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Guest Post: Has social media finally arrived in BtoB marketing?
By Ian Brodie | November 29, 2008
Today’s post is from Peter Motley - MD of Marketing Crew - looking at current trends in social marketing for BtoB.
Will 2008 be remembered as the real start of business to business (BtoB) social marketing in a way that is much more than just debating whether to start a blog? Can we finally see a change in the way marketeers communicate!
The answer on social marketing for BtoB seems to revolve around the real purpose of the activity itself; whether it’s business people networking to gain personal benefit or to market their product/company brand! A new report by think-tank Demos has concluded that staff should be encouraged to use social networking as part of their business activities as it can boost staff loyalty and morale.
It would reasonable to predict that social networking sites like Viadeo, Linkedin, Plaxo, Ning and Ryze will see their membership ranks soar in the next few quarters as widespread insecurity drives people to connect with others to boost their social capital.
Can the same be said of product and service placements in blogs, podcasts, business groups in networking sites, etc? In recent months we have seen a rise in online BtoB business networking sites being offered, especially to small businesses.
Any long run success of business social networks will come down to basics, which are their ability to become a new channel to market, or to take the cost out of the marketing equation. If these are achieved we will see the seed corn that is driving current developments turn into some very big opportunities.
Large players like BT are heavily promoting BT Tradespace, in a bid to gain a foothold in the online business networking space, somewhere between directory sites like Yell.com and networking sites for boutique consultancies, dominated by online entrepreneurs like Thomas Power with ecademy. Plus there are emerging regional offerings like “Lets Do Business” in the South East and “Your Business Club” in the North West.
Add to the mix the popularity of social networking sites being used for business, such as Facebook, and Bebo, plus the explosion in business blogging sites and business videos loaded on You Tube, you have countless outlets to post entries which promote your offerings. One example that has become legend is Blendtec’s Will it blend on You Tube that has catapulted their high quality blenders from obscurity to leading brand awareness in the US.
In Mintel’s recent study of 2,000 Britons, which is based on extensive research into both social networking and viral marketing, they claim, “the emergence of online social networking is transforming the way we communicate and how we spend our leisure time, on- and offline”. The watchers are now looking to see if this success can be replicated in the business world.
Despite the fact that the report focuses on viral content and talks quite extensively about email marketing, I think we are seeing the convergence of a number of ways of sharing content via social and pseudo social networks. Be it some key marketing message, product placements, professional networking, industry watching, negative product or company reaction, all are now in the “marketing mix”.
We have seen examples of “good old” word of mouth marketing on social business media sites like twitter with London Theatre, and SEOmoz having a dramatic effect. However, the outcomes of which, if not handled professionally, could cause such rapid impact that it makes Gerald Ratners famous comments look snail paced!
The future of social marketing in this social media era is not about the next emerging happening, as I feel it did arrive in 2008, but now about understanding how it’s reinventing the way that we all need to communicate?
Peter Motley is passionate about marketing and about delivering value for money for his clients. Peter sees real business to business marketing as turning the business plan into an achievable marketing strategy and ensuring its delivery. You can contact Peter at Marketing Crew
Topics: Guest Post |
December 1st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
B2B, Blogging, Podcasting, Social Networking, Web 2.0 and social networking - Wow! So much technological innovation in such a short time!
Re: Twitter and its marketing potential…
On one front, Twitter as an effective social networking tool is amazingly dynamic but having recently had to cut-off a persistent advertiser/potential spammer it is also dangerous.
My verdict on judging time invested in social networking for business Vs actual project/sales opportunities is still out.
Ending on a positive, the good thing about Twitter is the wonderful people one can touch base with in the world and their ability to find great knowledge on the net that can help to enlighten you in your respective area.
Maybe applying the laws of probability (5% market returns on campaigns), the more we contact each other the greater the potential to get a link back to your capability - as long as one is a participant rather than a silent observer.
December 1st, 2008 at 6:29 pm
As a small business owner, I have found that the referral networking site, Referral Key, gives me a huge advantage. I have sent and received many referrals through this site and it helps me keep track of each one. I find it more useful for B2B networking than other social networking sites because it is focused specifically on small businesses.