more than half a billion users in a mere 12 months. This, combined with the now more than 4.48 billion social media users around the world (around 57% of the global population), means that the possibilities for marketers to harness the potential of the various platforms are many and varied.

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How social are South Africans?

Datareportal notes that as of January 2021, there were some 25 million social media users in South Africa, which equates to roughly 41.9% of the total population. Interestingly, the total number of users increased by 3 million (14%) between 2020 and 2021. 

Social media users in the country spend approximately 3 hours and 32 minutes on the various platforms each day, with 61.4% of internet users using social media for work purposes, while 98.5% of social media users in the country access the various platforms via their mobile devices.

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Where should B2B marketers place their attention?

While LinkedIn has long been the hot favourite for B2B marketing endeavours, the likes of Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram, have quickly risen to the forefront. This is evidenced by HubSpot’s Not Another State of Marketing Report 2021 which notes that Instagram (82%) and Facebook (80%) top the list as the two most used social media platforms that companies use today. Further, Facebook tops the list as the best return on investment with 42%, followed by Instagram with 32%. Both platforms fall under the Facebook banner, which indicates a seamless integration for businesses to create cross-channel campaigns. 

Back home, Datareportal’s Digital 2021 South Africa report indicates that Facebook (86.7%) and Instagram (70.2%) rank third and fourth as the most used social media platforms in South Africa, far surpassing LinkedIn at seventh with 49%.

Optimising the world’s most popular platform

Facebook cemented its popularity as the world’s leading social media platform. Traditionally seen as a B2C platform, Facebook has added several advertising tactics over the past few years to entice B2B marketers to take notice, such as a Facebook pixel for example – a piece of code used to measure the effectiveness of an advert by understanding the action users take on a business’s website. 

The platform’s status as the leading platform is evidenced by statistics from Facebook and Hootsuite:

average daily active users

monthly users

users (36% of the world’s population over 13) can be reached by ads

the number of ads an average user clicked on in the past month

of users visit a local business page at least once a week

of users purchased through the platform in 2020

Given Facebook’s extensive user numbers, B2B marketers can be assured that their desired audience is most certainly on the platform. The platform has evolved with new content formats like Stories and Lives, the opportunity to launch private groups, or the ability to attract and convert customers via Messenger and WhatsApp. Human to Human (H2H) communication in the form of rooms and messenger has a higher conversion rate than a broadcast type post. Facebook business provides detailed audience insights for better ad targeting and advertising spend is minimal.

Marketers can optimise their efforts on the platform by engaging with existing and potential customers through the use of long-form educational type content. Here, long ad copy tends to result in a lower cost per action (CPA) and provides the audience with more information before they click, which can potentially lead to a greater likelihood of conversion. Facebook is also a great space for personalised experiences with Facebook Rooms and Messenger, and many successful brands have utilised Rooms for podcast sessions.

A picture says a thousand words

Instagram‘s ease of use makes it one of the most engaging social media platforms and a valuable addition to a B2B marketers social media toolkit. The interactive photo-sharing platform has proven effective in growing social selling and increasing customer retention – both of which translate into more sales opportunities.


Reports by Statista, Backlinko and Hootsuite indicate that Instagram has:

average daily active users

monthly users

users can be reached by ads

users visit a business profile daily

use the platform to research products and services

of shoppers on the platform bought an item after seeing an influencer promote it

Businesses can reach a targeted audience with minimal advertising spend and have detailed audience insights, and unless the brand’s target market is extremely niche, their audience will be on Instagram. Strategies like giveaways, using influencers, or affiliates have proven over the years to be effective in generating more engagement and over time increasing revenue.

To optimise the platform for the benefit of B2B marketing, Instagram should be used to engage and enlighten existing and potential customers with short-form highly visual content. Marketers must remember the mantra of quality over quantity, and post unique and authentic content. Here they can make use of hashtags to optimise the brand’s profile and content for Instagram search. Lastly, content should be educational and visual, and adopt various tactics such as videos, GIFs and carousels.

Need to create a social media strategy for Facebook and Instagram to take your business to the next level?

Send an email to info@eclipsecomms.com and one of our experts will be in touch.

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