B2B marketers today interact with companies over a variety of channels, and the new Social Business is becoming an increasingly important component of the conversation. Forrester Research predicts that B2B firms will spend $54 million on social media marketing in 2014, up from just $11 million in 2009. These firms are incorporating “social media marketing” techniques into their mix, including monitoring what prospects are saying about their company, generating leads, market research, customer feedback, advertising, and establishing themselves as industry thought leaders.
Hubspot surveyed over 644 individuals at B2B companies in North America about lead generation through social channels. They found that 61% say that LinkedIn is their most important social channel, followed by blogging (55%), Facebook (41%), and Twitter (39%). B2B social media is extremely useful in supporting branding efforts, although different channels are considered to have their own unique strengths. You can use consulting firms such as GO to design a social media strategy to build brand awareness, generate leads, and add visibility to manage your companies’ interactions. By using a perfect mix of new media, search engine optimization SEO, social media optimization SMO, market research, technology, online and offline marketing to interact with your target market.
The social SEO benefits of having information that accurately represents your organization on your social media and listening to the conversations happening within your target community are essential. Fragmented blogs and social networking content dilutes a company’s ability to “stand out” amongst the sea of noise in social conversations as well as to search engines. People are much more inclined to do business with you if they see insightful posts on how your company’s product helps customers, read detailed posts demonstrating your company’s knowledge, and will see your company as a thought leader.
Golden Opportunities 