1. B2B SOCIAL
MEDIA
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2. SOCIAL MEDIA:
• Two types of target audiences (aka communities):
• Community of interest: online community where the primary value is
based on personal or social interests
• Community of Practice: an online community where the primary value is
based on professional interests and is created in the course of members
performing “jobs”
• B2B social media is most effective when there is some level of engagement
with both communities
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3. WHY USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Users can express their views
• Extreme targeting possible
• Generates highly specific content to a highly specific audience
• Can help to create an “experience”
• Conversation about the company happen with or without you
• Social media lets you have a say
• Can be made accessible to anyone
• Content can be shared in a wide-variety of platforms
• Easy to engage with prospects, customers, employees
• Creates a dialog between company and its public
• Social media content as a source of information is becoming more common
as a source of information on a given topic over websites and news stories
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4. WHY HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN?
• Engages customers, prospects, etc.
• Opens up additional avenues to market your products and culture
• Helps to establish company as a thought leader on a particular subject/ set
of subjects
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5. FACTORS TO CONSIDER:
• Time and money investment
• Goals of social media?
• Appropriate social media channels?
• Use what is already available versus creating your own social media
platform highly specific to your needs and goals
• Who should participate in social media channels?
• How will success of social media be measured?
• Take qualitative over quantitative approach
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6. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS:
• Social media can lead to:
• Increased website traffic
• Word-of-mouth referrals
• Increased brand awareness
• Increased brand loyalty
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7. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: BLOGS
• Types:
• Company/ “In-house” Blogs
• Case Studies
• 3rd Party Written
• Customers
• Consultants
• Field Experts
• Location:
• Directly on company website
• 3rd party site (Wordpress, Blogger)
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8. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: BLOGS
• Benefits of B2B Blogging:
• Can offer a fresh, creative perspective on a seemingly boring topic
• Indirect sales tool
• Increases company credibility and exposure
• Increases website traffic
• Content can be shared on other social media platforms
• Can lead to media coverage and other opportunities
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9. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: BLOGS
• How to get exposure:
• Google Blog Search
• Technorati
• Generate a blog RSS feed
• Blogroll
• Incorporate Widgets into your blog
• Use “tags”
• Post often, with interesting information
• Information can be new, can be an opinion on something, a reaction to something, etc.
• Ask questions within the blog posts
• Encourages reader interaction
• Promote blog on EVERYTHING
• Email, website, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
• Problems and Solutions:
• No time/desire to write an actual blog
• Ghostwriters can be really useful. Just make sure the main content is directly from
assumed authored and written in author‟s “voice”
• Blogs generated from outside of company sources could potentially contain
inappropriate, damaging, irrelevant information
• Let outside bloggers propose an idea. If approved, require reviews of first 4 or 5 posts to
make sure content is OK before allowing direct posts to blog.
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10. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: BLOGS
• Other considering factors:
• Who within the company is going to blog?
• How long do the posts need to be?
• How often do the posts need to be?
• What is the content generally going to be focused on?
• How are you going to keep ideas interesting, fresh?
• How can we incorporate humor into our blog?
• Humor is the easiest and best way to attract, hold onto, and
increase readership.
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11. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: MICROBLOGGING/TWITTER
• Microblogging – the sharing of useful, interesting information using 140
characters or less
• The right ways to Tweet:
• Follow as many Twitter feeds as possible
• The more people you follow, the more likely you are to get followers
• Tweet/Retweet (sharing tweets other than your own with your followers)
regularly
• Engage with followers and other tweeters
• Respond to tweets and mentions
• Engage in relevant conversations
• Post opinions, ideas, thoughts, to your blog and other relevant
websites, and then link to those blogs/websites
• Use Tweetscan or search.twitter.com to find other tweets being
posted that could be of interest to your followers
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12. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: MICROBLOGGING/TWITTER
• Promote your Twitter on everything:
• Blog
• Website
• Email
• Etc.
