Social Media B2B

As talk of social media marketing grows and permeates through the B2B world, there are many who question the appropriateness of this new form of customer engagement. Social media is the perfect strategy for the long sales cycle of B2B transactions. Ask any business to business salesperson worth their salt what the key to closing their sale and they will tell you that it’s about the relationship with the customer. This is perfect way to show them how social media will help with sales.

The key to any social media campaign or strategy is to engage with customers and potential customers. Start by developing an initial goal for your campaign. This should not be a campaign in a vacuum, but a key part of the overall marketing strategy with the same target audience. The first step is to find your customers and potential customers online and listen to what they are saying about your company. This may require some extensive digging, but talk about most large companies is likely out there. In the event that no one is talking about your company or industry, there may be an opportunity to provide a place for that conversation.

After hearing what your customers are saying, you must engage with them in a non-sales manner. And not as a nameless representative of the company, or even as someone who spouts the company line, but as a real person. Provide information that is helpful and relevant to their conversations. This builds their relationship with a person at the company and begins to develop trust. When a sales need arises, the customers already has a relationship with a person at the company and contacts them.

Depending on the level of the conversations happening online, customer feedback can go directly to the company departments responsible for the products or services. This creates a reason for a salesperson to contact the customer. “We read your blog comment about product X and we’ve incorporated it into the latest release. Can I tell you about the other new features that will make your operation more efficient?”

As each new initiative is launched, the salesforce has another reason to contact their customers and prospects. These new programs also need to be promoted through traditional means of marketing communications, like email newsletters, sales letters and even catalogs, so that your target audience is aware of these forms of communication. And once you open up these two-way channels, it is critical maintain them and truly listen to your customers.

Your salesforce will develop stronger relationships if customers have other touchpoints within the company and feel like they are being heard. And those relationships will lead to sales.

Jeffrey L. Cohen is the Managing Editor of SocialMediaB2B.com. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @jeffreylcohen.