Thought leadership Archives

In this blog by Sophie King, Associate Director, we look at:

Why owned research is valuable for B2B tech brands
Maximising research’s reach
Three ways to ensure research produces tangible results

In the competitive world of B2B technology, establishing thought leadership and standing out from the crowd is essential. One powerful tool for achieving this is owned research, designed to generate original thought leadership on topics that matter to your audience. It offers brands an opportunity to deliver unique content that resonates, helps build credibility and drives PR efforts.

However, to maximise the impact of owned research, it should be integrated into a wider marketing strategy, and not just seen as a one-off PR exercise. Here’s how B2B technology brands can use owned research effectively and amplify it across their marketing channels.

Why Owned Research is Valuable for B2B Tech Brands

At its core, owned research refers to custom data gathered through a survey, study or report commissioned by your company. Unlike secondary research, owned research allows brands to address specific challenges or trends relevant to their audience, producing data-driven insights that can be used to generate compelling narratives and content that can be used in all manner of different ways.

For B2B tech companies, owned research is a chance to move beyond general industry reports and provide something new that positions you as a thought leader. But while research is a powerful tool, its success depends on how well it’s integrated into your broader marketing strategy. To achieve maximum impact, the findings can underpin everything from press releases to social media campaigns, ensuring your brand is recognised as a credible, authoritative source in its sector.

Here’s our top tips on how to maximise its reach:

Repurpose Content Across Platforms: Don’t limit the research to one format. While the classic eBook format has its place as a hero asset within a lead-gen campaign, there’s value in repurposing key findings into blog posts, videos or even podcast episodes. Each channel reaches a different segment of your audience, ensuring your research has broader visibility.
Coordinate with PR Outreach: Use the research as a hook for your PR campaigns. Pitch findings to relevant media outlets and industry publications, offering them exclusive insights or commentary on the results. This creates the opportunity for earned media coverage and can establish your brand as an authority.
Align with your Event Calendar: Research insights can form the basis of event concepts and messaging, providing you with an powerful differentiator against a sea of other attendees. The data from surveys can be used to fuel panel discussions or speaker slots, letting you engage directly with your audience while reinforcing your thought leadership position.
Engage with Influencers: Industry influencers or thought leaders can help amplify your research. Collaborate with them to share the results on social platforms, extending your reach to their networks.

Starting a research project from scratch can feel daunting, so to ensure your research produces tangible results, keep these tips in mind:

1) Plan for Headlines from the Start
It’s important to start the research process with a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Think about the key insights or headlines you want the media to pick up. Without a clear focus, you might end up with a report full of generic data that doesn’t provide value. Consider what your audience cares about and what gaps exist in the industry. This will guide the creation of meaningful research that generates buzz.

2) Get Senior Stakeholder Buy-In Early
Research projects require a significant investment of time and resources. To ensure alignment with broader company objectives, it’s crucial to get buy-in from senior stakeholders early on. Their involvement helps shape the research and ensures that the findings are closely aligned with your strategic goals, increasing the likelihood of long-term impact.

3) Define Success Metrics
Before the research kicks off, define what success looks like. Will you measure media coverage, social media engagement or lead generation? Setting clear KPIs upfront will allow you to track the effectiveness of your research and optimise for better results. For example, metrics like press coverage, social shares or eBook downloads can indicate how well your content is resonating with the target audience.

Turning Research into Results

Owned research is a valuable tool for any B2B technology brand looking to differentiate itself in a crowded market. However, it’s not solely about the research itself – it’s about how you use it. By integrating it into your broader marketing strategy, from PR content and social media posts to hero eBooks and event collateral, you can maximise its impact and create a strong foundation for long-term thought leadership.

By following best practices and setting clear goals from the outset, B2B tech brands can leverage owned research to build credibility, generate PR narratives and drive engagement across multiple touchpoints.

Find out more about some of our work in this area for clients, including a cybersecurity industry report for Bridewell, which saw us generate 697 pieces of coverage, or our integrated research campaign activity for InterSystems, which saw us deliver a full suite of creative assets.

By Hugh Cadman, Senior Content Creator, Whiteoaks

In this blog we discuss:

Leveraging personal branding to extend the reach and impact of a company’s overall brand
What we can learn from masters of personal branding, like Richard Branson and Sheryl Sandberg
Why personal branding is as much a tool for B2B as it is B2C

It’s all about me. Is that essentially what personal branding is about, and does it have any relevance to the world of B2B technology?

