Building an effective B2B content marketing strategy is no longer about “publishing more” or treating social media like an add-on. Buyers increasingly prefer to educate themselves through digital self-service, and they actively avoid irrelevant outreach, which raises the bar for content usefulness, accuracy, and trust. In fact, Gartner found that 61% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, and 73% actively avoid suppliers that send irrelevant outreach. We know this: no one likes to be sold.
That’s why TopRank Marketing approaches content and social media as a system that is aligned to Best Answer Marketing principles: create the most helpful, credible answers for the questions buyers are already trying to solve, then distribute those answers where discovery happens (search, social, communities, email, and increasingly AI-powered experiences).
Content strategy and social strategy are now inseparable
In 2026, every social platform is a discovery engine, and every piece of content can be source of trust, especially video. LinkedIn’s own B2B insight points to video as the “language of modern buyers” and emphasizes that trust is what makes content actually work.
The content you create inside social channels (executive POV, employee expertise, creator collaborations, community participation) matters as much as what you publish on your website. In fact, with zero click search and attention being captured away from websites, this even more true in 2026.
Start with a social media + content roadmap based on audience needs
It’s important to ask, what are the questions my buyers are asking? What information do they find useful?
- Help me make a better decision (clarity, comparisons, risks, tradeoffs)
- Help me defend the decision internally (proof, validation, peer examples)
- Help me implement successfully (how-to, change management, adoption)
- Help me reduce uncertainty (benchmarks, data, expert POV)
A best answer focused social media and content marketing roadmap aligns:
- Priority audiences and buying-group roles,
- The decisions they’re trying to make,
- The content formats that best deliver confidence, and
- The channels where those roles actually discover and validate.
Quality of network beats quantity of followers
It’s pretty much understood by experienced B2B marketers that superficial social media growth can look like progress while contributing very little to revenue. The stronger path is to monitor for quality signals that correlate with meaningful business outcomes like:
- Target-account engagement (by company, role, seniority)
- Content-assisted pipeline (influence, not just last-click)
- Subscriber growth in owned channels (newsletter, webinar series, podcast)
- Credibility signals (mentions by SMEs, citations, community references)
- Sales enablement adoption (what sellers actually use)
Content Marketing Institute’s 2026 B2B Content Marketing trends research reinforces how far most programs still have to go on personalization and relevance. While 89% say they personalize content, most describe it as basic and often limited to one or two channels.
Modern “listening” is multi-channel: social, search, intent, and AI powered signals
Capturing insight about your audience now requires combining qualitative and quantitative inputs. This is a key pillar of Best Answer Marketing: Data Informed. A data informed strategy uses insights from available and relevant sources including:
Participation and direct engagement
- LinkedIn comments, DMs, employee advocacy posts
- Reddit and niche forums (where relevant), Slack/Discord communities
- webinars/live sessions with Q&A (use questions as content seeds)
Social listening and media intelligence tools
- Sprinklr, Brandwatch, Talkwalker, Meltwater
- Sprout Social (social management + listening), Hootsuite
Search and topic demand intelligence
- Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console
- SparkToro (audience research), AlsoAsked, AnswerThePublic
Web behavior + journey analytics
- Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics
- Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity (qualitative UX signals)
B2B intent and account insights
- 6sense, Demandbase, Bombora
- LinkedIn Campaign Manager + LinkedIn Audience Insights
- Microsoft Advertising audience/industry targeting capabilities
Primary research and surveys
- Customer advisory boards, win/loss interviews
- Market surveys (fielded directly or via partners)
If your goal is revenue, become the most useful resource in the category
The “give to get” principle still applies in a social media + content marketing strategy, but today it’s more about reducing buyer risk. Buyers want fewer claims and more evidence: benchmarks, implementation guidance, credible POVs, and proof that your company understands the nuance of their environment. Building trust in your category, your brand and in your solution is essential. This also protects you from inconsistency, which is an issue Gartner explicitly calls out: 69% of B2B buyers report inconsistencies between information on the website and what sales reps provide.
Of course this notion of building trust is another key pillar of Best Answer Marketing: Trust System. Building trust elements into your strategy through credible data like original research, trusted voices like industry influencers and respected sources of information like industry media can go a long way towards building decision confidence.
When you align best answer content experiences across web, social, paid, and sales enablement in concert with trust building signals from reputable data, industry experts and trusted media, buyers get consistent, confidence-building information where it matters most.
How do I create best answer content that speaks to my audience?
Best Answer content relies on data insights about the questions buyers have, pain points they are experiencing and goals they are trying to achieve. Top performing B2B marketers also consider the information journey of thier customers and preferences for content discovery, formats for consumption and the triggers that motivate taking action. Here are a few ideas:
1) Original research and proprietary POV
- Benchmarks, trend reports, category myth-busting, maturity assessments
- Interactive tools (readiness scoring, ROI calculators, checklists)
2) People-powered credibility
- Executive and SME thought leadership (real opinions, not corporate platitudes)
- Creator/subject-matter collaborations-especially on LinkedIn
And this isn’t theoretical: Reuters reported LinkedIn has increased its video ad push and expanded its BrandLink program to include creators, saying that video is one of LinkedIn’s fastest-growing formats (uploads up 20%+ and views up 36% YoY, according to the report).
3) Customer- and employee-generated content
- Customer stories that explain how success was achieved
- Employee posts that translate product value into real-world outcomes
- Enablement kits for employees: post prompts, proof points, and assets
4) Repurposing with discipline and intent
Inventory what you already have including case studies, webinars, sales decks, research, product walkthroughs, etc and repackage them into modular outputs. For example:
- POV posts → carousels → short videos → webinar segments → newsletter series
- One research report → dozens of social posts + sales enablement + landing page hubs
Tools commonly used for modern content and creative production workflows include Canva, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Descript, Riverside, Veed.io, and repurposing/clipping tools like OpusClip. And of course there are plenty of AI and vibe coding platforms for asset creation but don’t think this is a press play situation with AI. It takes original ideas and imagination to get high quality creative outputs from AI tools that will resonate with human buyers.
Consistency still wins: go beyond a calendar and build an editorial system
Of course a content calendar is a practical tool for managing content and social media. But the modern version looks more like an operating system with:
- Themes tied to business priorities and buyer decisions
- A repeatable cadence across flagship “pillar” assets and social narratives
- Cear ownership: SMEs, editors, designers, channel leads
- Governance: review, claims validation, approvals, and brand voice
- Masurement: what “good” means per asset type and funnel stage
Research from CMI found that many B2B marketers still don’t use advanced distribution and orchestration of content. This creates an opportunity for B2B brands that treat content + social as an integrated system instead of individual, stand alone outputs to stand out and be the best answer for their customers.
If you want social media and content marketing to drive real B2B impact in 2026, stop optimizing for activity and start optimizing for answers that earn trust. Tap into a system like Best Answer Marketing: listen with modern data sources, create content with real proof and human expertise, distribute through the channels where buyers validate decisions (especially LinkedIn), and measure what influences pipeline-not just what earns clicks.
Learn more in our new Best Answer Marketing Playbook.
