So you’ve created your B2B social media marketing strategy—you know what you want to say in your posts, how you want to connect with your audience, and what content you plan to share. You’re on your way to a strong social media presence. But have you thought about what time of day is the best to post? Or how many characters your posts should be? These things may seem small, but paying attention to them can elevate your social media presence and demonstrate a mastery of the space that signals your expertise to your audience. Here are four simple things to add to your B2B social media strategy:

1. Post at the optimum time and day. For the three major B2B social networks (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), posting on weekdays should take priority over posting on weekends. Most of your audience wants to engage with B2B content while they’re thinking about their job—that is, not on the weekend. As far as the best time of day to post, that varies based on the network. For Facebook, studies show that you should post at 1 pm to get the most shares, and 3 pm to get the most clicks. The best times to tweet are noon, 5 pm, and 6 pm. On LinkedIn, the best times to post are 7 am- 8am and 5 pm – 6 pm. If you want to dial in even further, think about what times you and your coworkers usually check social media. Chances are good that people in other offices will have similar habits. (Data via Socially Stacked)
2. Keep your posts short and sweet. Twitter may be the only social media site with a character limit, but that doesn’t mean you should ramble. According to HubSpot, the ideal length for a LinkedIn post is 25 words, and, shockingly, the ideal length for a Facebook post is 40 characters—shorter than most tweets. Although this may seem like a hard limit to meet, these shorter posts get more shares and engagement than their longer counterparts. And the ideal length for tweets is actually not 140 characters—it’s 71 to 100 characters. (One reason a shorter length is better? It leaves room for people to retweet while adding their own extra comment.) Getting right to the point in your social posts helps your audience quickly grasp your message and decide if they want to act on it.
3. Leverage what your audience is talking about. Facebook and Twitter now have the option to view trending hashtags and stories in the sidebar of your timeline. While many of these will not be appropriate for a B2B company to post about (such as serious news stories), some of them will lend themselves to a post that shows you’re paying attention to what people are discussing. Your B2B social media marketing strategy shouldn’t be rigid and inflexible—it should have room to jump into conversations your audience is having.
4. Add some GIFs to your image mix. This is Twitter-specific, but it’s still worth doing. Twitter now supports embedded GIFs, meaning that the moving image is played directly in the platform. You’re already attaching photos to your posts—consider mixing it up and including some animated GIFs to accompany your content, such as a GIF that demonstrates an aspect of your product. This blog post from Twitter’s own blog has a great list of ideas for using GIFs, as well as sites where you can make your own. Using GIFs helps dispel the notion that B2B companies are stodgy and boring. Fun social media content isn’t just for B2C.

Showing your expertise in B2B social media marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. These simple tweaks will show your customers that you know your platforms, and help you communicate more effectively with your audience.

Image credit: Jason Howie (Creative Commons)