B2C businesses and marketers have made the most of social media as a way of getting closer to their target audience, but exponents of B2B have generally been more hesitant.  Here, we pinpoint the key considerations for B2B practitioners and show that, with the right idea and execution, social media marketing can reap significant rewards.

There has been a lot of noise in many marketing communication quarters about the need for B2B organisations to engage in the social media arena.  Marketers regularly come across clients who are either interested in exploring these new channels, putting in place the appropriate strategy, or simply want to know more about the topic.  B2C marketers have been active and successful in this field for a while now, but there is still a lot of confusion when it comes to B2B operations.

Everyone knows that the operational requirements of B2B differ greatly from those of B2C.  The decision-making process is much longer in B2B sales and quite often purchasing is determined at group level, rather than by a single individual. Spur-of-the-moment purchasing is rare and only for insignificantly expensive items.  Large capital outlays tend to undergo a number of iterations with final products often requiring customisation – you can’t purchase a milling machine, for example, with just a few clicks of a mouse, though you may consider doing so for standard spares.

The belief that leads will flood into an organisation by entering the B2B social arena is plainly wrong and claims to this effect need to be treated with due caution.  Social media is merely another tool in today’s vast marketing communications arsenal and should be used as such.

But what exactly is B2B social media? This is a question we often get asked indirectly and, when we dig deeper, we frequently come across quite a bit of confusion.  In truth, the social media arena encompasses a huge number of tools and lots of hype so it’s no wonder many communicators and clients may get confused.   It is always worth remembering that social media started as a way of enhancing people’s interaction, making new friends, renewing links with old aquaintances and creating special interest groups.  

The second aspect that needs to be considered is that modern day social media requires a complex infrastructure, too.  You will not be able to use this platform if you have no access to the internet or a decent smartphone (yes, you can connect to some platforms through SMS, but we are talking about the full experience here).  So setting up a social media channel for an audience located in a remote geographical area with difficult online access is plainly a waste of time.

The social media arena is characterised by the ability to generate a discourse among participants.  This could be quite in depth, such as a blog, down to the micro management of short instant messages at the heart of channels such as Twitter or Facebook (and Google +).  In between, there are other specialist tools including LinkedIn and those that are, based on videos, presentations, or even bookmarks.

The more contemporary and most spoken about elements of social media rely on instant presence and herein lies the first hurdle for many B2B operations.  If you have purchased something and you would like to comment on that product you may be able to do so by tweeting the company in question.  You will expect a prompt reply, particularly if your message relates to a possible complaint.   Very often your tweet will elicit a private response and rapid action, since you have made the issue in question publicly known!  At the heart of this seemingly simple interaction there is a pool of well-trained operators with good written communication skills, supported by a carefully orchestrated communication strategy.  As we all know, once in the public domain the wrong choice of word, or inappropriate turn of phrase, can be considerably more damaging than a word merely uttered in the course of a phone conversation.  There are few B2B organisations that could afford such sophisticated level of operations and these are mainly global players, often at the forefront of digital technology themselves.  For the most part, this level of interaction is still out of reach of many B2B companies.

 

Become a thought leader!

Furthermore, the need for customised product solutions and confidentiality may make it difficult for a customer or prospect to initiate a discussion in an otherwise public arena.  Nevertheless, social media can be leveraged by a B2B company to turn itself into a thought leader.  A willing champion can create a Twitter feed that could be used effectively to comment on technology in a specific market sector.  By actively and assiduously engaging with a group of experts a sense of community can therefore be fostered, engendering brand loyalty and goodwill.  It is fair to say, however, that although the rewards and opportunities associated with this kind of activity may be great, they are often for the medium to long term, something that often prevents companies from investing in this sector, since their imperatives – particularly in the current economic climate – are for the short term.   And along these lines, although sophisticated analytical tools are available, correlating B2B sales with some of the social media channels can also be more complex than for B2C operations.

Of all the available B2B social media tools, blogs are probably some of the most widely used; far more so than, for example, Twitter or Facebook.  Some of the same blogging discourse can also be carried out within a site such as LinkedIn, as part of a special interest group.  Although needing to be topical and with a requirement for high frequency of communication, blogging doesn’t always need instant communication, except at times when the discussion may become hot or contentious.  This somewhat less instantaneous feature can therefore be more appealing to B2B operations.

There are many points that need to be considered when blogging (content relevance, language style, monitoring, SEO, etc); this list is too long to discuss here, but due attention must be paid to all these components if one is serious about exploiting this channel.

More recently, many B2B operations are beginning to invest in video clips that can be easily uploaded to YouTube. These can be simple product demonstration or technical explanations and, if well managed, they can generate substantial interest and therefore increase traffic to a company’s web site.  The key here is to make sure that they are engaging and well produced, as a poor video can cause serious damage to a brand.
 

Business or personal?

In the early part of 2011 BtoB Online published an interesting report highlighting that the majority of B2B marketers are already making good use of B2B social networks for their personal activities.  This is no surprise as most professionals may have a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook entry and even a Twitter profile or two.  Whether these channels are also actively used beyond the personal social sphere and into business operations is another matter.  

But social media is all about building relationships and we all know how incredibly important relationships are in the B2B arena.  Quite often, we may engage with our key customers more frequently than with our closest friends in the course of normal day to day activities, and even more so at times of crisis!  So, building and enhancing relationships is a key aspect of all B2B sales and marketing operations.  Social media can therefore offer new ways of creating and fostering relationships, but these new channels must be managed appropriately, which includes the correct level of investment in terms of time, human resources and, of course, money.
 

Success stories

If you do have a good idea and, just as importantly, the time and resources to think it through and put it into practice effectively, some remarkable results can be achieved.  A social networking site set up by BT called Tradespace has attracted more than 350,000 SMEs since its inception in 2007 and, most impressively, 40% are new customers to BT.  Tradespace offers a place for SMEs to network with potential business partners and promote their own products and services via news uploads.  Another success story is Virgin Media’s Pioneers campaign, which has been highly successful in positioning the company as a benevolent and expert operator by bringing together young people and business professionals.  The former are invited to share their ideas with the latter and benefit from their valuable advice and guidance, while Facebook and Twitter keep participants updated and constantly directs them back towards the Pioneer website, which is packed with useful shareable content.  Meanwhile, SO Renewables has drawn businesses together under its own banner by setting up a dedicated Twitter profile that has enabled energy professionals and enthusiasts to debate the future of the industry.  The ‘roundtable’ project has used the virtual world to bring together key figures in the renewable energy sphere to share their views, while the inclusion of new ideas from enthusiasts, cherry-picked from Twitter submissions, has added richness to the debate, presenting SO Renewables as a vibrant, practical and powerful contender in the energy arena.

Plan to win

By using social media appropriately your business can reap excellent rewards, but planning is crucial and simply taking a ‘me too’ or half-hearted approach to it is not an option.  You are either fully committed to social media for the long run, or you are better off waiting until your internal processes are up to scratch.  Nothing is more depressing and devaluing for a brand than a blog than hasn’t been updated in months, a Twitter profile with no followers and a YouTube video that looks as if it had been produced by the MD’s ten year old son.
 

Whatever happens in the next 30 years, we look to face challenging and changing times ahead as information becomes more readily available in a 24/7 society with no clear geographical or cultural boundaries.  Conventional media channels such as newspapers and magazines will either disappear or turn into ‘news arbitration’ arenas and customers will want to know more about brands and their employees.  In such a world of heightened change, establishing close working relationships becomes even more important and getting the right message out to the right audience will make the difference between success and failure.