Dark Social activity reveals the thought process of B2B buyers, signifying that their journey begins even before they visit any potential businesses’ websites or communicate with them. Clearly, B2B marketers must take this into account
Due to the simplicity of information management, dark social networks are dominating the sharing channels. Customers prefer using these private channels for intense discussion. People have more freedom to express their ideas in these environments without fear of criticism. Since there are no language barriers and no sensitive information would leak, the audience is free to communicate in whichever language they find comfortable, this is another way that these dark social channels attract more users.
More trust in the Buyer reviews
B2B markets have a thought process that believes buyers depend on the Google search results for services, but this may not be entirely true. In fact, buyers trust their peer inputs more than any other source of information. B2B buyers are more conscious when it comes to buying decisions, and look for specific information to make any purchase decision. They believe in buyer reviews, and since B2B buyers share their experiences on different platforms such as LinkedIn, Podcast, etc., these channels are where most brands gain more visibility. On these platforms,
B2B buyers connect with the other buyers and learn about their experience and what type of service the respective brand is serving this way they do research before proceeding to any purchasing decision.
But these conversations between buyers are not all visible or traceable as they are essentially dark or invisible to the marketer. The channels where B2B buyers converse with each other also have a dark social network and because of no attribution on these channels, B2B business neglects this outlet. This sometimes becomes a costly mistake.
Tech Dependency is Losing Potential Customers
Many B2B marketers rely too heavily on technology, and because they can’t get credit for their efforts, they don’t track these hidden social channels. The current method stresses on attribution over marketing fundamentals because it relies too heavily on technology. But new marketing tools consider these limitations of the technology, focusing on ABM tools and display ads. The limitation here is that they rarely look at other channels where potential customers are active.
Direct Connection with Customers
Too much technology reliance leads to the severe absence of marketing fundamentals, leading marketing teams to overlook the necessity of customer interaction often. B2B marketers can drive the best content and media strategies by communicating with customers. But with too many silos crated, the fundamentals interest of marketers to drive conversions, is lost. It is suggested that marketers must know how to align product marketing, brand marketing, and field marketing altogether. Having skills is important to align these, to create demand and drive conversion better.
Also Read: Imperatives B2B brands should follow to succeed in 2021
Control of the Narrative
A good demand generation strategy requires marketers to educate and inform potential buyers about the current market conditions. To meet the actual buyers, marketers must focus on educating customers via SEO, PPC, and an amalgamation of both. The ultimate goal of any business needs to be- spreading brand awareness, and reaching prospective to move them into intent channels so that they convert into loyal customers. But if marketers do not leverage dark social that means they are waiting for people to reach them and this leads to the sinking of money on the wrong channel. In the meanwhile, customers are getting what they want via other marketers as they are reaching them from every other path. To avoid losing any customers, B2B marketers must take control of many buyers who are actually entering the buying cycles. Educating these buyers, helps to build brand credibility that maximizes business conversion rate when the buyer decides to make a purchase.
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