Social Media B2B

Today at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter, announced a new ad program for Twitter. These new ads are called @Anywhere. When you find a reference of a Twitter account, you can roll over the link and bring up a Twitter card. It shows if you are following the account or not, recent tweets and other details about the account. You can also follow the account directly from the card. This tool lets you interact with Twitter from the site, without ever going to Twitter.com. You can also sign in to the site using Twitter more easily than ever before. The platform is launching on a limited number of sites like ebay, Yahoo and Digg.

B2B companies are using Twitter to build networks of followers and ultimately generate leads for new business, and this new @Anywhere approach is a way to build those networks and make sure the followers are relevant.

1. Gain New Followers
If a B2B company implements @Anywhere on their blog, they can more easily gain new Twitter followers, especially for more specific campaigns and product Twitter accounts beyond the main corporate account. It is easy to assume that regular readers of a corporate blog also follow the main Twitter account. This new platform now lets you write about specific ideas, and add Twitter links that lets readers follow these distinct accounts without leaving the page.

2. More Tightly Integrate Twitter with B2B Websites and Blogs
B2B companies frequently tweet links to content published on a blog, but a good tweet stream contains much more content than just a series of blog posts. @Anywhere can show your blog readers recent tweets from the blog and allows them to interact with Twitter on the site. Twitter drives traffic to the site or blog, and @Anywhere helps that flow go back the other way without leaving the site.

3. Develop Relationships from B2B Industry Sites
As the @Anywhere platform grows and become more integrated into many more sites, including top sites in a variety of B2B industries, references to your B2B company and products will now include links to Twitter accounts that readers can follow without leaving that site. While it may take a bit of time for sites to understand how to get these types of connections set up, these @Anywhere links may be the first time some potential customers will find your company on Twitter.

4. Generate Leads
One of the most important uses of B2B social media is to ultimately generate business leads or other new business. Once your B2B company has joined Twitter and developed a good program of content and engagement through Twitter, this will create relationships with customers and prospects. This form of engagement drives traffic back to a corporate website or blog with a clear call to action. The more places where these customers and prospects can connect with company Twitter, the more chances you have to add these prospects to your funnel.

What do you think are some uses for the new @Anywhere platform and helping your B2B marketing plans?

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