COMMENTS
Yup, I tend to agree. Not to the extent of 'irrelevance' but social media definitely takes a back burner to seo. I know the HubSpot folks think social media is the Holy Grail, but in real life time is better spent on search engine optimization. We have a strong social media presence kinda like a battleship anchored off shore. When the time comes, we will take more advantage of it, but in the meantime, we'll continue our efforts towards SEO.
HubSpot--your articles, whitepapers, and research are outstanding. You are by far my favorite blog to find interesting, relevant information about social media. Fantastic!
"Social Media" is:
(a) anti-social (not representative of actual social connections)
(b) better suited at one-way dialogue, not conversation
(c) generally a place where out of work ad/media people have convinced others to hire them
It's simply not necessary.
However, it is (generally) a free media "buy" space (no hard delivery costs). And, that makes it attractive to some degree. But, there is a high cost to the personnel/mgt of it, and, that outweighs the benefits of no hard "buy" costs.
The reality is that most Customers and other Businesses do not rely on "social media" (please, come up with a more appropriate name, i.e. "free digital billboard media") engagement. It may be old-school, but, phone, email, conferences and meetings (actual social engagement) mean far more than posting something on FB or Twitter (unless you're a "social media" expert and feel differently).
Sorry. That's just the way it seems to shake out. Convincing everyone and every business for B2C and B2B that they "NEED" social media is more scam than reality.
Social Media is a great engine for conversations with prospects you're already engaged with. It's a great tool for searching for contacts in your target markets - via Linked In. Prospecting (the purpose of B2B marketing) is basically a no-no in social media forums. It's easier to make a phone and call and it doesn't cost InMail, etc... type credits. It's easier because you get to have a real and personal conversation.
B2B social media is meant for colleagues to connect, share ideas and thoughts... not as a marketing platform. It is however a great advertising and polling platform.
B2B social media is not as interactive as sites like Facebook. By adding features like real time video chat and collaborative workspaces Social Media could actually have some value. Until that happens... it's an advertising and polling platform.
Personally I think it takes a little bit of everything to penetrate the market regardless of what industry you are in. SEO & social media now go hand in hand with each other. Your audience needs to see you in all corners of the web space.
Good article - The main issue is a cultural background where social relationships are in person only for B2B and is actually a holly grail necessity for big ticket items - Its the point where the action takes place - This is not so for consumer marketing. History has taught big value sales that this relationship starts being social after the telephone call and the 1st meeting - all owned by the sales person - Sales don't understand the change and are invested in not giving this up - little incentive. I think the big question that I don't see answered anywhere is the stats on big value sales - Which / how many potential customer buyers are also participating in the social platforms in order for the supplier to be incetivised to begin contenction in the new social places?
Bob wrote:
"Sorry. That's just the way it seems to shake out. Convincing everyone and every business for B2C and B2B that they "NEED" social media is more scam than reality." In part, I agree. Not sure I would go as far as to say "scam" but in principle, too many folks advocating the use of social media have far more to gain than the folks they preach 'social media' to.
I'm glad my competition has bought into this. Their sales numbers (not good) are evidence social media is not working for them.
Clearly there's a lot of confusion on this topic and the question may be a bit misleading, but here's what I've found. As in many B2B sales, getting in the door is just the first step, and retaining and growing within the client to maximize lifetime value is the real goal.
I haven't found social media to be a great prospecting / new business development activity. However, I have found it to be very good for staying connected with clients and channel partners.
For example, one of our goals is to have as many clients as possible join our LinkedIn group. We have spent time building that venue to at least create the perception that it is valuable for them to join. Once they join, we have a way to identify other prospective buyers and influencers in the organization, and we have a way to stay connected to them if they leave their organization. If they leave, we first try to identify who in client organization has replaced them so we can fortify our position. Then, then we "follow" them to their new employer and try to build a case for them to bring us in.
