Social Media in B-to-B
As more b-to-b organizations explore social media as a way to raise awareness and create demand, they must first understand what is shaping the social media landscape. According to our research, roughly 50% of b-to-b organizations are utilizing some type of social media, reallocating a portion of their traditional media spend to do so. We’ve identified 8 categories of social media that can influence b-to-b marketing efforts including:
1. Blogs. Web logs or journals that allow readers to comment on and create links to and from other entries or posts. Primarily text, blogs can also include video or sound files.
2. Social networks. There are two types of social networks. Online communities such as MySpace and Facebook allow users to post profiles about themselves and connect with others, while professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and Jigsaw enable users to link to others through their association with friends or colleagues.
3. Forums. These message boards were first seen in the 1980s, where users with similar interests exchange messages. Most forums are moderated and focused on a particular topic or function.
4. Podcasts. Syndicated or subscription-based digital media files that can be downloaded or streamed, providing automatic distribution of new content. Podcasts can be audio-only, or include video.
5. Media sharing. Sites that let users upload, download, link to, comment on and rate digital media such as videos and images.
6. Web feeds. Content data format that notifies users when updates are available; these users then click through to the new content.
7. Wikis. Collaborative documents that are created using a Web browser. Contributors can add, delete or edit content, and notify other authors of their changes.
8. Social bookmarks. Sites such as del.icio.us and Digg that enable users to store and share Web bookmarks typically organized by tags into lists. Bookmarks can be public, private or restricted to a certain group; users can rate and recommend bookmarks, and many bookmark sites provide Web feeds to notify subscribers of updates.
While the “cool factor” of these social media types make many of us want to try them all, the impact and value of each type varies dramatically. I have no doubt that social media can be a valuable addition to the b-to-b marketing arsenal, particularly to grow brand awareness, increase customer loyalty and enable knowledge sharing both internally and among our customers. Demand creation, however, is more of a stretch, certainly for those organizations that do not closely adhere to social media’s rules of the road.
