I wrote a blog post a week ago that obviously touched a nerve. “B2B Social Media’s Big Not So Secret” garnered the most traffic of any blog post I’ve ever written. David Meerman Scott tweeted the post – that certainly goosed my traffic. I also received a few comments and a flurry of phone calls and emails. 99% of the feedback was supportive of my premise, which was:
“Small to medium sized B2B companies are not realizing the benefits they should from social media marketing due to problems with execution.”
OK. Fine. I have agreement on the above premise. So what? How does that help the companies affected? Well, admitting to the problem is always the first step, isn’t it?
I’m going to devote the next several blogs to this topic. I think I have some helpful hints for the client companies, and the agencies and consultants working with them. I by no means have all the answers, though. So I invite all to comment with any insights you’ve garnered.
Here’s my editorial content list for this series of posts:
- Research – the good news is that social media enables ‘lurking and listening’. It’s easy to find and listen in on the relevant conversations that are occurring. The bad news is that this is time consuming. The conversations evolve and you need to keep up to date. Ideally all stakeholders will have their ears and eyes on the appropriate conversations. A (formal or informal) back channel needs to be established for information sharing.
- Involving client personnel in the process. This is a biggie. They’re busy people, and they’re crucial to the success of any content marketing or social media endeavor. They need to understand this (the best way is for the CEO to make it a priority). I specifically target sales people because they know what questions prospects need answered, what objections need to be overcome, and the competitive land mines that need to be defused.
- Development of target personas. You can’t create compelling content if you don’t have a clear idea of who you’re speaking to. What’s relevant and useful to one person is irrelevant and useless to the next. Target personas should include current customers, and targeted bloggers/media/PR types in addition to prospects.
- Determine your content strategy and who is responsible for executing each task. Include an editorial calendar, deadlines, information sources, etc.
- Messaging – what specifically do you want to communicate to each target type, and what do you want them to do (what constitutes a ‘conversion’)?
- Include distribution, outreach and socialization… the mechanics of how you’ll get your quality content in front of your target audience.
- Develop a feedback loop. We’re back to listening here. Track blog comments and reply to them when appropriate. See who retweets or mentions your content in discussions. Make it somebody’s job to document and enter into the CRM system (there are tools available to automate this process).
- Budget accordingly. Social media is an extremely cost effective marketing tool, but it isn’t free or even cheap. Understand that it requires a significant investment of time. Ensure that the people assigned are sharp and experienced enough to make this a successful endeavor.
Please let me know if I missed anything (I’m sure I have). We’ll take one topic at a time and within a couple of months, we should have a blueprint to follow to ensure our carefully developed social media strategies are executed successfully.
Tags: acSellerant, b2b, B2B marketing, Bob Leonard, business to business marketing, content strategy, digital relationships, execution, return on influence, social media, social networking sites, useful and relevant information
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Bob,
Great words of wisdom and very clear! I love how you’ve laid this out in a linear progression. I must admit I’m a fish out of water re trying to help my more challenged clients navigate through this content development world. I have calmed down enough, though, to recognize these same challenges existed long before social, or even the internet.
At the heart of the matter for my clients is: how badly do they want the benefits of this stuff, and are they willing to free up time and focus to do their part of the heavy lifting, even if it is a small but crucial part.
This is a great wake up call and cause to ‘count the costs’ before heading too deeply down this path.
Todd,
I think it’s incumbent upon us, as marketing professionals, to help clients understand how important this is. More and more are ‘getting it’. But many haven’t made the leap, or they’re only dipping a toe in the water. As I’m sure you know, it’s nothing less than a sea change. The old push/broadcast vehicles just don’t work any more. It’s all about pull, digital relationships, conversations – and that means social media + high quality, relevant and useful content. Those companies that don’t make the leap are falling behind. IMHO – if they wait too long, they’ll never be able to catch up. It’s literally a matter of survival.
Bob, your last post and this one are both chocked-full of useful information. Thanks.
The list of your next eight posts about how to “get over the social media content hump” could be a checklist of work steps for creating content.
Just thinking… When your posts are all written, you should offer a summary checklist as another piece of your own content for social media!
Warm regards,
Mac
Thanks, Mac. I think that’s what they call ‘repurposing’ content.
Hi Bob – As you know, I am in agreement with you entirely on both posts… but that still leaves a major problem. Many small businesses just don’t have the time, or the experience and skills to work through the list you give in this post. The smart ones make time (20% or less), while others either blow it off or hire it completely done — around 80% in my experience… there’s that fascinating 80/20 rule again.
I have a client who sells a complete blogging and social media service for about the cost of a good yellow pages ad (several hundred dollars). This works for a lot of small business people who otherwise could not and would not both maintain a blog, and/or have the time to work through messaging. There’s some risk in this approach, when you totally give over your content creation to others… but also opportunities for clients and service providers. Keep up the great discussion and posts – Scott
One of the things clients who are hesitant to jump in should realize is that in the not too distant future, Social Media will become “Just another marketing channel”, where you are toe to toe with your competition as you are in every other marketing channel today.
The smart ones realize that there is an opportunity to grab market share now, before everyone else catches up and the playing field is leveled.
Snooze, ya lose… as they say, my .02
Steve – thanks for the comment. You’re right, of course. And I’d go further. There is a learning curve, not just with the technology, but with the code of conduct. People who haven’t learned the nuances of the communication process typically make gaffes, engage in inappropriate behavior (think of an adolescent boy on his first date… I don’t know about you, but I was hardly a ‘smooth operator’). Add to that the fact that with SMBs, these people are often the entrepreneurs themselves – a bit older, natural sales people. The tendency is to go charging in with a hard sell. That can result in a significant setback. It takes time to learn this stuff, so every day that people aren’t participating (even if it’s just to lurk and listen), they’re falling further and further behind.