It’s time for B2B marketers to get serious about their audiences by b2b lead generation. The barriers to entry to virtual events and online communities have come down and everyone can use these platforms to interact with their target audiences and existing customers.
According to CMX research, 85% of marketers and community builders believe that creating and having a branded online community can definitely improve their B2B lead generation marketing strategies and increase customer trust. Building B2B communities is now imperative, but what is a B2B online community?
What Are B2B Online Communities?
B2B online communities create a link between customers and a representative (like social media specialist) from a B2B company. Customers with concerns and questions can ask the staff in a discussion and expect a response from a customer support member in the online community. Online communities can also help B2B companies to boost their B2B lead generation strategies and target various goals which can be related to content creation and marketing intelligence or support and product insights.
Online communities are a powerful engine for the discovery, creation, capture, and cultivation of conversations. These conversations offer a new way for people to truly engage with one another about what’s essential to them and share their thoughts and user experiences with each other and your company. Moreover, online communities can create new opportunities for B2B companies to connect with their existing customers, develop trust-based relationships, and capture useful customer insights to fuel more effective product/service development and customer success.
Where Can B2B Marketers Build Online Communities?
Let’s say you’re interested in starting an online community around a specific topic relevant to your brand. Where might you go about doing so? Here are the two popular options:
Facebook Groups – It’s the world’s most popular social media platform and a hub for connecting around common interests. Recently, Facebook announcements will put groups at the center of the experience.
LinkedIn Groups – Often a better contextual fit than Facebook for B2B social media groups, LinkedIn is controlled around professional topics and has made its Groups feature more reachable by incorporating it into the mobile app.
How to Build an Effective B2B Online Community?
For B2B lead generation companies, there are two simple rules to effectively create an effective B2B online community:
Rule #1 Create valuable content
When building an online community, it’s important to have valuable content that is related to your audience’s interests and needs. You need to be consistent and updated with the latest trends in your products and services. For example, you can post blogs, news, and questions on your online community platform so your viewers can read, comment, and answer your posts.
Rule #2 Maintain great engagements
Once you have posted valuable content, it’s time to build and maintain great engagements with your viewers. To do this effectively, respond to your viewers’ comments in order to build long-lasting relationships.
Benefits of B2B Online Community
Do you want to know more about B2B online community? Here some benefits of building an online community:
Firsthand audience research
By monitoring an online community, you can watch conversations play out organically, seeing what impassioned followers talk about and how they talk about it. This can serve as a focal point for your content planning. It might even help you create new product features or service offerings.
Finding and cultivating influencers
Within these online communities, you’ll frequently see marketing experts emerging with strong voices or magnetic insights. You can use their insights into your marketing strategies.
Convert prospects to sales
Of course, the ultimate goal of building online communities is to capture new leads and convert them into sales. If you attract new viewers to your online community, you can convert them into loyal customers and influencers.
Looking for B2B lead generation agencies to guide you on your online communities? Markable Solutions is the right choice! We provide the best and effective funnel management & lead generation services to clients worldwide. So what are you waiting for? Talk to us now!