We also use LinkedIn to "recommend" clients who we think have their act together. This helps them improve their marketability as they manage their careers, it builds their loyalty to us, and in most cases, they will offer to return a recommendation back to our client managers.
All of this activity has helped us retain clients and grow profitable sales. The time we have spent managing that community has paid for itself 100x over by now.
I think the problem is that most of the B2B marketers that view social media engagement as irrelevant do not understand that it is not up to them to have an opinion about social media.
It is up to your customers or suspects/prospects to have an opinion. And if they like (to use) Twitter or Facebook or whatever social channel, you better be there too.
@Hans,
True, however, I think only enough effort should be put into social media to have a presence. The lion's share of online marketing should be put into search engine optimization for traffic, as that is where the visitors will mainly come from.
The questions surrounding social media and B2B effectiveness lead us to the analogy of the snake eating its own tail.
If executives in these companies do not believe in the relevance of social media to sell their products/services then it would also hold true that they are not using social media to buy products/services hence making the use of social media irrelevant for others. Wow... long sentence... but you get where I am going.
Interesting dialogue as always.
Marketing firms that can not figure out how to incorporate web 2.0 technologies into a marketing plan will end up going extinct. If they do not have the creativity to incorporate the relevant social media communication channels into their client's marketing strategies what real value are they bringing? The key to any marketing strategy is found in the word strategy. Social media will increase organic SEO. Is it the be all and end all - no. But it has value if incorporated correctly.
There is a bit of fear of the unknown when it comes to social media. Many CEO's/Directors are not Gen X/Y and only hear the horror stories of Social Media. For B2B you can't go to wrong with Linked in, we find our group drives aroud 15% of the blog traffic.
I think we've finally come to a point where we can classify marketing as
1) Stupid marketing
2) Smart marketing
Once we start doing that, the idea should reach some empty heads "up there".
Hard to convince lol! For some, social media is about spreading the content.
But I do believe that most business can made use of social media. It is one way to communicate more personally with the consumer, look at how a budget flight made their way into social media and now become the best budget flight this year :)
It doesn't matter what others think; it only matters what works. Instead of spending time trying to convince others that it is worthwhile that time is better spent developing best practices that actually get results.
Once you have a working system then you can accumulate the data necessary to create white papers and case studies showing the benefits.
For those waving the SEO is better flag, you need to read this post where SEOBook quoted Google's CEO who clearly stated that their intention is to
favor big brands. What many are aptly calling the
MayDay update is proof it is already happening.
I hope that hubspot will leave those links in this comment because this is a wake up call for all small local and online businesses.
Your time is running out to find alternate sources of traffic and to create a change in Internet users behavior - and ideally both - before it is too late.
I hope they will also leave the link to the post in my blog in the main Website field where I explain why the economy is NOT going to recover and what we need to do about it.
Small businesses are the permanent solution to the economic downturn being experienced in the U.S. and around the world. Choose wisely or the Great Depression may not be the worst the U.S. has ever seen.
We've got a lot of our leads from social media. In fact because of social media we've converted our client base from regional to international. Anyone who says social media is not useful for B2B practices are behind the times. We've already grown larger than many of our competitors in a short period of time. And in case you were wondering, I work in the animation and game development industry.
Wow. Now this is a great blog post for inciting strong opinions. As a B2B marketer myself, I am surprised there are not more advocates of B2B SM like me. The B2B marketers who are not doing SM yet are missing a trick, its such a growing opportunity - although your industry niche probably does have a lot to do with timing for comencing a SM program.
As for @Joe saying SM is "preached" and @Bob calling it a "scam" - that suggests they do not have personal experience of successful SM initiatives.
Great content Pamela!
I enjoyed your blog post so much that I used it on our blog at http://www.team1plastics.com/plastics-pipeline-blog. I have blogging for only 1-2 months so I hope that I properly credited you.
Craig -- looks great! Thanks for the link love :o)