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What Cannabis B2B Brands Need to Know to be Successful on LinkedIn

by Celeste Miranda

“But I’m from a B2B company. How does all of this apply to us?” I must get a version of this question in almost every marketing call I take. My answer is always the same: “B2B customers are people too.”

On entering the office, we don’t stuff our B2C brains into the desk drawer, replacing them with pin-striped B2B versions allocated to us by HR. If that deathly dull and overly formal cannabis-discussing white paper would put me to sleep as a B2C reader, it’s not suddenly going to find me more attentive because the clock is somewhere between 9 and 5.

Of course, there are some differences between B2C and B2B marketing in any industry, including cannabis – multiple stakeholders for one – but on an individual level, the two have far more in common than not. Social media has broadened the scope of so-called professional conversations, allowing people to discuss topics and share content once confined to the personal realm.

LinkedIn ranks high as B2B social media platform

LinkedIn has long been seen as the formal pinstripe suit to Facebook’s Hawaiian shirt. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s latest B2B benchmark report for North America, 92% of B2B marketers use social media for content distribution, a rate just below email usage (93%). And LinkedIn commands a massive 97% of B2B marketers who take social media action, almost double the number reported in 2010. Again, the cannabis industry is no different.

But it has changed a great deal since first launching as a careers-focused networking platform in – wait for it – 2003. (Yes, LinkedIn is older than Twitter, Facebook, and even Myspace).

LinkedIn may have started as a way to find career opportunities via job listings and networking, but that’s not why people return regularly these days. Today, visitors view content on LinkedIn seven times more often than job listings. What’s even more amazing it that it has one of the most active cannabis social plays I have seen… possibly topped only by Instagram. The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer report reveals that 62% of people trust a brand’s social media more than its advertising. And Business Insider’s Digital Trust Report found LinkedIn is far more trusted by users than either Facebook or Twitter.

But not every person speaking on behalf of a brand is equally trusted, even on LinkedIn. According to the Edelman report, people trust information and advice given to them by an employee of a company significantly more than they do from the CEO (breathe, Celeste). And people trust people who are “like them” even more than company people. It is the individual rather than the faceless brand who carries more authority, particularly if people can relate to them. This carries 10x in the cannabis space. It is what it is.

Many brands don’t take full advantage of that authority and trust. Only 3% of employees share company-relevant content, so there’s still a massive opportunity for marketers to look at their employee base and say, ‘Well why aren’t they sharing? How can we help them? What do they want to be talking about?’ Direction needs to be given from the company as well. ‘This is for you to be able to build up your personal brand,’ and, ‘Here’s some content to help you do that, and here are some topics you might be interested in sharing.’”

Not just for campaigns anymore

While most B2B cannabis marketers are using LinkedIn, some still use it as an occasional strategy when time, budget, and resources allow, or when there is a big campaign or product launch.

It’s more crucial than ever to be ‘always on.’ Pretty much any B2B buyer (will consume) 10 pieces of content during that purchase process. So, if you want to be in that consideration set and you want to be part of the 10 pieces of content, you need to be visible at all times. The cannabis brands that are flourishing and doing really well – getting the best return on investment and the best performance from their campaigns – are those that have this ‘always-on’ strategy.

It’s really helping to build trust in their brand and to have that thought leadership and to have focus and to start owning keywords or key subjects and being known for certain topics and themes. Then they can layer campaign work on top of that.”

Content leading to conversions

While B2B marketers, in general, spend a lot of time publishing and sharing content on LinkedIn to build a following, most eventually want the audience to follow a link to the website or wherever the lead might be captured, or conversion might happen.

It’s about having an equal balance of understanding what they will consume in their (social media) feed and when it’s right to drive them off platform. Marketers often think too much about one piece of content. This content has to go there, and then they’re going to take this next step and then they’re going to do that, and it’s so linear.

People typically consume at least three to four pieces of content before clicking to engage with a brand on its platform. Expecting people to immediately go and sign up to your newsletter and then download something is quite narrow-minded. This is where we need to get more creative with the content that we’re doing on LinkedIn.

If you’ve created a white paper and you’re thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to host this on my website and I’m going to drive people there,’ that’s not how people behave. What is in that white paper? How can we use it more effectively? That’s when it becomes about creating content for the platforms. It’s about taking some of the stats out of that, making it into really great creative that sits on the LinkedIn platform.”

Every new piece of related content reinforces the idea in the person’s mind. It’s like seeing an ad for a blockbuster movie. You might see it once and think it looks interesting. You see it again and then the third time you see it and now you really want to go and see that movie.

 

 

Celeste Miranda

Celeste Miranda

Dedicated to what she does and successful in her savvy business-minded ventures, Celeste Miranda is an entrepreneur, author, founder and CEO of Miranda Marketing Labs and The Cannabis Marketing Lab. Undertaking the critical challenges of marketing an emerging industry, Miranda opened a specialized division focused on providing businesses with innovative and affordable marketing strategies. Since then, The Cannabis Marketing Lab has become a highly regarded organization in Cannabis related ventures. Comprised of a 16 person team, Celeste’s staff has years of experience and expertise in a myriad of areas such as Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Graphic & Web Design, Creative Content Production, Advertising, PR and much more. Celeste can be reached at [email protected].

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