Personal branding certainly has a role to play in B2B tech, but it is not about boosting egos. If crafted and shared with thought and precision, the vision and values of founders, owners and business leaders can be hugely influential.

The point to stress here is that personal branding is about extending the reach and impact of the company’s overall brand. When fully integrated into a B2B PR and marketing campaign, personal branding is very rewarding for the individuals concerned – and their companies.

We can learn from high-profile masters of this art, such as Richard Branson, who regularly posts updates on LinkedIn and mixes business-related content with philanthropic causes and personal insights.

Or Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta, who has such a strong voice on workplace equality with her Lean In initiative. This has helped to burnish her former employer’s progressive credentials.

The face of an organisation

Personal branding should not be about one individual over and above the company. Leaders serve as the face of the organisation, and if their personal profiles are properly crafted but also radiate authenticity, they build the company’s reputation.

Authenticity is a well-worn word, and goes further than a personal vision, values and inspirations. It is also about being honest about risks, disappointments and admitting to the odd bit of vulnerability.

We know that marketing needs to be brand-led and intelligent, engaging audiences more personally where possible. Personal branding, however, is not just about image but also the story behind it.

Individuals investing in their personal brand help to humanise the corporate identity and add a dimension to its values and vision that wider tech audiences can relate to.

It is easy to assume that a focus on the personal is best suited to consumer-facing companies, but it can have significant impact in the highly-competitive world of digital technology.

Building trust and visibility

Performance PR-led campaigns can incorporate personal branding strategies for key leaders behind a tech brand, moving them further forward on the public stage. Using expertly crafted, highly-targeted content on social media, personal brands provide an entry point, building trust, visibility and drawing in potential clients and investors who resonate with their expertise.

Trust is always important for ambitious tech brands that need a higher profile. If audiences feel they can trust the individuals running a company, that is a substantial advantage.

We should remember that personal branding goes beyond social media posts or videos shot in a suspiciously pristine kitchen. In B2B tech PR there are many opportunities for amplification.

Alongside insights that are original and captivating, key leaders can share thought leadership articles, snappy blogs and informative whitepapers from the corporate brand to further build credibility. PR experts can work with these stakeholders to devise a consistent schedule for posting relevant content on social media channels.

Content is what attracts the right audience, and if personal branding initiatives use cliché after cliché, then they are not going to convince anyone.

Working hard to establish trust and credibility by focusing on the right content with the right language is very important. It is also vital not to sacrifice quality for quantity. Business leaders who have something to say about everything tend not to do their brands many favours.

With key leaders taking steps to build a personal brand and develop a community of followers, businesses have a highly valuable, additional tool that increases the power of their corporate brand with target audiences, enabling them to amplify their presence on all channels and ultimately drive sales.

Get in touch to find out how we can help you build your personal brand and in doing so increase the visibility of your business.

One of the biggest challenges for B2B healthtech brands is making complex technology accessible and compelling to target audiences.

Healthtech can be complicated. AI, automation, interoperability and data analytics are all terms that are commonly used by healthcare executives but to many of the organisations they engage with: from hospital to pharmacies to businesses running preventative care platforms, they can also be baffling.

Many healthtech brands struggle to explain this complex technology clearly and compellingly to prospects and decision-makers across these organisations who would be using the tech but aren’t necessarily technically minded.

It’s a difficult balancing act, of course. Overuse of technical jargon can alienate non-technical audiences, but at the same time, removing technical language entirely may make a solution seem less credible. So, how do you pitch this correctly?

The secret lies in clear, credible and precise communication. Simplifying complex ideas isn’t about dumbing them down; it’s about empowering your audience to grasp the genuine value your solutions offer, regardless of their technical background.

Getting this right is essential if you’re going to build brand awareness.

Cutting through the complexity

Brands must communicate the benefits of a complex solution in a clear, credible and precise manner to engage buyers regardless of their technical knowledge and establish themselves.

Think about it: your audience might include clinical directors, IT managers, procurement teams or even senior execs without deep tech knowledge. If they don’t quickly grasp what you’re offering or why it matters, you’ll lose their attention fast.

