On this exciting second episode of cloTalks, we got the inside scoop on B2B social media marketing straight from the source: Fotini Athineli, who oversees social media, community, and partnerships at Rewardful.
A social media veteran with seven years of experience under her belt, Fotini started her social media journey doing B2C and D2C marketing, naturally moving to B2B as the latest step in her career.
She appreciates the creativity and constant changes involved in this area of expertise, and tells us all about what she’s done throughout her career.
Keeping up with the times
As with every market, social media marketing is an ever-evolving realm.
In Rewardful’s latest effort to keep up with industry trends, Fotini and her team have been exploring Reddit and LinkedIn as B2B marketing tools.
She recognizes the clear challenge of keeping up with these constant changes and adapting to each new platform. In her experience, B2C and B2B marketing share these struggles, as all types of marketing try to provide educational content while connecting with their target audience.
B2C and B2B are very similar because we are still (…) trying to sell and speak to people.
In spite of a brand’s target audience, associating individual social media accounts, such as the CEO’s, and tying those in with the brand is an added bonus.
It helps increase awareness and makes it a more human sharing experience. However, each type of account, whether it’s a brand’s or an individual’s, has its own nuances to tend to.
Building a social media presence
Crafting a person’s individual social media presence is very different from building a brand’s social media presence, Fotini states.
Nonetheless, in either case, it’s important to add a human touch, implement storytelling, and connect with your audience.
Don’t be afraid to actually make a change, experiment.
Beyond that, it’s important to stay current on new trends and features relevant to your preferred platform, as challenging as it may be.
Fotini exemplifies this by mentioning LinkedIn’s brief but intensive push on short-format videos that shift into carousel posts very quickly.
It’s essential to keep up since jumping on the train of certain trends while they’re still hot increases the chances of your content being pushed out to a wider range of social media users.
clovio’s experience on social media has taught us that a brand’s social media marketing should add value to the content we share, whether it’s short-format videos, text posts, or carousel posts. If there’s value added, there’s a higher chance that the audience will resonate with your content, which will enable it to reach even more viewers.
But to ensure you reach the right audience, you must also target the platforms your audience is most active on.
Be on the platforms your audience is
Considering that Rewardful’s target audience consists of B2B and SaaS companies, it’s natural that the company is mostly active on the ‘traditional B2B channels’: LinkedIn, Reddit, and X, with a recent venture into YouTube through the series Pastel Talks.
As an affiliate platform, it also makes perfect sense that they have turned to their own affiliates to help spread the word about Rewardful, mainly through Reddit, blog content, LinkedIn, and X.
[Organic traffic] definitely pays in the long run.
It’s also important to prioritize consistency and know that it’s an effort that pays off over time. Fotini shares that, in three months, Rewardful was able to garner almost 80,000 views on Reddit with no prior activity on the platform. This visibility is now generating inbound leads.
In addition to staying on top of the currently relevant platforms, it helps to stay ahead of the curve and keep your eyes on the future and where things might evolve towards.
The future of social media marketing
In Fotini’s eyes, we’ll continue evolving towards more real, authentic, less-polished content – yes, even for B2B marketing. Community-based platforms, such as Reddit and Quora, will also have their moment in the spotlight, especially considering that posts on these platforms are indexed by Google.
I think there’s gonna be a very big shift toward community basis.
It all comes down to a key mindset: share valuable and educational content, but remember to be SEO-friendly.
Fotini’s pro-tip?
Reverse engineer your posts by finding your audience’s most searched questions. Once you know what people are looking for, you can more easily deliver content that will reach them at the right moment.
ChatGPT is perfect for this type of research, making us wonder what role AI will play in the future of social media marketing.
In the present day, Fotini tries to use AI to her advantage, leveraging it to make her work life more efficient. In terms of the implications of AI regarding job security, she doesn’t feel threatened.
As we shift towards an emphasis on real, unpolished content, it seems that AI-generated content will continuously spark more outrage than actual community engagement.
People value human connection more than ever, and will value it even more in the future.
Building relationships
Working on a relationship with your audience is essential.
It’s almost assured that your audience will resonate with your content if you provide feasible solutions to their main pain points.
Additionally, as an affiliate platform with its own affiliate program, Rewardful knows the importance of fostering relationships and building connections, and how this can lead to better brand promotion by others.
However, Fotini recognizes that all of these relationships are a hard-won effort.
We always have to put ourselves in our target audience’s shoes.
An increasing number of brands are showing the faces behind the brand in an attempt to facilitate the connection between brand and audience.
On the affiliate side?
It’s important for brands to leverage direct communication, such as virtual calls with their affiliates, to build a close relationship.
Key takeaways for the future
In addition to keeping things real, developing relationships, and staying on top of trends, what else should social media marketing teams keep in mind?
Test, test, test.
When it comes to marketing, especially on social media, one experiment won’t be enough to get real insights, as there are multiple variables to take into account. Remain open-minded, and don’t take results personally.
There are still many people who don’t really believe in the value of social media.
Many still don’t recognize the benefits of social media marketing for brands, particularly when organic posting doesn’t provide instant results. Celebrate the small wins and trust the process.
Thankfully, Fotini feels that there is progress in terms of perspectives, and social media teams are gaining more trust to do what they do best.
The finish line may continue moving forward, but so do the teams chasing it.
If you’d like to be featured in one of our media brands or participate in a cloTalks episode, reach out to our Partnerships Team or connect with us through LinkedIn.
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