B2B Social Media Marketing: 10 Rules

Former Member · ‎2014 Feb 25

The 10 Rules of B2B Social Media Marketing

#1: BREAK THE RULES

As social media provides a new set of (partially untested) tools to marketers, there is still the possibility to try something for the first time and succeed. Follow your own instinct and experiment

#2: IT’S PERSONAL

No matter what anybody says, business on social media is very personal. More personal than ever, as on LinkedIn or Twitter, people interact 1:1 in real discussions. You'll need a thick skin to participate.

#3: KNOW YOUR OBJECTIVES and #4: KNOW WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

#3 and #4 are inextricably intertwined but getting there requires two separate actions: First, be clear about your goals. Why do you want to do social media marketing? And second, what will success look like? Describe it in quantitative and qualitative terms and figure out how to measure it.

#5: MARKETING IS STILL (Just) MARKETING

Social media provides us a new set of tools and allows us to get information that was previously hard to come by. But, it's still only marketing. So, you'll still need to clearly define your brand and (unique) value proposition before it's time to go out and promote. And, whatever you do, don't do it in a silo.

'#6: EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGH(ER)

Social media and digital marketing mean pull marketing vs. push marketing. A large percentage of buyers researches your offering online way before they ever talk to one of your sales people. If you can't be found, you don't exist.
And if the user experience you provide is not good (e.g. on your website), it reflects poorly on your brand.

#7: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

As always in marketing, the key to the kingdom is closely tied to knowing your audience really really well. What are their needs? What information do they want and when? Where do they go to get their information? Who influences them? Position yourself via outcomes not features.

#8: B2B SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS

"85% of business decision-‐makers said at least one social media channel is important when making technology purchase decisions", according to Forrester Research.

#9: FOCUS

Ruthlessly prioritize your activities. There are so many channels and so many tactics you could apply, and they might all work well - but you probably don't have the resources. So do your homework and focus on the areas that promise the highest ROI

#10: KNOW “Your Stuﬀ”

It's easy to talk a good game, use the buzzwords and pretend to know what you do. Reality is, to succeed, you need in-depth knowledge of the social channels you are focusing on, what strategies work and how to implement the tactics.

By the way, Mario's Meetup was fantastic.

He also had my peer Denise Holt speak and Paul Cowie, partner at our host Sheppard Mullin, provided some great insides on the legal aspects of social media.

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