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B2B content visibility: “If I put myself out there, do people think I’m a bit of a dick”

Marketing consultant Eimear Strong had to become more comfortable with being visible on social media

INTERVIEW When marketing consultant Eimear Strong started publishing on LinkedIn, her approach was “spray and pray” and felt, she confesses, like “absolute torture”.

In the years since she set up Strong Marketing and Communications, Eimear’s adapted her approach and learned to practice what she preaches to her construction and built environment contractor clients.

We met up over Teams to discuss how her content strategy has evolved, the lessons she’s learned and where the property industry is missing a trick with its storytelling.

Stacey: What was the trigger for starting to publish content regularly, and where did you start?

Eimear: My content has come from being self-employed. I went on LinkedIn, but I was really nervous about it and found it absolute torture.

My ADHD might have been playing into that a little bit with rejection sensitivity: If I put myself out there, do people think I’m a bit of a dick, or am I as good as I’m saying?

Then COVID hit, and I realised that what I was recommending to clients, I wasn’t doing myself.

If no one knows anything about me, how are they going to buy from me?

Continue reading “B2B content visibility: “If I put myself out there, do people think I’m a bit of a dick”” →
General

Randomly going viral on LinkedIn and why it was pointless

Woman using smartphone on a train beside oversized social media icons. The LinkedIn app icon is showing 999+ notifications.
Going viral on LinkedIn is more flattering than it is useful, I’ve discovered. Image: AI-generated

A LinkedIn post I wrote went viral completely randomly, but it’s just highlighted the pointlessness of virality.

I don’t know why the algorithm picked this post up for special treatment; it’s a topic I’ve written about before, in some shape or form.

It was a story with a tip attached, a style of post that isn’t unusual for me to use.

The trigger seemed to be a 3rd-degree connection reposting it. Since then, impressions climbed and climbed, reaching more than 72,000.

It’s all very flattering, but ultimately it’s just hot air.

I’ve carefully built my LinkedIn connections, and yet the impressions are 99% from outside my network.

That leaves in-network impressions slightly above the average I’m currently receiving in this low-reach phase of LinkedIn.

Engagement from outside my network

While I’ve had some of my connections engage, for which I’m grateful, a significant proportion is coming from people so far outside my network that, while appreciated, it serves little purpose other than to boost my ego.

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General

Why publishing regular B2B content is a good marketing strategy

Smiling writer at desk surrounded by text: Consistently publishing building readership!, Keep your audience engaged!, Stay relevant month after month!, Regular content keeps them coming back for more!, January – Skyline Stories, February – Robotica, March – Heroic Tales, April – Whiskers Daily, May – Adventure Squad
There are many benefits to publishing regular content. Image AI-generated

Why does publishing regular B2B content matter as part of a marketing strategy?

Producing content is time-consuming and can be hard to deliver consistently. It isn’t always easy to find direct links to results, but there are good reasons why it’s worthwhile.

Builds visibility, trust and differentiation

Keeping your channels active with quality content obviously ensures you maintain visibility in a crowded and competitive market.

Targeted, curated content regularly appearing in inboxes (newsletters) and in social media feeds like LinkedIn keeps you top of mind.

But more important than that, sharing knowledge, expertise and experience combined with a consistent sales message helps build authority, credibility and trust.

Consistency is a sign of reliability, which can matter in B2B relationships.

Regular content is also a way of differentiating yourself from the competition.

Businesses tend to have similar services and values, eg, being client-focused, but content is a tool to show how a firm thinks, which is a point of difference.

Compounding interest: SEO and AI

A body of regular content becomes a searchable, citable library that keeps working long after it’s published.

Regular, fresh content supports SEO and LinkedIn posts also come up in web searches now.

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Content ideas, Repurposing

Harness your content archive: A repurposing guide for built environment businesses

Illustrative cartoon image of an an editor putting together an article from other articles using scissors and glue.
Repurposing content offers better value and distribution for your ideas and work. (AI-generated image)

The idea behind this blog post is repurposed from LinkedIn posts I’ve already published.

But I’m not lazy. I’m getting more return on the ideas and time initially invested – and you can too.

Built environment (and other B2B) businesses are likely to have a wealth of valuable material ripe for editing and reuse: case studies, thought leadership/articles, award entries, reports, white papers, BIDS, etc.

Not only are you maximising the value of material that has already been researched, crafted and approved, but it is also far easier to work with existing content than to start a piece from scratch.

It’s not cheapening your content, it’s making the most of a chunk of work that’s already been done.

There are many ways of repurposing content.

Content repurposing ideas

The really obvious one is to take a longer piece – a thought leader or white paper, for example – and splice it into shorter LinkedIn posts, but what about updating a piece and then republishing?

You may have made predictions ahead of a government policy announcement or written about what you’d like to see. Were you right? Did your wishes come true?

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Earned media, Interview tips, Press releases, What journalists want

Top tips for earned media: Op-ed pitches, press releases and press interviews

Woman angrily chasing reporters yelling and causing chaos on city sidewalk
AI image: Getting in the press means helping journalists deliver for their readers

Earned media – an opinion piece, a press release story published, or a quote from an interview – is a valuable third-party endorsement for you or your business.

I’ve been on the receiving end of many op-ed pitches and press releases, plus interviewed countless industry experts as a journalist, and I’ve pulled together some of my best tips.

PITCHING COMMENT & OP-EDS

Have a clear opinion

Comment or opinion pieces, as the names suggest, need to have a viewpoint. If they don’t, they aren’t a comment or op-ed.

For successful pitches, be specific about what you or your subject matter expert wants to say – where they stand – and make it relevant to the publication’s readership.

Editors won’t commission irrelevant op-eds or generic pitches.

Keep pitches brief and punchy

Journalists don’t have time to read the email equivalent of War and Peace, so get to the point.

Have an enticing, relevant angle and a few bullet points outlining the key points that will be covered.

You want the editor to read your pitch and have a pretty good idea what the headline could be.

Deliver on your op-ed promise

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