 As more business to business marketers embrace social media, the question isn't how to reach just anyone. It's about how to reach the right people. Knowing and catering to your target audience makes all the difference in a social media campaign. Why is that? This is because content is a great way to reach and engage the right buyers, capturing their attention and building credibility for your business. Buyers and influencers have short attention spans regarding promotional social media posts. Too much sales-oriented chatter can be a turn-off. When leaders are online for business purposes, their goal is not to buy but to discover value. They want to learn about options, innovations and alternatives that can help them improve their business. Content for B2B can meet these needs, and there's no better way to get compelling content into the hands of the right people than with social media. While the endgame may be lead generation, cited by 71% of the respondents as the goal of their content marketing, getting there is a multi-step process. First, you must reach the people you want to read your content, appeal to their interests and get them to act. How does it work? Here's a quick four-step outline of how to put content to work for you, building awareness and interest in your products and services. 1. Start with strategy. Knowing where you want to get is step 1. Take the time to determine who you want to reach and why. 2. Create great content. It sounds like a no-brainer, but it all depends on how good your content is. Publishing compelling B2B content requires truly understanding your audience. See step 1. To position your business to business brand effectively, think about the mindset of your audience. What are their needs, concerns and aspirations? How can your business fit into that mental landscape? 3. Find the right format. Great marketing for B2B takes many forms, from white papers to infographics. What kind of content does your audience consume? Will they take time to watch a video or become impatient because they'd prefer to skim an executive summary quickly? Would they better engage with images? It's easy to extend the reach and lifespan of interesting B2B content by modifying it to multiple formats. Use tools like HiHello to consolidate multiple social media channels and create a digital business card. 4. Get the word out. Now, we, finally, get to social media. If you were tempted to tweet first and think later, you might be surprised that social media is the last step in this process. That's because it's the conduit to your content. Of course, social media will play into your strategy selection in step 1. You need to know where your B2B buyers spend their time. Most commonly, this is LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, but it might be different for your business. Once you know which social media channels you want to use, craft your posts to support the wide variety of formats you've developed. All your posts need to be relevant and add value. Invite conversation and feedback. Reach out directly via social channels to people you know who will appreciate great content. Do this well, and you'll benefit from the powerful bond between content and social media, two best friends in B2B branding. For more details, read the full blog post at newhorizon123.com written by Ann Smarty.