Convince The Boss Your B2B Company Should Use Social Media
Mon, Nov 8, 2010
An individual in a B2B company usually realizes the value of social media for their employer before the company comes to that conclusion on their own. Oftentimes, convincing the powers-that-be that this is a space you need to be participating in is difficult.
Here are four ways to make your point in a more effective manner:
1. Share B2B Case Studies
As familiar as you may be with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, this is still uncharted water for lots of businesses. To visualize the opportunity in this space, provide the decision makers you work with some successful case studies to clearly execute your points. Choose a case study that reflects the vision you see for your business or another company in and around your industry. Showing how the most used case studies like Starbucks, Comcast or Zappos use social media may not resonate with your B2B business. Keep it closer to home. You can find case studies right here on SocialMediaB2B.com. There are also some creative ones here and here.
2. Show What Your Competitors are Doing
Let’s face it. We are humans and we love comparing ourselves to what other people are doing. Take a peek at what your competitors are doing in the social media space. Don’t obsess, but there are three major things you should take note of:
- Are they seeing any success in their efforts?
- What makes your company different from them and how could you highlight that on social networks?
- How could you do a social media campaign better than them?
3. Show That Your Customers are There
We should all have some type of relationships with our customers. Maybe you even have an email list you send regular news to. If you know the names of the point people that you work with at certain organizations, you can easily do a simple search to see if they are participating on sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. If your current customers are participating in this space, there is a pretty good chance your potential customers are there too.
4. Develop a Plan
One of the hardest parts to visualize for an organization is ‘how are we going to make this happen?’ Everyone already has responsibilities; you only have so many resources. It may help to make a mock-up of how you could internally execute a social media strategy – resources you will need, hours per week that would need to be dedicated to this effort, how you would measure success and a social media policy. Perhaps most importantly to show your organization is a timeline by which you will meet certain goals and consider this effort success or a loss. If you are not able to meet goals, what would the new plan look like?
Hopefully, with some research and a plan you can make your case to your organization that you should be participating as a company on social networks. These are just a few strategies I have seen work to open the door to conversation.
I would love to hear more stories in the comments section about what you did to convince your organization that you should be in the social media space and anything that may have come of it.
Amanda O'Brien is VP of Marketing at Hall Web Services, one of Maine's largest web development firms. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amanda_pants.
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Good question! When I’m working with B2B clients, many of them initially want “traditional” PR (often, media relations). That’s actually a natural segue into social media. Studies has shown 75% of journalists turn to social media to research stories. As a result, having a strong social media presence can help B2B companies secure traditional media coverage. Taking this approach, companies can begin to dip their toes into the social space to develop a better understanding and comfort level. Once they begin to see the potential with just this one “test,” they’re more receptive to discussing social media from a broader perspective.
Heather
@prTini
Put up Twisplays in your office to display what people are saying about your company, products and services – and what they are saying about the competition.
These are great thoughts. As part of developing a plan, I suggest including direct tie-ins to your business’s corporate goals and strategy. Are you using social media to generate leads/demand, establish the company as a thought leader, crowd source ideas, etc etc.? I would also be sure that you have at least one or two well-respected advocates (the more senior the better) to support your plan so that you are not the only voice in the room.
Tim Eisenstadt
@tjeisenstadt
Heather,
Thanks! It is hard to switch gears with businesses that have used the same tools for so long. That is such a good point. There have been lots of instances when something picks up traction online and THEN it is picked up by ‘traditional media’!
Joshua,
You must be reading my mind! Soon we are getting a new bigger office and I totally want to get an iPad and an iPad mount and display things like that on the office wall!
Timothy,
Tying into business goals is HUGE and advocates are always good to have on the inside!
Thanks everyone for your feedback and comments!
@amanda_pants