Ten Ways a B2B Company can use Social Media

One of the most frequent questions I get from corporate leaders is this one, ”Social media is all well and good for a B2C company, but how does it work for a B2B company?” In my opinion, social media is just as suited (if not more so) for B2B companies as it is for a B2C company.

If you are a B2B company, here are a few things to think about if you decide to use social media:

• Learn to be human again.

People want to buy from other people. They want to buy from a trusted friend, not a logo.

By making your business more human, you go a long way to creating a relationship with your prospects and customers. And people are always more likely to buy from people with whom they have relationships.

• Never forget that content is king.

Content. Content. Content. Nothing is more important. You can be on all the social media tools in the world. But it you are not providing interesting content, you will fail.

People don’t want to hear about you. They don’t want to see re-worked material from public relations documents or booklets about your company or mission statements.

They want to hear interesting ideas about your industry or how-to articles or video testimonials from leaders in your field.

Good content is the ONLY way people can start feeling good about you. Good content is the only way you can warm up cold leads. It is through good content you will begin to convert leads to sales.

• Know what you want to do

Social media is unfortunately a rich soil but one in which many seem to get ‘stuck’, spinning their wheels. Don’t be one of those.

Be absolutely crystal clear you know what you want to accomplish and where you want to go.

• Carefully identify your target audience.

This may seem obvious but so many companies are vague about who they actually want to talk to. By pinpointing your target audience, you will then be able to choose the social sites you need to be on and isolate exactly what you want to say once you get there.

• Let social media show off your expertise.

People love an expert. They buy from someone who can show their expertise. And one of the best things about social media is that it will make your expertise visible to the entire world. As a base, use your blog and online videos as a way to begin sharing your ideas and know-how. Make everything you write or every film you make interesting, fun and thorough.

When you use social media as a way to establish your expertise, the possibilities are endless. You will build your reputation and make yourself credible in your marketplace. By doing so, you reassure clients and prospects alike, making it easier to make sales.

The reputation-building potential of social media is why this new medium goes quickly from being a ‘nice to have’ to being an absolute necessity for any serious professional.

• Combine social media with offline tools. For example, if you meet a prospect at a conference, connect with them on Facebook and Linkedin. Integrate your prospect or client’s social media profile information into your CRM system. This will allow your sales force to learn more about your client the next time they contact them.

• Make sure you get the right person to execute the right social media tool. Even if your CEO is really well known in your industry, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are the right person to blog or tweet for your company. Make sure you select the person that loves to tweet or blog and has something to say. They can talk with the CEO to make sure they are in agreement about the message. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the CEO who is the writer.

• Move beyond the idea of message broadcasting. This is probably the biggest mistake that is made by B2B (and B2C) companies. They make the error of believing that social media is just another way of broadcasting their message out to the world. There are tons of examples of companies using lots of different social media tools (Twitter, blogs, Facebook, Linked) but they are still not really engaging with their customer. They are broadcasting their message but not really listening.

Converse. Try to have conversations. This is an utterly new way of looking at communication. But try to have more conversations and less ‘look at me’ type of communications.

• Don’t underestimate your employees. Your employee may very well be the best social media spokespeople you have. Use them. Create and distribute Social Media guidelines for them so they are clear what they can and cannot say.

• Social media is all about attitude. Social media is far more about attitude that it is about tools. And part of that attitude means that you are ready to be open. For example, try cooperating with your competitors. Collaborate with other companies in your industry. Make your blog or website THE place to go, the most important community resource in your industry. Open doors. Don’t close them.

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