Social media isn’t just for consumer products any more
Establishing a B2B social media strategy for a field leader – large or small
This post was written by Judith Ingleton-Beer, CEO of IBA International, home to iBAengage,
What’s your business’s situation? Nearly 10 years old, working with established products and got about 150 clients in a number of markets? Perhaps you’re a field leader in one, and got good vertical industry expertise in a couple of others.
You’ve got a sales force of 5 and a part-time marketing manager. The technology on which you originally launched the company is mature and so you’ve spent considerable time and effort producing a next generation solution – which needs to be sold to both existing clients and into new markets.
It’s easy to create a social media strategy if you have the right tools.
The market sector is mature and filled with competitors who are also moving towards next generation products. Over the last ten years your business has had contact with a wide audience in the industry you serve – not just existing customers, but previous prospects and client employees who have moved on.
Such contacts are gold when it comes to moving forward with your next generation solution – but how to make them aware of your advancements without an intrusive sales pitch…?
A social media strategy could be the answer. For a mature established business, social media can bring together those who are already familiar with your company and its values and help establish your industry expertise in the vertical markets where you are probably already well-known.
A social media campaign can also help establish the technological leadership and value of the new solutions you have developed.
A B2B social media campaign can build brand trust through sharing deep insight into your market as well as build awareness and mind-share through regular of communication to your audiences. For it to work, the campaign needs the same sense of professionalism that you bring to every other aspect of your business.
A good social media service
One way of achieving this is bringing on board a good social media service with the facilities to provide you with a team of experienced editorial and social media executives. By researching your market and your competition and exploring the key developments within your industry, such a team has the ability to present your business to your community as a thought-leader in your field.
The ideal B2B social media campaign:
- Identifies and gathers your key audiences using Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and other social media channels
- Produces regular tweets and updates relevant to your industry
- Is authored by key executives in your busy team (despite the fact they don’t have enough hours in their day)
Such a campaign will reflect the professionalism of your business so that those in your prospect bubble – both contacts from the past and future – think of you in this way and also trust you as an organisation when they come to make their next purchase.