Social Media for B2B: The Big Picture

Editor's Notes

• #18: The convergence of technology devices means that social activity needs to be desktop/mobile/tablet friendly. Multi-tasking through multiple devices with double-screening a growing phenomenon. Smartphones and tablets account for a 63 percent growth in users time spent on social media: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/12/03/mobile-driving-social-media/
• #22: Social sharing doesn’t just provide a form of advocacy within the channel, but more broadly also influences search optimisation. Consider the impact of +1 with Google’s search results and Likes with Facebook’s Search Graph
• #23: Social platforms will soon be launching commercialised social sharing features such as Facebook’s “Want” button.
• #25: This chart is used by Morgan Stanley to capture the lifecycle of disruptive technologies. Not specific to social media but certainly applies.Think of the how disruptive technologies such as the commercial Internet and downloading music have hit each stage of this cycle.(Open to audience) When thinking of your clients, where are they on this graph when it comes to social media?Hype = Clients on the sideline, taking a wait and see approachDisappointment = Clients who have tried social media but didn’t see the business caseRealism = Clients who are seeing how social media can help their marketing mix, although in a limited capacityGrowth = Clients who have determined a successful use of SM and continue to grow on it
• #28: From a 2012 Penton Media study of B2B marketing pros, note the need for social media expertise from agencies when serving client needs. “Not enough time” indicating an agency’s brain power needed to meet client needs“Not crucial for my business” indicating a lack of education of how social can help marketing and business efforts“Lack resources” indicating how the bench strength of an agency can help shoulder the load. Also telling of modest budgets for client’s starting social media.
• #31: Don’t eat the Elephant at once – break it into chunksThese are the steps to RPMBalance of all these elements – working in harmony
• #35: Ideally, once social media starts it should never stop but rather continue to evolve. Both the brand and agency will reap the most benefits from social media if it’s sustainable and setup to supplement the overall marketing mix, not simply as one isolated Facebook page or a Twitter account for a tradeshow.Simply put, if the client’s target audiences and competition are on social media, it’s time for them to be on social media as well.
• #43: Different social strategies can be deployed, so careful objective setting needs to be establish from the outset. This will dictate which channels you activate, what type of content you produce, how often it is published and how much proactive and reactive management the channel will require. It could even impact on what the social network is named and how it is designed (i.e. either heavily corporate/brand-led or neutral/impartial).
• #48: Discovery, even if done in quickly and in a vacuum, should never be skipped. Free social media monitoring tools such as SocialMention.com and TweetDeck provide a great start, with premium tools such as Radian6 offering a deeper, more quantitative look.When evaluating content, think of every marketing discipline to draw content from; including creative, PR, DM, event marketing etc. Too often B2B agencies don’t look beyond PR