A B2B Social Media Masterclass with Simon Rost, GE Healthcare

Social Media has long been the domain of big consumer brands. It’s a medium that many in the B2B space still struggle with. Late last year, I had the pleasure of speaking with Simon Rost, from GE Healthcare for an episode of the Healthtech Marketing Podcast with HIMSS. It was a master class in B2B Social Media Strategy and Social Media Marketing at scale.

In an absorbing conversation, Simon told me how his group within GE Healthcare adapted to the pandemic by creating a very successful and highly compelling brand campaign driven by social media. What impressed me most is that GE Healthcare is doing what you would typically expect from a small, nimble digital health startup globally and at scale. It’s impressive!

Rather than tell Simon’s story for him, here are short excerpts where Simon describes their strategy.

#1 Why B2B Social Media Is Increasingly Important

In this first clip, Simon explains how the pressure on budgets has meant that many B2B firms are looking to digital marketing, especially Social Media, to do more with less.

Why LinkedIn is THE B2B Social Media Platform

Simon explains why LinkedIn is their primary B2B Social Media Platform and why it’s such an effective way to reach their buyers.

4-Part B2B Social Media Strategy

Over the last couple of years, Simon and his team have developed a 4-part approach to building their brand and demand through social media.

Strategy 1 – Create a Big Social Media-Driven Campaign

The GE Healthcare team developed a compelling storytelling idea that turned their social media channels into news channels. The campaign is called Care with Confidence.

You can see this campaign here. It’s brilliant! Wonderful storytelling about how GE Healthcare’s solutions make an impact.

I love the campaign’s authenticity. Watch this Youtube video between Mike Kay, the campaign’s presenter and GE Healthcare’s Chief Medical Officer.

Strategy 2 – Create Snackable Content

Simon and the team were incredibly resourceful in developing short videos that were highly shareable across their B2B social media network.

They have tried many different ways to make the content available for audiences to consume how they want to when they want. This includes their own podcast.

Strategy 3 – Master Influencer Marketing

This approach is typically associated with consumer brands, but influencer marketing is just as effective in B2B Social Media. The GE Healthcare team had a deliberate and granular approach to getting content into the hands of influencers.

One of their own leading influencers is their Chief Medical Officer, Mathias Goyen, Prof. Dr.med. You can see one of his articles here. Simon is also a big influencer, as this feed shows.

This strategy included peer-to-peer idea sharing via social media. Here are three excellent examples:

Strategy 4 – Reverse Mentor Senior Executives

The last piece of the puzzle has been to turn the GE Healthcare senior leaders into influencers and prominent voices across LinkedIn. Simon and his team developed a clever approach where younger social media natives trained their bosses on how to be effective in B2B Social Media.

I want to thank Simon for sharing these insights with candor and transparency. It was a ton of hard work for Simon and his team. In my view, this is a best-in-class example of how to do B2B Social Medis at scale.

Originally posted on LinkedIn.

Adam Turinas

Adam Turinas is a long-time technology marketing leader and entrepreneur. He is the co-author of the Total Customer Growth book and founder of Total Customer Growth LLC. Adam spent two decades marketing for Dell, IBM, Bank of America, and dozens of other major marketers. In 2012 he founded, grew, and eventually sold a healthcare technology software business and then created healthlaunchpad, a leading healthtech marketing firm that teaches clients how to use ABM.