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Marketing Matters

Sarah Sturtevant

Social Media for B2B Companies

By Sarah Sturtevant - 4 months ago

With the exponential growth of social media in 2009, commentators predict that social media will get "even more popular, more mobile, and more exclusive" in 2010. What implications could that have for your manufacturing business? And does it all really matter?


Last month I gave a presentation (which I share here) to a group of company owners in Mississauga, Ontario, who invited me to speak about social media and its possible implications to their businesses. My message to these companies was yes, social media is important and it's here to stay .. but before you get sucked into the social web, please take care of your company's basic internet marketing strategy. Why? Well, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, are simply tools. Before you use them, you have to set measurable sales and marketing goals, pick the right tools and weigh their impact in order to gauge success.

Far too many industrial companies think they have an online marketing strategy simply because they have website. A good online marketing strategy includes branding, driving quality traffic to your site, ensuring your site converts more visitors into sales opportunities and constant measurement with adjustment to track ROI.  

If your site is not performing well, however, -- if it isn't driving a decent number of good business prospects to you each week, you need to fix that first. Your site is, after all, your sales and marketing funnel and social media is only one of many online channels which  manufacturing companies should use to drive good sales opportunities into that funnel.  Others include vertical, industry-specific search engines along with consumer search engines such as Google.

Social media engagement takes time and resources and it's never "free". Therefore, it makes sense to think through your corporate strategy for social engagement. Don't just relegate it to another function for a young intern you may hire with the idea that "those young people get it". Would you put untrained sales reps on the phone to speak with your customers? If not, you'll need to properly coach your company's social media participants on what kinds of conversations about your brand are ok. And you need to understand how to monitor and tap into the conversations that are already being conducted about your company's brand across the web.

Please do share your thoughts on how your company has used or plans to use social media. There are several industrial companies that have stepped into the social web and who are measuring success, companies such as Indium Corp. and Aerzen USA. 

For more insight, you may want to read "Six Social Media Trends for 2010", an excellent article by David Armano which was recently published online by Harvard Business Publishing. 
 
Sarah Sturtevant provides no-obligation internet marketing strategy consultations to industrial companies in Ontario and can be reached at (519) 342-8551 for an appointment. For more social media insights and internet marketing tips, follow her on Twitter!

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3 Comments

 
Post #1
Michel Savoie Michel Savoie - 4 months ago

Great points Sarah! I think that many companies see social media as something for young people, but more and more, statistics are showing that social media is dominated by a technographic (a group more apt to use a certain technology) than a demographic.  Take Twitter for instance... Only 16% of Twitter users are below the age of 25!

The other thing that I think is important for companies to take note of, and a mistake that too often results in poor results, is that social media is not a billboard, as you've outlined above. It's a relationship building conversational medium.  Too often people leave the "social" out of "social media".

 
Post #2
Sarah Sturtevant Sarah Sturtevant - 4 months ago

Thanks for your comments, Michel. You make a couple of excellent points and I certainly agree that if manufacturing companies want to fully realize the value of social media tools, they have to be prepared to build loyal relationships with their customers by having conversations with those customers who currently use social sites. That means, first turning the marketing bullhorn around and listening to them! It's time intensive, but there are several corporate case studies now that show that it's worth the effort -- Dell computers is one such case.

 
Post #3
Jason - Community Facilitator Jason - Community Facilitator - 4 months ago

One local company embracing social media as part of their online marketing strategy is Natura World - a manufacturer of natural mattresses, pillows and bedding.  They are blogging on their site: http://www.naturaworld.com/blog/ as well as maintaining a presence on Facebook and Twitter.  They are a B2C company, but nevertheless a great example for other manufactuers in the region.

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