B2B marketers often have to approach the market differently from B2C marketers. For that very reason, it is often hard to think of new ways to generate more revenue. Hiring skilled B2B sales people is undoubtedly still the best channel to generate sales.
How about the Internet? Can social media play a part in B2B businesses? Certainly! In fact, many have already started using social media to their advantage.
However, we understand that even savvy marketers are struggling to use social media effectively for B2B companies.
To help you with that, Mashable’s Tamar Weinberg has recently interviewed several social media “masters” for their number one tip on B2B social media marketing. I enjoyed learning the insights provided and have summarized them into 4 quick lessons.
1. We’re Still Relating To Humans
Whether it’s B2B or B2C, we’re still relating to humans after all. Social media marketing thrives on connections and trust. Putting your business on social media helps build critical contacts that could provide you with business opportunities.
Quotes:
“United Linens isn’t a company. It’s Scott, the marketing director. I can trust him. Some random linen company? Not so much. That brings B2B down to a level we can all relate to.”
“Many marketers in B2B companies tend to forget that each customer they’d like to attract and retain is a person.”
2. Social Media Is Your Review
Let’s face it. Anyone can write something good about themselves, businesses are no different. But in this digital era, it is often what the public says about a company that matters. Social media is slowly becoming an important review for consumers. This point is especially important for B2B companies since information about the company is often scarce.
Quotes:
“Beyond the jargony-corporate website, the CEO was much more taken by the Podcasts, YouTube testimonials, Blog posts and Twitter chatter about the product.Without knowing realizing it, the CEO was entirely reliant on Social Media for their final decision.”
3. Making Your Expertise Known To The World
Social media provides great opportunities for B2B companies to showcase their expertise to the world. It is not about what you know, but who you know, and what they know about you that differentiates you from the rest.
Quotes:
“…most B2B sales are based on demonstrating some type of expertise either in a type of service or in the category of a product that you are providing. Once you realize this fact, the lesson for using social media effectively is clear…
…one of the things that social media can be great for is making expertise visible to the world. White papers can be largely replaced by blogs, long winded demos by online video.”
4. Knowing Where Your Audiences Are
Building connections is important, but are you building the right one for your B2B business? Every social site has its own audience. So, pick the ones that target the same audiences as you.
Quotes:
“…for most B2B businesses, MySpace or other youth-oriented social sites are probably not worth the investment of time. So, understanding which sites and when to use them will save you many hours of time and possibly wasted staff resources and money.”
Read the full masters lessons here.
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