How To Utilize Trends in the B2B World

­­­Why should B2C have all the fun?
In the business to business realm, it can be easy to get lost in the brand identity of how you’re portrayed on social media. Recently, business to consumer brands have been playing around with trends found on Twitter, Tik Tok or pop culture “drama” and gaining large followings and engagement. A question that comes up in the B2B marketing world is, “How can B2B use popular trends without losing our professional brand identity?” Listed below are three examples of how B2B can gain traction using trends like B2C.

1. Applying Pop-Culture
Recently Wordle has taken over social media. If you haven’t heard of the game, it is a five letter word guessing game. This was an instance where B2C brands have taken advantage of its popularity, where B2B was left struggling. Thankfully, creative marketers had the ability to adapt the popular trend into their brand. Below is an example of how WTWH brands, 5G Technology World, Solar Power World and The Robot Report took on the trend of “not Wordle, but…”

 

 

 

 

 

2. GIFs in 2022?
Although it’s not 2014, GIFS are still popular on social media in 2022. Plus, it’s proven that users are more likely to click on a tweet or post with a photo or graphic; this is where B2B can run into walls. Sometimes B2B can struggle with creative images for social media platforms. On Twitter and Facebook, B2B can rely on the GIF to break the creative slump, especially when GIFS can be used to your brands advantage. GIFS allow marketers to connect with an audience in humor or can adapt old content into something new. Take a look at how the use of a GIF allowed a YouTube clip to shine without an upload of a video on the platform itself.

 

3. B2B can be funny…
There is a fine line on using humor on social media. B2C brands have found using humor or public opinion to speak for their brands, most notably McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s and Chipotle. This back and forth resulted in great engagement, followers and audience opportunities for all the brands involved. For B2B, we feel left out of the loop. Just because we represent a niche market doesn’t mean we as marketers can’t express emotion behind the screen, right?

Adapting social media trends for B2B is a great way to increase engagement and gain followers. It’s about time that B2B brands keep their identity and audience, but develop their brand personality as well.  If you’re looking for a sign to get creative using pop culture, GIFS or humor, this would be your sign.