Skilled writers are critical here. They know how to translate complex concepts into engaging, jargon-free stories, highlighting tangible outcomes rather than technical specs.

This kind of clarity helps your audience immediately picture the real-world impact of your solutions, whether it’s improving patient outcomes, boosting clinical efficiency or enabling smoother hospital workflows.

How PR boosts impact

Building on this clarity, a well-rounded Performance PR approach can help bring any healthtech’s solutions and services to life. It is all about getting the message across in a direct and straightforward way.

Start by focusing on digestible themes and clear narratives that reinforce your core brand messages. These themes become the backbone for all your communications: whether you’re publishing blogs, whitepapers or social media posts.

Keeping the messaging clear and consistent ensures your audiences quickly grasp what your solutions achieve and why they matter.

Explainer documents are a great tool here. For example, consider a two-pager that accompanies a product launch. When designed to be visually engaging, these pieces can quickly demystify even the most complex tech. Imagine clearly explaining how a new health monitoring device works, step-by-step, or breaking down interoperability to highlight its benefits to clinicians and patients alike.

But it’s not just about clarity; it’s also about credibility.

Performance PR helps to strengthen this trust-building. By regularly attending leading healthtech events, seminars and networking sessions, PR teams can keep on top of all the latest industry trends.

Another powerful tactic is executive profiling. Your internal experts have compelling stories to tell – real-world insights about challenges they’ve faced, solutions they’ve delivered and the personal impacts they’ve seen first-hand.

Bringing these experiences into your messaging can transform dry technical explanations into authentic, engaging stories that audiences connect with instantly.

Looking positively forward

Clear and compelling communications not only help to clarify your message, but they also empower your audience to confidently share your message internally. They influence decision-makers who might not be tech-savvy, but who will instantly grasp the real-world value your solutions deliver.

Want to know how we can help turn your healthtech organisation’s complex technology-focused messaging into clear, compelling narratives that truly engage your target audiences and build awareness? Get in touch.

Whiteoaks International has proudly been awarded the PRCA Gold Communications Management Standard (CMS) accreditation for the seventh year running.

A hallmark of PR excellence, the status represents Whiteoaks’ ongoing commitment to best practices and continuous improvement.

This year’s accreditation focussed on campaign management and the value offered by suppliers, with the CMS highlighting the rigorous processes we have in place to review services from suppliers to maintain high levels of quality.

Sarah Waddington, Interim CEO at PRCA, says, “Whiteoaks has been accredited with CMS since 2018 and holds a Gold CMS award, which is a testament to the high quality of their work. The recent healthcheck focused on campaign management, and Whiteoaks provided a detailed and well-considered response, which was updated with input from their team.

CMS accreditation represents the gold standard in PR excellence, and it’s great to see agencies like Whiteoaks regularly review their practices each year based on these assessments. This ongoing process ensures that agencies remain at their best, giving clients confidence that they are working with a company that follows a structured approach to continually improve.”

Hayley Goff, CEO at Whiteoaks, says, “Retaining our PRCA Gold CMS accreditation for the seventh year shows the high standards we set across every part of our business, from how we manage campaigns to how we work with partners . The news is a credit to our whole team and reinforces our commitment to performance-driven PR for measurable results.”

“Trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback.”

If you work in cybersecurity, that saying will feel all too familiar. Trust is the foundation of everything. Without it, your customers won’t invest in your solution, won’t hand over their data and won’t bet their reputation on you.

Cybersecurity operates in the background. It’s invisible, until something goes wrong. Yet, businesses and individuals are expected to take a leap of faith, entrusting you with their most sensitive information. One breach, one failure and that trust evaporates. And as we all know, once it’s gone, it’s a long, uphill battle to win it back.

So how do you build trust when your customers can’t see what you do? This is where modern PR – and more specifically, Performance PR – can make the difference.

Why trust matters in cybersecurity

Your customers don’t just need a cybersecurity solution. They need confidence that their data won’t be compromised, misused or exposed. The consequences of failure – financial losses, legal action, reputational damage – are severe. Trust is shaped by perception, and perception is shaped by how you show up in the market. It’s built over time, reinforced through consistency and strengthened by the right strategic communications. That’s where thought leadership comes in. When done well, thought leadership educates and reassures. It positions your brand as the expert, the innovator, the safe pair of hands. It takes complex, intangible security concepts and translates them into tangible proof points which build confidence.

