Making Money On-line: How to Use Social Media as Part of Account-Based Marketing

Friday 1 November 2019

How to Use Social Media as Part of Account-Based Marketing

The key goal of account-based marketing (ABM) is to deliver specific messages and offers to specific accounts. Instead of a one-size-fits-all marketing messages of traditional marketing, the new world of ABM promises highly tailored and personalized messages that respond to customer pain points, goals, motivations and interests. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that marketers have embraced social media as a key part of their overall ABM marketing strategies. After all, it’s on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter where prospects and customers are sharing the most personal details of their lives.

Social Media as a 24/7 Listening Platform

Traditional marketing is all about blasting out a message to as many people who will listen. In the world of traditional marketing, brands do all the talking, and customers do all the listening. With ABM, however, that dynamic gets turned on its head. It’s now customers who do most of the talking (i.e. posting comments and updates), and brands that must do much more listening. As a result, many brands are now re-thinking how they can use the most popular social media platforms as 24/7 listening platforms. What hashtags are customers using to describe their experiences? What types of content is resonating the most with them? Answers to these questions can help to improve marketing messages.

Tailored, Personalized Content for all Buyers

In the world of traditional marketing, only the VIP customers got the “special” sales pitch. Everyone else has to make do with a one-size-fits-all message. Is it any wonder, then, that most brands came up with the most generic messages possible to describe why customers should buy their products? With ABM, though, the goal is to deliver a personalized message to every single buyer. In short, every customer is now a potential VIP. And that means that marketing messages can be crafted according to certain topics, individual likes and preferences, and very specific pain points. From a practical, day-to-day perspective, it means that a small business owner will get a very different marketing message than a top executive at a Fortune 500 company, and that businesses will get messages tailored to their specific industry or vertical.

Relationships Based Around Engagement and Interaction

With ABM, the goal is to boost overall engagement and customer interaction. Marketers are expected to conduct conversations with customers, and to be much more responsive when it comes to inquiries and issues. This may sound obvious, but it’s surprising how many brands fail to engage their customers. They spend far too much time trying to pick up followers and likes, and far too little time actually responding personally to comments or suggestions left on social media sites. With social media, it’s possible to find your best brand ambassadors who can help to tell your brand story to as many people as possible. If given a chance, your fans and followers will do much of the “heavy lifting” for you.

Final Thoughts

Going forward, the impetus will continue to be on brands to share their social strategy to their account-based marketing campaigns. By doing so, they will be able to deliver on the true promise of one-to-one, highly personalized marketing strategies.

Find out how to catch a customer’s attention with “ABM Undivided: How to Build Mind-Blowing Campaigns.”

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