It is really good..I mean REALLY GOOD…to see business who service other businesses finally reaching out to find out why their, sometime very expensive venture into social media marketing, is not working. Truly,,many of them need to start all over and change their thinking on how to market to other businesses.
No Differences
The question people ask is..why does the social media for B2B businesses have to be different than the social media used by B2C? In reality, they don’t have to be different but the opportunist of the digital strategy world will persuade B2B’s away from being social.
First of all..social media is based upon being social within a market to get a message out on a product or service a business offers. If you missed it..the keyword here is..yes..Social..not Sales, not advertising, not marketing…but social.
It is all about social
Being social is what B2B’s feel they have no need in being when in fact they need to be even more social within their channel of their industry than their close cousins, B2C. I am sure there are some B2B who need to take another approach to what they socialize about, but overall casually talking to another business owner about a service or products they need for their business is no different than socializing with a consumer.
What B2B’s do not immediately understand is social media is a trust builder. Trust builds loyalty and loyalty to a business is the key to solid business relationships.
Social is Social
It is true, hammering everyone on Twitter about your businesses services is not going to go anywhere and getting 1500 LIKES on your business’ Facebook page does little to nothing to building trust. However, having conversations in a social space like Google+ where the content of what is discussed is placed immediately in the Search Engine makes tremendous sense to business representatives of a B2B business.
There is no need in making B2B social media painful..like so many feel it needs to be. Posting only links to your business’ blog or to an article supporting your business’ products just bores the people targeted for the message. Offering a reason to read the article..or a thought about the article…or a statement about the article being placed in the social space asking questions of a viewer is the core of social media. Why make it a pain for the person who posts nothing but links to find nobody is looking at it and for the viewers who have to wade thru thousands of posts from B2B’s who are lost out in La-La-Land with their digital strategy?
Suggestions for B2B Social Media
Make it social…
- post a video introducing yourself and the problem you business solves.
- reach out into the online social communities and join in the conversation
- be more you than what you feel your company wants you to be.
- and most importantly..be social..show some respect to others…it pays huge dividends.
Let me know how I can help.