• Use hashtags when possible (#)
• Allows you to potentially link to other tweets on the same topic, usually
pertaining a larger, popular issue (listed on twitter as a “trending topic”)
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13. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: MICROBLOGGING/TWITTER
• Other benefits:
• Anyone within the company can tweet about their opinions on a topic
• Opinions are going to be shaped based upon their position within
the company
• Can share different perspectives on one general idea
• Allows for interaction between company and public
• Allows for “cross-promotion” of social media platforms
• Blogs can show Twitter feeds and Twitter can inform followers of
new posts automatically
• Tweets can also be shared automatically on Facebook
• Allows users to post videos, photos, link to information outside of
Twittersphere
• Less time consuming than blogging
• Although tweeting can still be time consuming and the content does
need to be generated to some extent (tweeting vs.
retweeting), tweets can be scheduled in advance to post throughout
the day, for several days, weeks, months, etc.
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14. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: LINKEDIN
• Best approach:
• Create profile for all company employees AND create a group for the
company
• Engage in “gated groups” (require permission to enter)
• Groups specific to the industry, expertise, products, etc., and stay
active within the group
• Link LinkedIn group page to everything company related
• Website, blog, Twitter, email, etc.
• Encourage employee involvement with outsiders
• Not just company involvement as a whole
• Creates a “personal touch”
• Ask questions, engage in group discussions
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15. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: VIDEO
• Multidimensional aspect/ multimedia aspect to video that is more obvious
than with other social media platforms
• Text by itself is flat
• Video examples:
• Podcasts
• Photos
• Slidecasts
• Webcasts
• Interactive games
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16. SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM: VIDEO
• 10 Steps to Producing Great Video:
• Keep it Simple
• Use a Tripod
• Consider the Shooting Location‟s “Natural Accessories”
• Sound
• Background composition
• Other distractions
• Use Stills
• Make It Branded
• Keep it Short
• Under 5 minutes.
• Be Smart with Your Editing
• Incorporate Music
• Include a Call to Action?
• Post and Share
• Bonus: Think Mobile
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17. BEST B2B SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Wordpress
• Slideshare
• FastPitch!
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18. “CREATE-YOUR-OWN” PLATFORM OPTIONS
• KickApps
• ThePort
• Ning
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19. AON HEWITT
• Incorporates RSS feeds into their site
• Not really a prominent aspect
• Social media hidden under a lot of sub-tabs
• Not easy to find or access
• Speeches and presentations available online
• Webcasts and Speech PDFs
• Aon Hewitt Media Page
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20. TOWERS WATSON
• Downloadable articles/blogs available
• All site content is able to be shared via:
• Email
• Print
• Twitter
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• RSS Feeds
• Digg
• Etc.
• Option to „Like” all content
• Able to comment on content
• On the same page as Towers Watson content, option to view other related articles
• Wide-variety of videos
• Interactive brochure
• Can email, print, download, “search” brochure
• Webcast section
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21. TOWERS WATSON
• Towers Watson RSS Feed
• Towers Watson Twitter Page
• Towers Watson LinkedIn Page
• Also have their own Youtube channel and Facebook page
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22. BUCK CONSULTING
• Comment letters
• Client opinions
• Case Studies
• “Hot Topics” Section
• Different topics with their own website link
• Podcast Series
• Audio over photo supplement
• Surveys
• Outsider interaction
• Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook page
• Able to share website content on social media platforms
• Blog
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23. MERCER
• Interactive presentations
• Webcasts
• RSS Feeds
• Newsletters
• Surveys
• Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages
• Ability to share content on social media platforms
• Podcasts
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24. RESOURCES
• ShipServ Case Study
• B2B Social Media as IT “Lite”
• B2B Social Media Map
• How to Use Social Media in B2B Marketing
• Humor as a Hook – Blendtec
• Opportunity Clicks
• Creating a B2B Community on Twitter
• Will it Blend? Viral B2B Video Example
• 12 Tips to Producing Compelling B2B Video
• Carabiner Social Media and B2B
• SAP Case Study
• Social Media for B2B Technology Companies
• Twitter as a B2B Marketing Tool
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25. DISCLAIMER
No part of this document may be reproduced, quoted, or transmitted in any
form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system), without express, prior
permission, in writing from Trion Group, a Marsh & McLennan Agency, LLC
Company
©2011 Trion Group, a Marsh & McLennan Agency, LLC Company All Rights
Reserved
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© 2011 Trion Group, a Marsh & McLennan Agency, LLC Company. All Rights Reserved