Should B2B Brands Use Social Media Beyond LinkedIn?

Social media isn’t just a B2C channel. Brands selling to other businesses can also utilise these channels for reach, generating leads, and increasing sales revenue.

Whenever we think of a B2B social media platform, LinkedIn is always at the top of the list. But is this the best or only option for B2B brands?

It’s true that LinkedIn predominantly attracts industry professionals looking to network, find jobs, and discuss solutions to business problems. However, a B2B audience is still made up of everyday people who have their own process for making purchasing decisions. They are likely going to multiple places online to do research.

Start with Your Goal Before Choosing the Platform

When thinking about the platforms that might be best for your B2B brand, it’s important to consider the goals of your social media marketing. If your chosen platform can’t support your long-term goals or provide the flexibility to run one-off campaigns, it could be time to switch to a different channel. You want to start by allocating marketing resources in the most effective places first, which should be largely dictated by your business goals.

Common B2B goals may include:

• Brand awareness.
• Demonstrating company culture and building trust.
• Generating valuable leads.
• Sales conversions.
• Promoting events and new products.
• Retargeting and longer buyer journeys.

A common pitfall for brands that are creating their social media strategy is to focus on the platforms where their competitors are most active, without considering what’s best for them.

Why LinkedIn Usually Makes Sense for B2B Brands

LinkedIn is a platform that’s angled towards professional interactions and business-centric conversations. LinkedIn states there are 180 million senior-level influencers, 63 million decision makers, and 10 million C-level executives that make up its user base. So if your brand is looking to sell to those high up in businesses, you will probably have a good chance of finding them here.

On top of this, according to the 2026 B2B Content and Marketing Trends Report, 76% of marketers surveyed said LinkedIn was the most effective channel for thought leadership content. This was followed by email newsletters and events/webinars, both of which can also be promoted on LinkedIn. This helps B2B brands build authority in their industry.

Another benefit of LinkedIn as a social platform is that users’ information typically includes their job title and company for additional targeting. It has its own ad campaign manager so brands can create and monitor their efforts. This can include sponsored content, video ads, text ads, and dynamic ads.

Why LinkedIn Should Not Always be the Only Channel

Although LinkedIn can contain large numbers of B2B customers, this can also mean it is oversaturated by other B2B brands. It can take a lot of consistent content creation and marketing resources to gain visibility, especially if you’re starting out against established competitors.

However, the main reason not to solely focus on LinkedIn is that B2B interactions don’t only happen on LinkedIn. Working professionals, like anyone else, can go to other social platforms to look at products, discuss issues, and do research. In these cases, LinkedIn might simply support one step in a long buyer journey, and people could fall off if your brand isn’t present elsewhere.

Platform use can also vary wildly between industries. For instance, HR and admin professionals might make up a higher proportion of LinkedIn users than those in the construction space. This is why brands often need bespoke B2B digital marketing that targets your chosen audience where they naturally live online.

Facebook and Instagram

Having a social presence on Facebook and Instagram can be useful for B2B brands to appeal to certain demographics and promote events. When it comes to organic campaigns, content can be used to cover the more informal side of the business in its culture, recruitment pushes, local events, and introducing members of the team. This offers an insight into your B2B brand beyond the products and services it provides.

Brands can also use meta ads for paid social campaigns to target warm leads more intentionally and retarget those who have already interacted with your business. While both approaches can be effective, paid social ads on Facebook and Instagram will often keep your brand more visible to those who have already shown some kind of interest.

YouTube

YouTube is an ideal platform for B2B brands with technical products and services, or complex processes that warrant explanation. Content can focus on:

• Product demonstrations and reviews.
• Event coverage and webinars.
• ‘Day-in-the-life’ style content following staff who are comfortable in front of a camera.
• Customer testimonials.
• Answering FAQs.
• Case study videos.

YouTube videos are flexible content that can be easily used across your brand’s website and other socials. It can support search relevance, sales conversations, and remarketing efforts when prospects want to understand something before taking their enquiry further. Educational and informational content on YouTube also shows that your brand has the industry knowledge, expertise, and experience to be trusted.

Although video content can have many benefits for engagement, it also requires more resources to create to a polished standard. Topics need to be planned, and the appropriate location and time put aside to film and edit the content. To succeed in growing a YouTube following, B2B brands need to have a schedule for posting regular content that provides real value.

