Social Media B2B

One of the most common recommendations in social media is to provide value to your B2B followers so they will continue to follow you. Usually this is thought of as sharing links to helpful articles or answering questions. These types of responses might relate to your business and the solutions you provide, your industry knowledge, or just general information. Another component of your sharing strategy is to include one of your most valuable assets, your personal and professional networks.

Connections on social networks begin with a simple step, whether it is a follow, a retweet, a like or a response to a LinkedIn question. While this first step is not very meaningful, the connection grows as more interaction occurs. There are lots of ways people connect on a personal level, even on social networks, but you don’t always think about the business relevance. Business connections frequently occur due to common industry affiliations, common job titles or even common problems. As these conversations grow, you begin sharing thoughts, ideas and solutions. One way to take that a step further is to share recommended vendors, partners and solution providers.

Before you start sharing all your prized partners with your new found social media friends, especially partners that have been critical in the growth of your business, make sure you review these partner relationships. If a trusted partner has proprietary information about your business, keep those to yourself. But you probably have some partners or vendors who have really come through that you are willing to share. This can actually do two things for your company. The company you are referring will definitely appreciate it. Referral business usually brings in more qualified customers, so you may get some future benefit from your partner. And the company that you referred them to will have a new partner to work with. This will strengthen their connection with you and that could lead to future business or partnerships. The deeper these connections, the more likely you will gain some benefit from them.

Make sure that your partners understand both companies need separate and distinct solutions, especially if you are in the same industry. If you and your friend shop at the same stores, you may show up at the same party in the same outfit. The only thing worse than that is showing up with the same haircut.

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