Social Media B2B

Twitter has launched their own version of a Twitter guide called Twitter 101. If you are looking for advice on how to use Twitter for your business, this is a good place to start: Twitter 101 – Best Practices.

While I won’t go into too much detail, the high level points are as follows with a brief explanation of how that relates to B2B marketing on Twitter:

1. Think about Twitter as a place to build relationships

It is continually acknowledge that B2B sales are all about relationships. Customers buy from companies they are familiar with. While Twitter may seem insignificant and informal at first, the short, casual nature of the messages are a great way to begin engagement with customers and prospects. These relationship are driven by providing value, rather than sales pitches.

2. Understand the real-time nature of Twitter

Twitter is all about the now. You can engage with people instantly. If someone mentions your company or industry, respond now. Make sure employees are empowered to engage customers to solve problems now, rather than getting approval up the line. In long sales cycle purchase decisions, buyers often have many questions. Find those questions and get the prospect answers. Use common industry terms, or brand names, so your public answer (via an @ reply) will be seen by others who may have the same question.

3. Measure the value of Twitter

All campaigns need initial goals against which to measure success. Develop your own metrics for Twitter. Pure numbers (followers, mentions, etc.) are a good way to start, but as you progress, determine other things to measure to tie those mentions to leads and sales.

Click through the Twitter 101 pages to read the business case studies, however, they are all consumer based. If you have any good examples of B2B success on Twitter, let us know in the comments. We will also be looking for our own to write about.

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