Social Media Network Marketing

Social media and online communities are where your customers are talking about you. It’s a conversation that you need to be a part of. We can help you take advantage of social media and create viral marketing efforts, while managing user-generated content, and protecting your company’s hard-earned reputation.

Many B2B com­pa­nies ask me whether social media is right for them. This post is all about why social media and B2B go hand in hand.

Social media is all about conversational marketing, and that’s why it works so well with a B2B strat­egy. Social media is not about the masses. It is about reaching your target audi­ence. Lis­ten­ing before selling and hearing before talking.

Often busi­nesses like to mea­sure a social media campaign’s suc­cess by the num­ber of followers its Twit­ter account has or the num­ber of fans their Facebook page has. However, these mea­sures are not nec­es­sar­ily the signs of a well-executed social media campaign.

Social media is all about the few rather than the many. The community you build up is ideally made up of the people who are most interested in your brand. If we apply the 80–20 rule here, we are speaking of the 20 per­cent who make up 80 percent of your business.

I find that B2B and B2C social media cam­paigns are quite similar in that they both tar­get the opinion leaders whether they be the consumers or the busi­ness exec­u­tives. These influencers lead the way for the rest of their followers.

B2B strat­egy, just like B2C strategy is all about networking — conversing with the right people, at the right time. The more in tune you are to things that are hap­pen­ing in your net­work, the more you increase your chances to be at the right place, at the right time.

B2B companies that are not using the social tools they have available today will find themselves at a major disadvantage against other B2B companies that are using LinkedIn, Twitter and similar networks to extend their reach and create better communication between the brand and their customers and potential customers.

Next time you doubt whether social media is right for B2B companies, think about what B2B strategy is all about: It is about the relationships and partnerships you build with your colleagues, and there’s no better way to do this today than through social media.