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B2B INC. WILL CREATE AND IMPLEMENT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES
What is business to business social media?
Business to business social media the fastest-growing segment of business communications today. Social media is a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialog (many to many). Social media represents a shift in how people research, discover, read and share news and information and content.
What is social media NOT?
It's not just Twitter or Facebook. It's not just a blog on your website. Business to business social media is a real tactic, an avenue, a tool. It's very dynamic. Let's just make it simple here: social media is a necessary component of your marketing mix.
Your competitors and social media
Do you want to lead, or follow? You can be sure that your wisest competitors will be using business to business social media for all it's worth. Maybe they are doing this now.
Your prospects are changing the way they research and buy
A very important fact for business-to-business marketers: buyers and researchers rely on information from their peers just as much (or more so) than information from suppliers. If you can influence those peers by being part of a conversation, you'll gain trust, build your brand and get more referrals.
Business to business social media is new, but that doesn't mean you should wait to employ it.
The strategy
A business to business social media strategy, no matter how basic, is essential for b-to-b marketers - and it should be developed by people who know b2b social media. Simply put, you need to observe your prospects, customers and competitors, then listen, contribute and engage - and develop your internal social media policy.
Then, start to integrate social media into your marketing mix at a level that is appropriate. More progressive marketers develop a cross-functional team with representation from brand management, marketing, sales, new product development, customer service and other relevant areas. Then they develop outbound, inbound and conversational tactics to connect and converse not just with prospects and customers, but with editors and bloggers who cover their industry. The key is to remain engaged since business to business social media is not just a one-time fix by any means.
Monitoring conversations and your brand voice
If you want to formally measure business to business social media engagement we suggest that a tool be used to monitor dialogue about your products and your brand. It's important to measure discussions and opinions over time so you can see how the buzz about brand is growing or declining. Monitoring also enables you to instantly route conversations to the people in your company best suited to respond to conversations and to continue social media engagement.
Making it work: our business to business social media process
Here's how we help you develop and implement a sound business to business social media strategy:
- Assess: the social landscape as it pertains to sites and social networks which talk about your product category, your brand, your competitors
- Monitor: a "watch strategy" to view and document the buzz
- Mine: uncover the actual sentiment of your brand that is held in the minds of social visitors
- Vernacular: study the language people are using; adapt your language to theirs
- Presence: where are the "water coolers"; where do you need to be in order to be part of the conversation
- Oligarchy: People follow experts; you need to find the "elders" who are talking about your industry, your brand - and connect with them
- Don't preach: be human; talk and socialize; don't sell as much as you converse, help and have some fun
- Team: create a social media team within your organization where each team member has a roll in terms of their business to business social media participation (the outbound effort); determine who handles what inbound topics and issues as they arise
MORE BACKGROUND ON BUSINESS TO BUSINESS SOCIAL MEDIA
The buzz about your products, services
People are talking to each other. Listening to each other. Watching each other. People who don't even know each other. More than ever. Online. Business sites. Social networking sites. LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. These are the virtual "water coolers" of today's social and business climate.
People are talking about your products and services - and those conversations are going on without you. Wouldn't you rather be there to listen, participate, and promote and protect your brand?
We (you) can't stop it
Business to business social media is exploding because it affords people new ways to connect in the online world to form relationships in both their personal and their business lives. It's Web 2.0 at its finest: user-generated content, growing exponentially, without a lot of push from companies selling product.
Today's business to business social media landscape
Consumer brands have already figured it out: they have a Facebook page and they use Twitter, for example, to have customers and prospects follow them. This allows them to build their brand, create a following, and to be ready to communicate socially on a mass basis in case of a PR emergency.
Online video as a social tool
Online videos. Yes, YouTube! Don't dismiss the power of online videos in your business to business social media planning. They have tremendous reach and SEO (search engine optimization) potential, and they're often at the epicenter of today's social networking - you can "sell" without selling, by informing and entertaining your audience.
The analogy of social media to online marketing, SEO and SEM
Remember when online marketing / online media exploded onto the scene? Web optimization and analytics? (actually, some marketers are still figuring that out). B2B Inc. sees an analogy between business to business social media and search engine optimization / search engine marketing. It's this: when users respond to Web 2.0 tools, it's the users who drive the demand more so than the marketers, and therefore, users (social participants; people who love the "virtual events" no matter how trivial or ad-hoc they may be) help develop content, media vehicles and conversations.
This is what's happening in business to business social media. And, analytics have been developed that will allow marketers to develop measurement / ROI tools, just as they're readily available for SEO, SEM, e-mail and online advertising.
How B2B Inc. can help you
- Find your online "water coolers".
- Collect and document brand sentiment
- Monitor and mine
- Develop a social media strategy
- Create and maintain content
- Produce (in house at B2B Inc.) online videos
- Manage analytics
- Train your team re how to engage in online conversations and respond to issues
Business brands are watching more than acting right now, trying to understand the payoff, but business to business social media should be considered - or at least investigated - as a tactic in your marketing mix.
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