B2B Social Media Is Boring, But Yours Doesn't Have To Be

When people think of B2B social media, "exciting" and "engaging" aren’t usually the first words that come to mind. Too often, brands stick to safe, corporate-sounding content that’s polished to perfection but also completely forgettable.

The problem? Social media, even in the B2B space, is still social. It’s about people, conversations, and making an impact.

So, how do you actually move beyond the dry, corporate mould and create a social presence that resonates? We sat down with Ray Saddiq, Head of Marketing at Rise at Seven, who specialises in search and social search. And his experience is nothing short of incredible, his track record includes: 

→ Working with leading brands such as Monzo Bank and The Body Shop 

→  20,000 organic followers gained in just one year for one client, and 100,000 organic followers gained over two years for another. 

→ 300+ links and coverage from a single creative digital PR campaign 

In this interview, Ray spills the tea on the biggest missed opportunities in B2B social, how to leverage social search, and the ONE piece of advice he’d give to B2B brands trying to drive millions of views organically.

His take? “Stop trying to see things the same way as everyone else. It’s easy to fall into the trap of following the same B2B playbooks, especially because they do work.”

So, grab a cuppa, get comfy and join us as we talk all things B2B social media.

Annie-Mai: Hey Ray! Lovely to have you here. Could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your work?

Ray: Hey Annie-Mai! Thank you for having me on, it's amazing to be able to speak to you on this topic and be able to be part of this. I'm an organic growth marketer and I've worked across nearly any organic channel that you can think of from social, search PR and many more Throughout this time I've grown my own consultancy worked in-house agency side and currently I am looking after the marketing here at Rise at Seven.

Annie-Mai: Okay, let's dive into it. What do you think is the biggest misconception about social media marketing for B2Bs?

Ray: In the B2B space, there’s often a heavy focus on bottom-of-funnel content, where everything is measured by the number of leads it generates and its direct attribution. However, what I’ve found regardless of whether it’s B2B, e-commerce, or any other purchase journey—is that users move through distinct stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.

While having strong decision-stage content is important, trust signals and reinforcement throughout the journey can significantly improve conversion rates. Aligning your awareness strategies with your bottom-of-funnel efforts ensures a more effective approach, ultimately driving more high-quality leads and more qualified leads. 

Annie-Mai: You talk a lot about finding where digital attention is. Right now, where do you think B2B brands are missing opportunities?

Ray: I recently had a chat where I said that I feel like LinkedIn is still relatively new, and many B2B marketers responded with, “No, everyone already uses LinkedIn for B2B.” While that’s true, I realise I worded my point wrong - what I actually meant is that LinkedIn is massively underrated and often not used correctly.

One way I’ve tested this is by using LinkedIn as a distribution channel through employee-generated content. What I’ve noticed is that LinkedIn has, in many ways, replaced the email list as the primary method for cold outreach. So this is how it just ends up getting used. However, what many forget is that LinkedIn is also a powerful awareness channel and an incredible platform for building brands—especially personal brands.

When you take the content you’ve created and the message you want to share about your services -why they matter and why businesses should be using them - and distribute it via employee-generated content, the impact is significantly higher. Employees who are genuinely passionate about their work sharing this content online tend to see:

• Higher open rates

• Higher acceptance rates on connection requests

• Higher engagement and lead generation

And if your goal is to book calls, nurture leads, or drive MQLs, the results will be even stronger if you’re simultaneously building a brand alongside your outreach efforts. The problem that often comes with this is that you need to give time and strategy behind it. That's not just an outreach strategy, that's where social strategy just plays a massive part within this. 

Another massively underrated platform for B2B marketing is Instagram. While it’s harder to target, track, and directly engage with your ICP, it presents a huge opportunity - especially for reaching key individuals with buying power, such as budget holders and decision-makers.

It requires more strategic effort compared to platforms like LinkedIn, but when used effectively, Instagram can be incredibly powerful for brand awareness, thought leadership, and building relationships with your ICP. More B2B businesses should consider incorporating Instagram into their strategy, rather than overlooking it as just a B2C platform.

Annie-Mai: You’ve worked with some HUGE brands (ahem: Monzo and The Body Shop) and helped them grow organically across platforms like Google, TikTok and Instagram. What’s the secret sauce to getting social search to work for B2B?

