1. How to Use Social Media for
B2B Marketing
Zhilei Zou
Social Media Marketing

2. B2B
Business-to-business (B2B) describes commerce
transactions between businesses, such as between a
manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a
wholesaler and a retailer. Contrasting terms are
business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-
government (B2G). B2B (Business to Business)
Branding is a term used in marketing.
Source: Wikipedia

3. B2B Vs B2C in Social Media
Source: the report by Sametrix

4. Many B2B businesses are ignoring the consumer insights that
social media can provide, according to a report by Satmetrix
Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/7970/b2b-
brands-trail-b2c-in-social-media-monitoring-follow-
up#ixzz2E7RhZGtq

5. 1. Defining Your Target Audience
When developing your B2B strategy for social
media, the place to start out is to find out where
other businesses are going.

6. “Most of these sites even have an
advanced search option, so that
you can scour through regions and
titles”
Derek Edmond, a managing partner at Waltham, Mass.-based
B2B marketing firm KoMarketing Associates

7. 2. Monitoring Before You Act
Once you have defined your target audience and
started developing your B2B contacts, don't
immediately start spamming your latest press
releases, says Edmond. The key is to contribute to
the conversation before you jump in trying to market
services.

8. Before you start aggressively pursuing your strategy, you
should also be monitoring what people are saying about
your company by setting up an account with Google
Alerts and searching social media sites with tools like
Radian6, Salesforce.com or Social Mention.

9. 3. Communicating Your Message
“One of your primary goals in your marketing strategy
should be to offer resources and knowledge to your
followers. The key is provide value through thought
leadership.“
David Armano, senior vice president of digital marketing firm Edelman Digital

10. •Posting Reports and Presentations
If your company has recently completed an industry-related report or
presentation, for example, publish it on SlideShare and post a link to it on
Twitter.
•Initiating Interaction on LinkedIn
Another great way to provide knowledge while marketing your company is to
join groups on LinkedIn and start relevant conversations.
LinkedIn Q&A Session
•Organizing Events
one of the most helpful tools social media offers in terms of B2B marketing
is the ability to effectively organize events. SOBcon, a convention that
brings together leaders in social media, is a great example of how to
leverage social media to build a following around an upcoming event.

11. 4. Being Cautious Throughout Your Marketing
Throughout your marketing efforts, keep in mind that
social media shouldn't be thought of as a direct sales tool
with B2B clients, or you'll end up disappointed.
Edmond of KoMarketing Associates,

12. Edmond also advises marketers to be careful when
directly soliciting social media users as you respond
to their posts, because you could end up getting
overlooked as a spammer. Instead, try to relate your
message to an existing conversation that is
happening.
"If you know your case study is going to address a
particular problem in the industry," Edmond says, "Wait
for it to come up, then interrelate that issue into your
post."

13. 5.Using Analytics to Measure Your Marketing Efforts
With any online marketing strategy, it's imperative to have
some type of analytics tool is in place that will help you set
goals and measure the success of your actions.

14. "Where are people leaving, and where are they coming in?"
says Edmond. "What are the search terms or key words
they are using to get to your site? These are the questions
analytics tools help you to answer."
Edmond advises using tools like Google
Analytics, Omniture, or Marketo to measure the quality of
your traffic and put conversion methods in place.
HootSuite, a Twitter application, also has an analytics tool
that allows you to track and measure the effectiveness of
your tweets.

15. As you develop and refine your B2B marketing
strategy, Edmond says, don't forget that providing
answers to peers and potential customers is arguably the
most effective social media marketing tactic.

16. Sales & Leads From Social Media Sites
Part of the survey asked which social media sites generated leads or sales:
The data comes from the 2012 State Of Digital
Marketing report from WebMarketing123, a
California-based digital marketing agency

17. Reference
 Marketing land, Survey: Facebook Best For B2C Sales and Leads; LinkedIn For B2B
http://marketingland.com/survey-facebook-best-for-b2c-sales-linkedin-for-b2b-20219
 Social Media B2B, Exploring the impact of Social Media on B2B Companies
http://socialmediab2b.com/
 B to B Social Media: Seeking the Community for Practice
http://www.godfrey.com/~/media/Files/White%20Papers/B2B-Social-Media-WP.pdf
 Marketing Profs, B2B Brands Trail B2C in Social Media Monitoring, Follow-Up
http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/7970/b2b-brands-trail-b2c-in-social-media-
monitoring-follow-up
 Safko Lon. 2010. Social Media Bible. Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
ISBN: 978-0-470-62397-8(paper)