A long weekend looms here in Canada, with another just behind it for my American friends. Time to put some duct tape on the kids, some beer in the cooler and kick back with a good book. When that runs out, you may want to take a few minutes to ponder (again) the role of social media in your B2B marketing world.
On Pinterest:
Let’s start off with the loudest bandwagon on Marketing Mulberry Street: Pinterest. I think Pinterest is a very, very cool site. I can’t wait to put my garden photos, pictures of the cat and images of a suspicious mole on there for the whole world to share and see. For selling telecom, legal, office cleaning or change management services, I’m unconvinced it makes any sense at all. But if you’re curious, here is a brief, complete and well-written document to help you decide. .
On LinkedIn:
Pinterest may not be for you, but I can almost guarantee that you’re not getting all you can out of LinkedIn. This Facebook-for-Grownups is shaking off its reputation as the home-of-the-jobless and is proving to be a fertile spot for sales people and savvy B2B marketers. Let’s start with this new one from the good people at Hubspot.
Learning LinkedIn from the Experts is a great primer if you really don’t get what all the fuss is about. It’ll walk you through setting yourself up and building a network. If you’re all over that, skip to Neil Schaffer’s bit on how to market your business. It’s a great look at setting up your company page, groups and discussions plus hooking it all together with your blogs and Twitter feeds.
If you’re all set up on LinkedIn but looking for inspiration to make it work a little harder, I recommend this collection of case studies from our friends at MarketingProfs. It costs $49 but it’s money well spent and includes some B2B content that may help you stick-handle LinkedIn past your Corporate Overlords.
On Google+:
I have to confess I am still on the fence about Google+. I get that it delivers serious link juice; I get that the numbers are in its favour for displacing Facebook; I appreciate that the interface is much better for B2B marketers. What I just can’t quite bring myself to do is spend a few hours setting it up and then finding the time to really make it deliver. But that’s my issue. Guy Kawasaki has no such reservations and has not only put in his time on G+ but has written a very detailed book about how to use it and why. What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us is just $2.49 for the Kindle, so worth a look.
On Facebook:
One of the dirty little secrets of B2B social marketing has got to be the disgraceful number of Facebook pages which have been built and abandoned over the years. These zombie pages lurch through the back alleys of corporate brand ecosystems, feeding on the rubbish of unmonitored walls and the looking longingly at the shiny new Timeline format. You know you have a Facebook page. Remember, your boss made you set it up four years ago after he spent a sleepless weekend at a scrapbooking forum. You probably don’t remember the password, but it’s time to figure it out. Because whether you like it or not, the big F drives traffic and search results. Here is an excellent post from Jeff at Social Media B2B on some things even you can do to leverage Facebook.
On Twitter:
Along with the Zombie Facebook pages, our back alleys are home to Twitter feeds that seem to be observing a Cistercian-level of silence. Whether or not you like communicating in staccato bursts, you need to have a well-managed Twitter presence. Here is one of the most succinct lists of why and how B2B should be using it.
On YouTube:
I think video is one of those things business marketers are either really good at or really suck at. I don’t see a lot of stuff in the middle. If you suck at it or simply don’t understand why you need it, then you probably don’t (and not all businesses do, so don’t worry). Go get another beer and skip this bit. If you have good video, or want to have good video, then you need to understand how to leverage YouTube as a delivery platform. The best advice can be found on YouTube itself. Just go search your industry, especially your competition and you’ll be on your way. For some great, quick tips, here is a wonderful post by Chris Peterson at B2B Bloggers.
On Managing it All:
Like most B2B marketers, when I’m wrestling with a big problem, I ask myself WWCD? (What Would Caterpillar Do?) When it comes to social media, they have a pretty good program with well-defined internal resources and policies. Here is a link to a presentation by Caterpillar delivered at this year’s B2B Social Media Summit in London.
We’ll end with this simple blog post from Hubspot. It’s a succinct reminder of why, even for those of us who sell deep in the B2B world of components and subcomponents, social media matters.
Happy long weekend, everyone.
Bizmarketer is Elizabeth Williams
Follow me on Twitter @bizmkter
or email escwilliams@gmail.com
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