Industry Tips: Five Ways to Humanise Your B2B LinkedIn Marketing

You may have already noticed the shift: everyday it feels as if more and more B2B businesses are embracing B2C social media trends, experimenting with fun, relatable content previously confined to the likes of airlines, fast food restaurants, and streaming services. Leading marketing industry publication The Drum noted a ‘real coming of age’ for B2B marketing, describing standards of creativity as ‘higher than ever’. Research by LinkedIn in the summer of 2024 found that over two-thirds of UK B2B marketers say bolder creative is helping them improve brand engagement and drive conversion.

Linkedin is the perfect place to witness B2B’s creative boom first hand. Once seen as just a platform for job hunting and professional networking, LinkedIn is evolving into a dynamic social space where businesses and individuals share insights, showcase creativity, and engage in conversations much like they would on personal social media. Finally, B2B is figuring out that we are all just people talking to other people.

Businesses don’t make decisions, people do, and great creative B2B content isn’t afraid to incite our emotions. At KC Media, we love the Maya Angelou quote, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” As highlighted by The Drum, a 2022 LinkedIn study of B2B marketing leaders found that more than two thirds (69%) agree that B2B purchasing decisions are just as emotionally driven as B2C, and 39% said they are increasingly harnessing storytelling, emotion and humour to help make their creative campaigns stick.

B2C brands thrive on interaction, such as polls, quizzes, and challenges that keep audiences engaged and invested. Why should B2B print and signage businesses be any different?

With B2B marketing evolving to embrace more creative and emotionally resonant content, print and signage businesses have a unique opportunity to stand out and inject some personality into their online presence. But how can they apply these trends on LinkedIn while maintaining professionalism? Here are five practical ways for print businesses to harness the power of B2C marketing for B2B.

1. Share visual content that evokes emotion

The key to successful B2C marketing is visually compelling content that tells a story, and B2B companies are increasingly following suit. Print and signage businesses can harness the popularity of video content by showcasing behind-the-scenes footage, customer success stories, or time-lapse videos of print production – the possibilities are endless. By tapping into the power of visual storytelling, print and signage businesses can build stronger connections and turn passive viewers into engaged customers.

2. Utilise the power of storytelling

Storytelling is a powerful tool for creating emotional connections in B2C marketing, and print companies can adopt this method to humanise their LinkedIn content too. Sharing stories about your team through ‘get to know us’ posts, customer collaborations and testimonials, or posts explaining how a particular product solved a unique challenge and weaving in emotion throughout enables companies to highlight the people behind the business and can be a great way to strengthen community and engagement.

3. Embrace humour and relatable content

Who says B2B marketing has to be all business? Humour is no longer exclusive to B2C marketing. Print and signage companies can leverage light-hearted, relatable posts that reflect the daily realities of operations. Create fun memes about common business challenges or trends and use witty captions to create more personality on your LinkedIn feed and build familiarity. Have fun with your content, and don't overthink it.

4. Make it personal

B2C brands know that personalisation builds loyalty, and B2B print and signage businesses should be paying close attention. LinkedIn is the perfect platform to showcase the power of customisable print products – use your voice to highlight how personalised print and signage can be used to evoke emotion and build relationships such as onboarding packs, company workwear and branded apparel, and even across vehicle fleets. This taps into the emotional value of customisation, driving engagement and opening the door to potential leads.

5. Create interactive and community-driven content

B2C brands thrive on interaction, such as polls, quizzes, and challenges that keep audiences engaged and invested. Why should B2B print and signage businesses be any different? Printers and sign-makers can apply these methods on LinkedIn by running polls, creating challenges for printers to showcase their best applications or for designers to highlight their favourite work, or hosting Q&A sessions and how-to content. By fostering engagement, you’re not just building a following, you’re creating a community and positioning your brand as a true thought leader in the print industry.

B2B marketing on LinkedIn is no longer confined to dry, corporate messaging. By embracing creativity, storytelling, and humour, print businesses can elevate their Linkedin presence without compromising on professionalism. Now is the time to rethink your LinkedIn strategy, experiment with new content styles, and truly engage with your audience.