Performance PR: Building trust and credibility

If you’re new to Performance PR, here’s what you need to know: it’s PR with purpose. Every campaign is tied directly to business objectives, measured rigorously and delivers quantifiable results. No vanity metrics or vague promises. Before a campaign even begins, targets are set. And if those targets aren’t met? You don’t pay. At Whiteoaks, that’s our ‘fixed fees for fixed outcomes’ promise.

What does thought leadership look like?

Trust is built through consistency, expertise and smart amplification. Performance PR goes beyond traditional PR by taking media coverage and supercharging it through content, social media and creative.

Content collateral: Insightful content, such as articles, blogs, talking heads videos and whitepapers which establish your
authority and shape industry conversations.
Social media presence: Sharing expert insights, engaging in discussions and reinforcing credibility in real time.
Speaking opportunities: Security events, webinars and podcasts which allow you to showcase expertise and reach audiences in a more
direct, engaging way.
Strategic media placements: Coverage in the high-profile industry outlets your audiences read that position you as a go-to expert in cybersecurity.

Thought leadership delivers more than trust

Thought leadership is about consistently showing up, adding value and shaping the right conversations.

Over time, this builds trust. And with trust comes:

Market differentiation: A distinct, authoritative voice that sets you apart from competitors.
Greater visibility: Media opportunities, speaking engagements and partnership potentials.
Business growth: The credibility and confidence which attract new clients, retain existing ones.

But can you measure trust? You can certainly measure the markers of trust through carefully tracked metrics in Performance PR.

What’s the media saying? Sentiment analysis can distinguish positive, neutral and negative feelings towards your brand. If confidence in your brand is growing, you’ll see it.

How do you compare against your competition? Media mentions, social engagement and industry presence reveal influence. Are analysts citing your insights? Are decision-makers engaging with your content? If your voice is driving discussions, that’s trust in action.

Is trust growing? Brand perception surveys, sentiment tracking and first-party feedback tell you if your thought leadership is building credibility. Are you shaping decisions and perceptions? If the answer is yes, your strategy is working and you’re building trust.

If trust arrives on foot, we’ll make sure you’ve got the right boots and a clear path forward. Let’s talk if you’re ready to establish your brand as a trusted cybersecurity leader.

Research projects are increasingly becoming a strategy of choice for B2B tech brands looking to position themselves as thought leaders. The media continues to have an appetite for the insights these industry surveys can deliver.

By investing in research, brands like yours can generate credible insights that serve to differentiate themselves from the competition and leverage for the media coverage to reach their target audiences and strengthen their market position.

Whether conducted in-house or outsourced to a specialist research company, however, surveys take time and resources to complete. B2B tech brands may also have concerns about the outcomes, with fears that results will fail to challenge the status quo and therefore won’t be newsworthy.

But research surveys with carefully crafted questions and responses can generate useful insights from target audiences.

Here are the three key reasons why it’s worth the investment:

One: Data-backed thought leadership

By collecting and owning data from their own surveys, businesses like yours don’t have to rely on external data to deliver industry insights.

Instead, you have your own IP, which enables you to differentiate your commentary, repurpose the data for marketing and strategic planning, and build credibility among clients, prospects and industry peers alike.

Successful research projects may even spur on yearly revisits, allowing you to compare and contrast data over a period of time, thereby enabling you to build insights into market trends and momentum and truly own a niche.

Two: The opportunity to become a market trailblazer

Commissioning research enables a brand to shape industry conversations, rather than just reacting to them. By uncovering new trends, challenges or opportunities, businesses can be positioned as forward-thinking leaders.

These insights can also be used to inform strategy internally – giving a business unique market intelligence into its audiences that can shape product launches etc.

Three: Fuel for long-term marketing and content

Insights gained from research can fuel far more than a single report; they can provide a foundation for ongoing marketing efforts.

Key findings can be repurposed across PR campaigns in thought leadership articles, news releases, eBooks and industry whitepapers, as well as assets that can be shared on social media, such as infographics, social media tiles and videos.

They can even be leveraged for sales presentations. By selecting relevant results, and inserting them into their pitch slides, your teams can build a more persuasive case for a product, or service offering; address buyer pain points or validate the need for a solution.

