It was while reading a post on Mark Schaefer’s blog that I got the idea to write this post on B2B content marketing and especially on the importance of creating content on YOUR website or blog and then using social networks to spread it further.
A social network like LinkedIn isn’t a content platform. It’s a distribution system for YOUR content. You think that’s obvious? Yet… Many professionals and some companies use LinkedIn and other social networks as creation AND distribution tools in their B2B content marketing strategies.
That’s why Mark Schaefer recently published a blog post on this “obvious” fact that should be part of the B-A-BA of B2B content marketing. Here’s an excerpt:
«Let’s say you’re one of those rare businesses or individuals who have a real chance to win the game of SEO roulette. You’re publishing your brains out on LinkedIn. Content every week. Maybe every day!
Now, if somebody wants to find you through search and give you their money, they go to Google and enter juicy keywords. What’s the chance they’re going to find some post you created on LinkedIn? Go ahead and try it. Do LinkedIn posts show up in any Google search? No.»
Schaefer continues: «But what about a blog post, YouTube video or podcast episode? Yes, it’s content that drives Google’s search engine optimization. When was the last time an article published on LinkedIn went viral? That’s what I thought.
Oh, one more thing. Who owns LinkedIn? Microsoft. What else does Microsoft own? Bing. Google’s enemy. I don’t think Google is going to give LinkedIn a search engine.»
Do you want proprietary B2B content marketing?
Want to use social networks in your B2B content marketing? Think first about creating your own proprietary web content sources. Diversifying B2B marketing channels helps to compensate for the limitations of organic reach on social networks.
Website content, whether it’s an informative blog, compelling case studies or useful resources such as a newsletter or videos, is a prime source. A well-optimized website is a permanent showcase for your expertise, and offers an ongoing opportunity to capture visitors’ attention.
What other channels do you have?
📌Web Site
📌Blog
📌Newsletter
📌Podcast
📌YouTube Channel
📌Webinar
For a website or blog, you create it or pay someone to create it, but then what’s on it is YOUR property.
For many very small businesses, it may be a question of time or cost… But who can be in business in 2023 without at least a website and an e-mail address, and spend even a few hours promoting their products or services, or doing content marketing? Time well spent…
Getting back to ownership, some people will tell me that YouTube is a social network, and they’re right: it’s a video-sharing community. But you’re still the owner, as you are on LinkedIn. In the latter case, as Mr. Schaefer explained, ownership doesn’t mean visibility… Discoverability is essential, especially since in 2023, we’re sailing on an ocean of content and information.s.
Want to optimize for search engines – SEO?
In the excerpt from the post quoted above, we also talk about search engine optimization. That making an article on LinkedIn is not referenced in Google. That it’s better to write a blog post. That’s all well and good, but in such cases, you need to follow good search engine optimization (SEO) practices when writing your text. These include:
- Index your posts (keywords/tags)
- Respect the SEO hierarchy (h1, h2, h3)
- Use Yoast SEO to “green” your posts
We’re not talking about cheating by saturating search engines with keywords and tags. Remember those days? It doesn’t work that way anymore. Except… you still have to get the basics right.
Good SEO practices, when followed, generally make your text more coherent and readable..
More optimizing
In addition to the presence of keywords in your titles, in your page’s uniform resource locator (URL) and also in categories and tag clouds, other aspects enhance your text appreciably. Prefer short sentences or the judicious use of transition words, or add subheadings (h3) to better mark out your ideas. All these good practices will help your text flow more quickly and make it more enjoyable for the reader.
SEO is first and foremost for humans, but also for Google!🙂
Finally, when I talk about “greening” your posts, I’m referring to the mechanics imposed by Yoast in WordPress. Yoast SEO is an add-on (plugin) dedicated to optimizing editorial content on WordPress. Today, it’s the most downloaded SEO plugin by WordPress users (12 million sites use it), and perhaps even the most successful!
In addition to what’s described above, Yoast will ask you to respect a hierarchy from H1 title to first paragraph in H2, with subtitles in the text in H3.
It will also require you to include internal and external hyperlinks. It will also ask you to have a target query, and that this be found in the title (H1), in your introductory paragraph (H2), in your first paragraph of text and once or twice elsewhere in the text.
Conclusion
So, don’t put all your eggs in one social basket. Social networks are constantly evolving, adjusting their algorithms. For B2B companies, this means that the rules of the game can suddenly change. An algorithm update can reduce organic visibility, directly impacting the reach of B2B marketing efforts. Diversifying distribution channels therefore becomes crucial to reduce vulnerability to algorithmic fluctuations.
B2B content marketing is a powerful strategy for establishing your authority in your sector, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. By combining quality content creation, intelligent optimization and strategic distribution, you can harness the full potential of B2B content marketing to propel your business to new heights. Talk to our experts.
Update
It’s one of those coincidences… In this post, I’m talking about “addiction” to social networks, and bing! The daily LaPresse published an article on the same subject at the same time. Well, it focuses more on the B2C aspect, but still… The article illustrates many issues other than SEO. Issues such as security and customer service. The article is entitled: “The risk of betting everything on social networks” (In French).
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