B2B Social Media

The aim of B2B social media marketing is very simple ñ attract and keep customers. With the advent of Social Media, marketing has changed beyond belief. Businesses really expect to interact with people they do business with in ways that were not even imagined a few years ago. The advent of Web2.0 has meant that people no longer simply look to the internet as a source of information, but increasingly as a place to socialise, connect with people and build their business community. This means that if you want to be effective in attracting new customers and keeping your existing customers, your business will need to adopt the marketing strategies of this new era of communications.

B2B Social media marketing integrates contacts from a wide variety of places and delivers your message packaged with information and entertainment to engage your target audience. People increasingly use their social network as a route to finding a wide variety of products and services.

Social Media Platforms

There are hundreds of social networking sites that are popular across the internet, but in reality the top ones are the ones you are probably already familiar with.

• Facebook

• Google

• Myspace

• Squidoo

• Twitter

• Article marketing

• Blogging

• Youtube and other video sharing sites

• LinkedIn

• Ecademy

• Social Bookmarking sites

• PR sites

• iTunes

• Many more.

Key Factors of Effective B2B Social Media Marketing

The key factors to effective social media marketing are:

• Active

• Creative

• Engaging

• Focused

• Automate

Active means that you are always updating your social media sites on a regular basis so that when the customer is ready you already have front of mind awareness.

Creative means that you create a mix of media including video, podcasts, mobile, articles, blogs, tweets and more. Meet your audience the way they want to be met, put your message in the places where they go and in the format they enjoy learning.

Engaging means that your posts must be relevant to the audience, they should speak to their needs and provide a wealth of education and information that provides real help to them. Build rapport, connect with the audience and let them really identify with you.

Focused means that you stay on your topic, if you are into the motor industry donít start talking about holidays or clothes, stay on subject.

Automate your follow up with those that engage with you; make sure you have a system to bring those that connect with you into a carefully crafted series of follow-up emails, videos, articles and posts.

B2B Social Media Marketing is all about using the wealth of social networking sites to build a tribe of dedicated raving fan followers that you turn into raving fan customers. After all, your marketing budget has to show returns by generating business and increasing your income.