In addition, you can revisit the data to comment or add context to breaking news stories, or to deliver insightful and timely commentary pieces.

If you want help in bringing these benefits to life but aren’t sure where to begin, we can offer guidance.

To kick-start your research journey, get in touch with us today.

“People buy from people”, as the old sales adage goes. But the idea that people are more likely to buy from someone they know or have built a relationship with is still relevant in today’s social media age.

LinkedIn is a perfect example. More B2B tech brands than ever are initiating content strategies on LinkedIn, with 85% of B2B content marketers identifying the platform as delivering the best value. And while posts from B2B brands can generate engagement and leads, main feeds for users are often populated by insights from thought leaders and industry experts.

Credibility counts for a lot when you are a B2B company in the tech sector with a new product or service. It’s why endorsements by acknowledged industry gurus on LinkedIn are gold dust. That’s true whether they are bigging you up outright in posts or if it is more subtle – in mentions, links and tags. It’s all great to have. But like gold dust, endorsements from major industry figures can be hard to come by and their impact can be time-limited. For increased visibility and more sustained effect, B2B tech brands should think about putting their own people at the forefront.

Driving engagement

Employees make great advocates and persuaders. When they share content, insights or personal experiences from their own profiles, it can feel more authentic than traditional corporate messaging – depending of course on how they word it. User-generated content in the form of employee advocacy is a powerful way to drive engagement. For a start, many employees have networks that extend beyond their company’s following. What they write or post will reach a wider audience that already knows them and can gauge their credibility.

At the same time, when employees speak positively about their work environment, it strengthens the company’s reputation. The overall impact of user-generated content on LinkedIn increases significantly when the business itself starts reposting what its employees have to say. That could be about how a product helps customers overcome a common industry challenge, or it could be about why they like working for the company. According to LinkedIn, employees make up about 30% of their company’s engagement.

However, for it to be effective, employee advocacy should be voluntary and supported by a culture where staff feel confident in sharing their perspectives.

Encouraging employee advocacy the right way

Brands can play a role in encouraging advocacy from staff, ensuring it hits the right marks by drawing on the expertise of dedicated social media experts. For example, employees need to use convincing language. They should avoid repeating sales slogans parrot-fashion or making claims that have no basis in reality. Everyone benefits from a dose of boosterism but that can only go so far. Employees may need help to achieve the right tone. What’s important is to keep each person’s individuality. But it’s not as if every single post has to be minutely re-crafted by teams of influencers.

There are, however, definite advantages in using professionals who know how to use social media – and especially LinkedIn – in the B2B tech market. They can advise on the use of images and video as well as text. They can devise schedules of relevant content with the right kind of insight that colleagues can leverage on their own channels.

If you would like to find out more about how Whiteoaks’ social media team can help you build great content from your employees into your social strategy, get in touch with us now.

The rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation online is the most severe short term risk to the world, according to the World Economic Forum. By influencing opinion before the truth has a chance to catch up, it’s expected to radically disrupt electoral processes over the coming years and increase distrust in media and government sources.

Disinformation, which is different to misinformation in that it involves people intentionally spreading falsehoods, is also affecting the business sector. Malicious actors can easily spread false narratives about products, services or even an industry as a whole on social media platforms. The availability of generative AI tools and deepfake technology has made it much cheaper, faster and easier for convincing fake content to be created and circulated, potentially leading brands to lose control of their messaging. This can undermine customer trust, threaten brand credibility and damage an established reputation.

Granted, it’s impossible for B2B tech organisations to prevent bad actors from sharing false information, but what they can do is adopt best practice steps to help safeguard their brand.

Enabling authenticity with established key messages

A strong, authentic narrative, underpinned by established, specific and detailed key messages, can help shield target audiences from false claims. Generic messaging is prone to mistrust. For example, if an organisation mentions that it is committed to ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles, but fails to explain exactly how, audiences might just believe the term is being used as part of a greenwashing agenda. This is where brands spend more resources on green advertising than actual environmentally-sound practices.

Research has shown that 71% of ESG content in traditional media discusses a specific subtopic, such as a commitment to renewable energy sources. In comparison, only 16% of ESG content on social media discusses a specific subtopic. This is driving a significant increase in negative discussions about ESG on social media platforms from people who believe it to be an empty buzzword.

