Social Media For The B2B Company

Is social media relevant for a ‘boring’ business? Will people really tell their facebook frends about a B2B?

What social media is and how it can be utilized are questions that have been circling around board rooms and corporate marketing meetings for years. Often times, when B2B companies finally do take the plunge into social media, they give up soon after seeing their empty groups and pages collecting cobwebs. It is indeed a difficult space to break into when your company sells something like industrial wire baskets, sprockets, or business uniforms.

The good news is there are lots of examples of ‘boring’ B2B companies that have successfully used social media to fuel business growth. There is likely one in your industry that has already discovered the best ways to harness the power of social media marketing. Before doing anything with social, start by looking at your competitors to find out what exactly they’ve been up to when it comes to facebook, twitter, google+, pinterest, and others. The key is not to look at your natural competitors (aka the competing business down the road), but your online competitors. Search Google for your industry’s keywords to see who is optimizing their site, then start by checking out their social presence first. Next, go straight to each social network and perform the same searches. It’s highly likely that the B2B companies who come to the top of these searches are utilizing the services of a marketing agency to generate great ideas ripe for duplicating/stealing.

After you’ve identified the folks that are already doing social media well in your industry, brainstorm ways to use their ideas to your advantage. It’s important to remember that social media is not just about getting sales. Rather, social media can introduce you to new partners, ideas, employees, and build brand credibility. Social media is also becoming a strong influencer on search results and has numerous SEO implications.

For these reasons (and more) it’s important that your company gets into social media right away. If for no other reason, make sure to claim your company on each social network so that you have control of the name. For example, if your company name is Three M Tool, then make sure to claim facebook.com/threemtool, pinterest.com/threemtool, twitter.com/threemtool and so on. Don’t let your competitors hold your brand name hostage, it’s not worth the trouble and takes just a minute to sign up for each account.

It is true that some social networks make much more sense for business to business companies. At this time, make sure to claim your LinkedIn business page (and use it!), Google+ page (for SEO purposes), and facebook and twitter just because of the sheer popularity of each. Pinterest can also be worthwhile as it is growing exponentially and has lots of potential, even for B2B companies.

Once you’ve claimed your social profiles it’s up to you to make them valuable to fans and followers. Solicit help from the folks in your office who are good at social, or hire an agency if you have the budget. Either way, make sure to have realistic expectations about social media; it’s a long term strategy and not likely to drive immediate sales.

Has your B2B made the plunge into social media? What have your results been?

via:http://www.socialmediadefined.com/2013/09/09/social-media-for-the-b2b-company/