Is Social Media the New Search Engine for B2B?

SEO 7 August

A Guide to Thriving in the Era of Social SEO

The role of social media platforms has evolved again. From communication, transforming into a powerful search engine tool in direct competition with the likes of Google, Bing and others.

This profound shift has seen a drastic change in how B2B customers use social media apps to find business, perform research and interact with brands. For decades, the path to discovery for business was as simple as a search on Google. Today, your potential audience, a new generation of decision makers, are bypassing traditional search engines entirely. 

Instead, the C-suite executives and procurement specialists, decision makers, are using apps like LinkedIn, X, YouTube and Instagram. They use these apps for not only networking but as primary search and discovery engines for vendors, solutions and industry insights.

Unlike many digital trends, the use of social media channels as search engines is a fundamental change to audience behaviour. This has repercussions for redefining the B2B sales funnel. For business growth, this means that a robust visibility strategy can no longer be limited to traditional SEO. The year of 2025 is the time to embrace social SEO or SMO (social media optimisation).

To learn more about our comprehensive digital marketing plan, check out our blog post on creating a digital marketing strategy.

The Great Migration

First off, don’t panic… Google still remains the dominant in search engines. However, when it comes to younger audiences, social media is their primary source of inspiration, research and communication.

To truly understand this shift, we must first delve into the ‘Wh’. Why are millions of professionals migrating their search habits to social media? How modern professionals engage with information and find their trusted sources.

Deconstructing the Social Search Phenomenon in B2B

  • Trust and thought leadership are paramount in the B2B world; trust is the currency of commerce. B2B buyers are more likely to engage with vendors who are perceived as thought leaders and experts who can provide genuine value and insight. A LinkedIn study found that 84% of C-level and VP-level buyers are influenced by social media when making purchasing decisions. 

    Professional networks are this demographic’s number one information preference in the final stages of the buying process. This is because platforms allow professionals to vet expertise, assess a company's brand authority and gauge the competence of its leaders through their content.

  • Hyper-focused professional networks through social communication. While consumers might search for inspiration on TikTok, B2B professionals are searching for very specific solutions in targeted communities. Platforms like LinkedIn is a perfect example designed for this type of search. LinkedIn is a uniquely positioned social media app, with a user base of over a billion. 

    A recent report boasts that four out of five LinkedIn members drive business decisions. Defining itself as the hub for B2B discovery. Professionals use the search functionality to find specific job titles, companies, and industry discussions, making it a highly efficient tool for procurement and market research.

  • Content is the new cold calling in the B2B world. The B2B buyer’s journey is now largely self-guided. Reports show that B2B buyers spend only 17% of their decision-making time with potential suppliers, and up to 90% of their journey educating themselves. They consume an average of 7-10 pieces of content before making a decision. 

    Social media is the key channel for this content consumption. Supplying users with whitepapers and webinars to concise, educational videos. This makes creating valuable, discoverable content a non-negotiable part of your B2B marketing mix. According to a HubSpot report, LinkedIn is 277% more effective for lead generation than other major social channels like Facebook and X.

  • Authenticity and social proof in B2B are the core of a brand’s reputation. Built the business credibility of their people. Social media allows key figures within an organisation to build personal brands, showcasing expertise and building trust. 

    A study found that 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make buying decisions. A significant portion of the users were influenced by UGC (user-generated content) and peer reviews. All of which act as a powerful form of social proof for a vendor's reliability and reputation.

From SEO to Social SEO 

As mentioned above, this shift does not mean you should abandon your SEO strategy. Instead, we would recommend integrating a dynamic approach. Social SEO is defined as the practice of optimising your professional presence and content to be as discoverable as your brand’s website, leveraging the unique features of that platform. 

Basically, taking advantage of the features available on your chosen social media platform to promote and optimise content to improve brand visibility and discoverability.

Your New Integrated B2B Strategy

1. Re-engineer your keyword research on professional networks as keywords are often more formal and technical than in a consumer context. Use the search bars on platforms like LinkedIn, X and Instagram. Use industry forums to identify the precise terms and questions your target audience is using. Keywords might be "ERP software for logistics" or "cybersecurity best practices" rather than just "enterprise software." 

2. Optimise your profiles for discovery on your company page and your employees' profiles. This is crucial for Social SEO. Ensure your company page bio and your team’s bios include relevant keywords and showcase their expertise. This makes your brand and your team searchable and discoverable to potential clients and partners. 

3. Create discoverable content:

  • Add captions and on-screen text, include relevant keywords in video titles, on-screen text, and captions for your LinkedIn articles or posts.

  • Use strategic hashtags, particularly a mix of industry-specific hashtags (e.g., #SaaS, #B2Bmarketing) and broader ones to increase your content’s reach.

  • Leverage all content formats that your B2B audiences are engaging with, a variety of content types. While video and carousels are highly effective, long-form articles, whitepapers, and webinars are invaluable for demonstrating deep expertise.

4. Embrace customer engagement as a ranking factor, unlike traditional SEO, where backlinks are key, Social SEO relies heavily on engagement. The algorithm rewards content that generates likes, comments, and shares. These actions signal that your content is valuable and relevant. Resulting in your content being pushed up in search results and onto more people's feeds. 

A study found that content shared by employees receives 8x more engagement than content shared by company channels. Actively encourage your team to interact with content and build a genuine community.

What This Means for Your Business

The B2B digital marketing landscape is in constant flux. B2B companies that embrace change and are going to the places their audiences hang out will reap the rewards. Social media for business should be seen as more than just a social networking tool and should be seen as a powerful interactive search and discovery engine for professionals. Relying solely on a traditional SEO strategy is no longer enough to guarantee visibility to the modern B2B buyer behaviour.

Building a comprehensive, integrated marketing strategy is not without its challenges. It requires a deep understanding of multiple platforms, a cohesive approach, and the ability to adapt to ever-changing algorithms. This is where an expert partner can make all the difference. 

Is your B2B business ready to capture the new generation of professional searchers and put your brand in front of them where they’re actually looking?