Ray: Social search is one of the easiest ways for a B2B business to gain visibility. One of the biggest challenges B2B brands face is creating engaging, reactive, or trend-based content that still aligns with their ICP. However, by layering search intent into your social strategy, you can ensure that when your content appears in someone’s feed, it directly addresses their pain points.

The key is to take a pain point-led approach to content strategy. Start by identifying the common challenges your target audience faces through keyword research and search data. Then, build a content map around those pain points and repurpose that insight into high-quality social content that answers their questions and provides solutions. This ensures your content is both searchable and engaging on social platforms.

This approach works particularly well on platforms like TikTok, where users actively search for solutions (yes even for B2B searches, no longer 2020 anymore), and Instagram, which is increasingly being used as a search tool. Even Google Search has evolved - which I think is particularly central to all of this. When users search for B2B solutions, Google now pulls in short-form videos, forum discussions (like Reddit), and other social  content as part of its results. This shift means there’s a growing opportunity for social-led content to rank in search, making it even more important to integrate SEO-driven social strategies into B2B marketing.

Annie-Mai: Are there any B2B brands that are absolutely killing it on social media right now?

Ray: The ones that particularly come to mind for me are ClickUp and Semrush - they do exceptionally well with social content. They’ve mastered the balance of engaging, informative, and search-driven posts that resonate with their audience.

I also pay close attention to smaller B2B businesses and agencies that operate with tighter budgets. These brands often have to think more creatively and strategically to make a bigger impact, which leads to some of the most innovative and effective social content. Watching how these smaller players maximise their reach and engagement with limited resources can be a great source of inspiration for larger brands as well.

Annie-Mai: You’ve helped brands grow by 100,000+ followers and drive millions of views organically. If you could give one piece of advice to a B2B brand trying to do the same, what would it be?

Ray: Stop trying to see things the same way as everyone else. It’s easy to fall into the trap of following the same B2B playbooks especially because they do work. One of the advantages of B2B is that it’s more predictable; you can set up funnels, measure spend, and achieve consistent lead flow.

But beyond that, it’s worth experimenting and stepping outside your comfort zone especially when it comes to brand messaging and content types. We’re all competing for attention:

• Stopping the scroll

• Getting someone to open a message or email 

• Encouraging attendance at a webinar

• Convincing someone to download a lead magnet

To win that attention, you need to stand out. That means delivering content that’s valuable, engaging, and different—content that resonates with your audience and makes them see your brand as worth their time.

Annie-Mai: If you had to predict where social search and B2B marketing are heading in the next 12 months, what would you bet on?

Ray: The way we consume media and information to find solutions is changing rapidly. As a result, every interaction I think becomes far more personalised to the individual.

I see personalisation playing a massive role in the future of B2B marketing. We’re already seeing this shift across platforms:

→ FYP on TikTok and Explore Instagram are completely different for each user.

→ LinkedIn feeds are uniquely tailored to individual interests and connections.

→ Google is leaning heavily into personalised search results, especially with AI Overviews.

For B2B marketers, this means we need to find ways to make our messaging feel uniquely relevant to each audience segment. Whether it’s through AI-driven personalisation, hyper-targeted content strategies, or smarter audience segmentation, the brands that master this will have a significant advantage. 

The challenge and opportunity lies in figuring out how to create more personalised and relevant content experiences at scale, ensuring that every touchpoint feels tailored to the right ICP segment.

Annie-Mai: Finally… What’s the BEST piece of marketing advice you’ve ever received?

Ray: You have to be fast AND consistent. We overlook how much speed matters and put a lot of focus on consistency. Plan today, Go live tomorrow, Scale. Remove the pressure of focusing on results and your peers and just do.

And scene.

That’s a wrap on our interview with Ray Saddiq. A huge thank you to Ray for sharing his insights on what it takes to make B2B social media actually work in 2025.

If there’s one big takeaway from this conversation, it’s that playing it safe won’t get you anywhere. As Ray put it: “Social media is about connection. If you’re not making people feel something, you’re missing the point.”

B2B brands that stand out are the ones willing to experiment, show personality, and engage with their audience in a real way. That means moving beyond corporate-speak, having a point of view, and, most importantly, showing up consistently.

So, if your brand’s social presence has been feeling a little too… beige, take this as your sign to mix things up. Test new formats, invite real conversation, and don’t be afraid to have a bit of fun with it. Because at the end of the day, the brands that dare to be different are the ones people remember.