TikTok

If your audience is on TikTok, B2B brands can see great success from posting on the platform. Short-form videos can be used for:

• Promoting offers, new releases, and events.
• Answering key questions and myth-busting industry topics.
• Straightforward explanations of products, services, and processes.
• Founder or staff-led content.
• Culture insights.
• Recruitment drives.

Creating content for TikTok is different to creating content for YouTube, although both are video-centric platforms. Many brands are drawn to TikTok by the idea of creating viral content, but the approach still needs to be balanced, with strategy led by your audience and what will provide commercial value.

X and Threads

These platforms are built on encouraging discussions between users on any topic, across any industry. Much like LinkedIn, users can interact directly with brand accounts in comment sections to ask questions and resolve issues. Being active on X or Threads can also be an avenue for B2B brands to network with journalists and specialists for industry-specific PR.

Posting without a clear direction is unlikely to generate engagement, but being part of discussions, answering questions, and retweeting relevant content can help build your reputation as a source of authority. To do this, your brand account might choose to weigh in on industry chats and engage with relevant hashtags to find your brand’s niche community. This is a more real-time engagement, which, although resource-heavy, can lead to stronger connections with your audience.

Reddit as an Honourable Mention

Much like X, Reddit forums are places where niche communities come together to discuss industry trends, problems, developments, and products. This is where people who are truly passionate about your industry operate, and being present on the platform offers direct access to them. An added benefit is that, at the time of writing, Reddit is heavily cited by LLMs for generative search results. And it frequently features in the “Discussions and Forums” section of certain Google search queries.

However, brands should exercise extreme caution when engaging with Reddit threads and posting in Subreddits, as the platform is highly moderated against sales content. Engagement should be strictly limited to the topic at hand and avoid anything that’s overly promotional. Even being clearly affiliated with your brand can lead to disciplinary actions. But brands can explore encouraging engagement from industry professionals within the company to answer questions and be part of discussions.

Deciding Whether Your B2B Brand Should Expand Beyond LinkedIn

The first step is to remember your business goals. A massive social media following won’t mean anything if it doesn’t lead to beneficial commercial outcomes. Review your objectives at this stage in your B2B brand’s life and consider whether LinkedIn is producing the results you want. It’s also important to review the type of content you want your brand to produce for socials, and whether another social media platform could better accommodate your style of content.

Ask yourself:

• Can I track performance accurately?
• Is my audience predominantly on LinkedIn or elsewhere?
• Am I seeing a return on investment?
• How does this platform fit into the sales journey?
• Is my content getting engagement?

If you can’t produce strong answers to support how your B2B brand is utilising LinkedIn in respect of the above questions, it could be time to branch out to another platform. That isn’t to say you need to leave LinkedIn altogether. It could simply be that another social channel offers different opportunities and fits your brand better in certain ways.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Expanding to every social platform simultaneously.
• Using the same creatives across multiple channels.
• Posting without a content plan.
• Running a paid social ads campaign without relevant landing pages.
• Expecting each platform to work in the same way.
• Ignoring tracking and retargeting.
• Assuming LinkedIn is the only channel worth putting resources into.

Does Your Website Support Social Traffic?

A final point to consider is whether your site has been designed and set up to serve users visiting from social sources. If someone follows a link on one of your social platforms to get to your website, they should already have a baseline knowledge of your brand and what they’re looking for. Your website should be equipped with helpful content to keep visitors’ interest and encourage them to enquire. This is where B2B digital marketing and social media intersect.

Supporting social traffic typically requires relevant landing pages, a good mobile experience, case studies, contact forms, and clear calls to action. If you’re looking to sell online and build valuable relationships for your B2B brand, it’s beneficial to present a unified image everywhere that prospects might discover your brand. If content or specific information doesn’t line up, it can shake confidence and undermine authority.

Conclusion

Social media can offer lots of opportunities for B2B brands. However, many choose to play it safe and fail to stand out.

LinkedIn is a great place for many B2B brands to start promoting themselves. It is often an easy option for finding professionals in your industry, and the platform lends itself to business leaders and directors as voices of authority. But over time, once your brand is established, you can benefit from looking to other platforms to support visibility, retargeting, and trust building.

That isn’t to say B2B brands always need to be in multiple places at once to succeed. Your social media strategy still has to make sense for your target audience, content, and business goals. Get in touch with the Mayfly team today to chat about making a plan.