Social Media B2B

In the glitz, glam and shininess of social applications like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and thousands more, it is easy to get caught up in the hype and look for the next “big” platform on the web. The problem with this is that many people don’t like change and are slow to adopt new technologies and platforms. When it comes to leveraging the web for marketing and community building it is important to remember to look back as well as ahead.

A great example of looking back is taking a look at older communications platforms on the web to see how people are still using them. For example online forum’s are still a vibrant source of conversation across the web, especially for many B2B industries. When examining your customer’s online behaviors you can not solely focus on the new platforms.

BoardReader.com is a great free tool that can help you find conversations on forums and message boards that mention your brand or your industry. An example of a hosted forum is maintained by Oracle, pictured below. While technology companies have interacted with users for years on forums, based on the number of interactions and views seen on this forum, there is no good reason for Oracle to try to migrate these conversations to newer platforms.

So don’t forget the older methods of web communications when looking for your customers, users or prospects. There are many creaky parts of the web where people are still talking.

Kipp Bodnar is publisher of SocialMediaB2B.com. Follow Kipp on Twitter @kippbodnar.