It’s testament to the danger of generalisations and what they can lead to. If brands can truly back up their ESG claims with tangible initiatives, it’s best to communicate with precision and detail to prevent bad actors from building fake narratives around them. The need for detailed messaging also applies to different content types such as thought leadership pieces and customer case studies, addressing potential misinformation points and establishing a single source of truth.

Monitoring the landscape

Once B2B tech brands have taken control of their messaging, it’s time to look outwards. Social media listening tools can allow organisations to track millions of conversations happening around key topics that are relevant to their industry.

By monitoring specific keywords, hashtags and phrases, these tools can detect emerging disinformation narratives. Brands can then identify any prominent creators of disinformation campaigns, and even where competitors are currently being impacted, which may provide clues as to where future threats could materialise.

With visibility of emerging fake narratives, brands have more time to respond in the most appropriate way. For example, official statements in direct response to mistruth can provide clarity to audiences and ease any fears or concerns. To add further credibility, these messages can be delivered via a verified social media account to reassure audiences that they are engaging with the genuine brand.

Trust is now a valuable currency

The battle against disinformation is ongoing, but it’s not insurmountable. By establishing a clear, authentic narrative, backed by detailed messaging, B2B tech brands can reduce the impact of false claims and maintain credibility. Combining this with proactive monitoring, can ensure organisations are primed to react to threats and prepared to mitigate emerging risks before they escalate.

Disinformation is spreading quickly and convincingly, and trust is now a valuable currency. Brands that commit to transparency, precision and vigilance will be better equipped to safeguard their reputation and foster much-needed long-term trust with their audiences.

Talk to us today about how to safeguard your brand in the age of disinformation.

For B2B tech brands, standing out from competitors, gaining recognition as innovators and establishing trust as industry experts can often feel like a never-ending challenge. This is why thought leadership content is such a valuable tool for a business to have in its arsenal, offering a platform for B2B brands to demonstrate their knowledge, insights and future-focused thinking.

However, in a crowded marketplace, to really stand out among the crowd and reach the right audiences, thought leadership might need to be delivered in formats that extend beyond well-written articles and whitepapers. One medium that is gaining significant traction as a tool for establishing thought leadership is the podcast. Once purely consumer-focused, podcast formats are now permeating the business world.

The number of podcast listeners in the UK alone is expected to reach 28.1 million by 2026. For B2B tech brands, this presents an exciting opportunity to capture the attention of new audiences and position themselves as leaders in their field.

Why podcasts work for building industry expertise

One of the major advantages of podcasts is that they bring expertise to life in a way that few other formats can. Traditional blogs and whitepapers have their place, but podcasts literally give a voice to experts, allowing them to explore complex topics in an engaging, conversational manner. It’s an opportunity for the speaker to get their individuality across as they discuss interesting ideas or subjects. This combination of expertise and personality can humanise brands and deepen the connection with audiences.

Complex topics, such as cloud migration, cyber security or AI, can be explored through dynamic discussions Technical details can be distilled into more easily understood, digestible snippets for audiences. And these discussions don’t have to be confined to internal spokespeople. Guest speakers, such as customers or partners, can provide a different perspective.

The podcast format also allows for individual episodes to focus on specific verticals, customer pain points or emerging trends, with external experts able to share their insights on different topics.

There are also benefits for the listeners themselves. Busy decision-makers may sometimes struggle to find the time to read blogs and articles. A recorded 20-minute deep-dive into a particular topic could be the perfect listening material for the morning commute, lunchtime break or evening exercise session. By regularly listening to familiar voices, listeners can feel a closer connection with the hosts, thereby creating a stronger emotional bond with the brand.

From production to promotion

Podcasts are relatively low-cost to produce, but the production process itself requires time, resources and expertise. These are all elements that many B2B tech companies may not have readily available. It’s not just about hitting record and speaking into a microphone. A professional, well-produced podcast needs careful planning, expert editing and high-quality sound to engage and retain listeners.

This is where creative support comes in. Working with production experts can streamline the process, helping with everything from creating the concept of the podcast to recording, editing, and managing distribution. Collaboration with specialists also ensures that the podcast aligns with the company’s overall messaging and branding, contributing to a polished and consistent image.

But even the best-produced podcast will fall flat if it doesn’t reach the right audience. Once episodes are live, promoting them strategically across different channels, such as social media, can boost visibility. There are also opportunities to repurpose some of the valuable content into other assets, such as blog posts, social media posts and email newsletters, enhancing content distribution and engagement.

