Essentials of successful B2B and B2G Online Marketing. Nick Urbani and Johnny Chan cover social media for B2B firms and how to use social media for relationship building to create sales opportunities with government clients.
49. “ ” Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s finally done there is surprise it’s not better. -Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist, Google
It’s also a fancy way to describe zillions of conversations people are having online 24/7
Could give macro stats on why social media is important, but I want to focus in on 5 reasons why its important for B2B and B2G
The user generated content created on social media platforms means that the Internet is becoming flooded with data everyday. With this continued influx of data comes the need for businesses to sort and find the most relevant information to them. Think about how often your employees use search engines for researching every day. Think about the most recent searches you have done. You probably remember seeing results for a YouTube video, message board thread, or a blog. This is not a trend that will go away. Search will get much more social. If your business continues to print sales collateral and brochures and your only data online is a five page company Web site then you will we be lost in the mountain of search data and become irrelevant.
The long standing belief by those in the B2B world is that relationships are paramount to the success of the organization. Social media is all about developing relationships and sharing information. Part of having and building good relationships is understanding what is going on in your customers’ industry, with its suppliers and even locally within its community.
Even though there are business conversation happening on twitter, like we just mentioned, and facebook. For B2B, your customers may not be on these most popular networks. So when Johnny takes over he’s going to take you through step-by-step on how to find them on other social networks.
Even though there are business conversation happening on twitter, like we just mentioned, and facebook. For B2B, your customers may not be on these most popular networks. So when Johnny takes over he’s going to take you through step-by-step on how to find them on other social networks.
Most of the business owners I have worked with declare that great talent is the key to their success. I am here to tell you that unless you start to evolve your views on social media the next generation of worker will not want to work for you. I realize that the economy is bad right now and it is currently easier to find good talent, however great talent is also a competitive market. These social tools are a part of how they research and facilitate relationships. The companies that adapt and grow with the changing online landscape will win the talent war.
Butterfl ies enjoyed signifi cantly stronger revenue returns than Selectives or Wallfl owers. Why is this so? Our hypothesis centers around touch points: More touch points can present a ripple effect, inducing viral marketing, boosting brand recognition and driving sales volume.
On the other hand, it is interesting to note that compared to Butterfl ies, Selectives delivered higher gross and net margins, suggesting that deep engagement in a few channels can be a rewarding and effective social media strategy. Focusing on depth over breadth present an opportunity to better understand the customer, react quickly to customer demand, and improve satisfaction – which in turn generates pricing power and drives business success. This insight relates back to our industry-specifi c fi ndings: the optimal level of presence and engagement depends on a variety of factors. It’s not about doing it all, but doing it right.
While these fi ndings do not necessarily imply a causal relationship, they still hold powerful implications. Social media engagement and fi nancial success work together to perpetuate a healthy business cycle: a customeroriented mindset stemming from deep social interaction allows a company to identify and meet customer needs in the marketplace, generating superior profi ts. The fi nancial success of the company, in turn, allows further investment in engagement to build even better customer knowledge, thereby creating even more profi ts — and the cycle continues.
