Hey!

Welcome to Social Files—your no-BS guide to generating demand for your B2B product using social & content.

I can’t believe we’re already through February. Time just keeps getting faster the longer I run my agency. We’ll have a record month in February (shared more updates here).

We’re also hiring for a B2B Content Writer. Here’s the description.

Today’s edition is one that every B2B marketer should read from start to finish. It will help you understand how to add personality to your social media presence.

If you don’t want your content to be boring—you’ll love this one.

Let’s dive in.

🔎 DEEP DIVE

Read this if you're tired of boring B2B content.

3 ways to craft a compelling content presence that drives leads

Can we all agree on something?

Far too many B2B social media presences are painfully boring. I’d rather watch grass grow, or paint dry, than click the link to read your ‘industry report’ which is really data from like 17 of your customers. Strong sample size. Real scientist, you are.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

And today I want to share a few guiding principles I’ve picked up over the years building up B2B content strategies.

1. B2B social isn’t that different from B2C social.

For some reason, C-suites in B2B companies act like their customers are a different species.

Yes. There are some differences between marketing a consumer brand and a B2B product. But wanna hear something crazy?

Businesses are run by people too. And their content consumption behaviors don’t change that much when they’re clocked in at work.

2. ‘Not boring’ is very different from ‘unhinged.’

One of the reason why B2B execs are terrified of the idea of trying to be more engaging on social media is because they are afraid of the company coming off as ‘immature.’

Honestly, I don’t blame them.

But can I tell you something?

Social presences exist on a spectrum.

On one end, you have absolute madness that gets impressions but makes no business impact (or negative business impact), like that one time RadioShack went insane on the Twitter timeline.

A little bit closer to the center, but still on the ‘unhinged’ end of the spectrum, you have brands like Duolingo or Ryanair. This strategy works for those companies, good on them.

Then, all the way on the other end of the spectrum, there’s your enterprise software company posting the links to their white papers and webinars. (they’re probably still trying to use hashtags on Twitter/X).

Sure, they’re not getting in trouble. But nobody is paying attention to them.

Almost as bad (some would argue, worse).

My point? Your software company can use a meme on LinkedIn without tarnishing your brand image. Your B2B services company can have an ounce of personality on X without coming across as an unhinged 17-year-old.

Having personality on social media is more about taking a stance than it is about being ‘unhinged.’ I’m sure your startup has some core beliefs that go against the status quo—what are they?

3. Building an ‘engaging’ social presence also doesn’t mean relying on trends.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a good meme, or internet trend to spice up my social content.

Trending content, whether it be pop culture trends or niche-specific trends, are a great way to hack attention and increase engagement. They should be a part of your social strategy.

Emphasis on part.

This is an area where my opinion has evolved over time. I used to be a trend maximalist. Scouring the internet for memes, topics to jump in on. And you know what?

It works! I still do it, from time to time. But this approach has a handful of fatal flaws.

It’s unpredictable, and it’s exhausting.

The content also has an incredibly short lifecycle — sometimes becoming irrelevant in less than 24 hours. So, you end up on this never-ending content treadmill. Speaking from experience… not fun!

More B2B companies—companies in general, really—should focus on building evergreen content.

Create content that is relevant regardless of internet trends. In other words, timeless.

Now, let me be clear. This doesn’t mean we should ditch trending content. Not at all.

Rather, use the 80/20 rule. The majority of your content should be evergreen. Then, when it makes sense, mix in the trending content to jump in on relevant conversations and increase engagement.

BONUS: More B2B companies need a dedicated social media manager (or an agency)

A lot of B2B companies struggle on social media because they try to shoe horn a ‘content marketer’ into a social media manager role.

This is exacerbated when that content marketer has a list of other responsibilities aside from running social.

I love my content people, but they are not social people.

Social is a subset of content. It takes a specific approach (and someone who’s chronically online). There are so many platform-specific nuances that a traditional content marketer just won’t ‘get.’

In the same vein, you shouldn’t expect me to know what the hell I’m doing when it comes to SEO.

And even if you did have someone who is proficient at both, they wouldn’t have the bandwidth to do both exceptionally well.

When is a company ready to hire a social media manager? That’s a whole post in and of itself, but I’d usually recommend hiring someone once you have a few examples of happy customers and you are confident that your product is strong.

It also helps to have a content ecosystem in place (blogs, podcasts, etc). Social functions best as an amplification tool for a great product, great content, and a great community.

Not every B2B company needs a social media manager — but if social is going to be a primary channel for you, I’d recommend investing in one.

That’s all I’ve got today.

If you’d like to enlist in the crusade against boring B2B social content, share this piece with your marketing team.

🗃 FILE CABINET

Here’s my favorite marketing and business content I bookmarked this week.

• $100M Leads by Alex Hormozi 📚

• Amp It Up by Frank Slootman 📚

• Building a world-class sales org by Lenny Rachitsky feat. Jason Lemkin 🎥

Check these out.

BEFORE YOU GO…

Ok. Help me out here. I’m trying to increase the reply rate on the newsletter.

So… if you made it down here (or you scrolled right to the end), reply with the 🗃 emoji to let me know you read today’s edition.

Just testing to see what happens. Appreciate you participating 🙂

Talk soon,

Tommy Clark

PS: You reply yet?

PPS: I’m posting more content daily on LinkedIn. Follow along there for more frequent tips and playbooks for B2B social media strategy.