A new channel to enhance thought leadership efforts

Podcasts are a prime opportunity for B2B tech brands to enhance their thought leadership efforts. With a winning combination of in-depth expertise and engaging, conversational content, podcasts allow companies to humanise their brand, build stronger connections with audiences and explore complex topics in an accessible way.

While the production process requires time and expertise, partnering with creative professionals ensures a polished and impactful end product. With the right promotion, podcasts can reach and resonate with key decision-makers, helping brands to stand out as industry leaders in a crowded space.

Get in touch to learn more about how we can help you develop your own podcast to reach key audiences.

Many think likes, shares and follower counts are vanity metrics. Some think content is there to fill up space on your website or social channels – but don’t be fooled! Social media and content are essential elements for amplifying stories and brand messages and driving business goals in a way traditional media coverage, on its own, cannot.

When strategically combined, content and social media can work together in Performance PR campaigns to have an even greater impact – here’s how.

1. Transform technical topics

Effective B2B tech content should simplify complex, technical topics and transform them into engaging, digestible pieces which resonate with your target audience.

Content supports and enhances the campaigns for Liberata, a company supplying business process services and software, and one that we’ve worked with historically.

Russell Faulkner, then Liberata’s Marketing and Propositions Manager, said: “The fact you have dedicated writers who can sit with one of our product specialists for half an hour and create a piece of content that captures the essence of what we do, using language that is easily understood, really makes a massive difference to us.”

It’s also worth considering how your audience consumes information – some may prefer reading a PDF at their own pace, while others are open to joining a 30-minute webinar during their lunch break. Offering content in diverse formats can help you reach broader segments of your audience.

Formats like whitepapers, technical blogs, expert webinars, research reports and eBooks can effectively convey key messages, educate, inform and dive deeper into topics.

For example, we are currently managing a social media campaign titled ‘Did You Know?’ for one of our clients, highlighting key product features through concise, engaging LinkedIn carousels. Feedback from the client’s sales team indicates that these posts frequently spark discussions with potential customers, demonstrating how a well-executed content strategy can have a direct influence on business outcomes.

2. Target audiences with precision

With the ability to target specific job titles, industries and interests, LinkedIn’s advanced targeting capabilities allow for creating highly-relevant and impactful sponsored posts. These can amplify media coverage to ensure it appears directly in front of key decision-makers, thereby helping your brand reach the right people, with the right message, at the right time.

At Whiteoaks, we’ve seen clients successfully promote research reports and eBooks on LinkedIn and X, turning posts into impressive download rates and high-quality leads.

Social media has the ability to elevate PR content from being read once into a story which takes a life of its own; it’s shared, engaged with and drives tangible results.

3. Establish credibility through thought leadership

By positioning your company and employees as industry experts, you can turn fleeting media mentions into long-term PR wins. In B2B tech, thought leadership is the building block of credibility and trust.

Social media – and especially LinkedIn – is the ideal platform to showcase your employees as credible voices, while also amplifying these efforts. Regularly sharing expert insights, case studies and innovations helps brands – either directly, or by association with their employees – establish themselves as thought leaders, driving awareness and unlocking new business opportunities. People have the power to build more personal connections than brands by sharing content, engaging with others’ posts and initiating meaningful conversations through direct messaging.

Driving results for B2B tech audiences

B2B tech audiences are discerning. They’re highly educated, data-driven and laser-focused on technical accuracy. Fluff simply won’t cut it. PR content must be sharp, detailed and packed with genuine value. Whitepapers, technical blogs, webinars and case studies can dive deep into industry challenges and deliver thought-provoking insights.

Measuring social media and content

Ultimately, what really counts is being able to measure the performance of your content and social media efforts within your PR campaign to understand its impact on your bottom line. Thankfully, social media platforms and their third-party integrations offer detailed metrics to allow you to assess success and also optimise and refine.

When campaigns are aligned with business goals and the right KPIs are set, you can benchmark your metrics against them and clearly demonstrate the ROI of your PR efforts.

If social media and content aren’t pulling their weight in your current PR campaigns, it’s time for a change. Get in touch with us today, and let’s discover how we can amplify your message and drive tangible results.