It's the last month of the year, which means we marketers are knee-deep in planning for next year. And as a B2B you're likely looking to integrate social media into your marketing mix in 2010—or have it play a larger role than in past years.
But to get to your market, you must first get the green light from your Executive Committee... a group that may be ready to embrace social media—or very weary of anything to do with Web 2.0.
That's why this two-part article features 10 arguments to help you build the B2B social media business case for your toughest audience: the one inside the boardroom.
In part 1, we covered the first five arguments, including how social media can help drive ROI, achieve competitive advantage, and produce cost-savings. This week we complete the series with five more arguments to win over even the most skeptical B2B executives.
6. Generate leads. "Generating leads that, in turn, create more leads is rooted in relationship-building—which is core to social media."
In B2B selling environments, where high-price, high-risk buys and long purchasing cycles are the norm, B2B companies wholly understand how imperative relationship-building is in lead generation and business development. And since social media tools were specifically created as a means for people to easily connect and communicate, they are perfectly suited to facilitate relationship-building efforts. Explain to executives that social media provides...
- Fertile ground for growing relationships and revenues. Through two-way communications that facilitate knowledge sharing, professional networking, and problem solving, companies can leverage social media to build relationships with prospective audiences and grow those relationships into revenues for the organization. A recent consumer-based study notes how online engagement creates customers.
- Efficient way to create leads... who create more leads. By building relationships with prospects and customers, companies also increase the chance that their target audiences will use these tools to spread favorable online word-of-mouth (WOM) about their brands. Such WOM is especially critical given that B2B buyers are avidly using social media to research feedback from other professionals before making purchases (an argument featured in part 1 on influencing purchase decisions).
7. Increase reach. "Through social media tools, technologies, and platforms, we can increase our digital footprint and thereby extend our brand's reach to global audiences."
Through social media, and a worldwide Web, companies have a new channel to penetrate markets that were once out of reach. This is especially attractive for B2Bs, which either can't afford to increase their physical footprint to new regions or want to "test the global waters" before diving in with larger investments.
Ready to create a strong social media program? A Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Social Media Program teaches you everything you need to know about building a successful social media strategy, policy, and team.
Another benefit of tapping social media to initiate global communications is the culling of market intelligence. By building relationships with professionals located all over the globe, companies can learn firsthand of how needs vary with varying geographical segments—information that smart marketers can use to develop new offerings, practice areas, and profit centers for their organizations.
8. Protect (and promote!) brand reputation. "In a Web 2.0 world, where everyone can freely share their opinions and experiences, our company's interests are better served by participating in the social Web than by staying on the sidelines."
The fear of losing control over brand reputation will undoubtedly be a hot button among executives. But what executives need to understand is that they gain much more power (and thus, control) by participating in the social Web than by remaining silent. For this argument, present these three points to your executives:
- Positive buzz: The bloggers are not out to get your company... in fact, they're your brand's biggest fans. The headlines of brand boycotts and backlashes reflect the exception, but the statistics prove the rule. Show management how studies cite that twice as many favorable brand mentions (46%) are posted online than negative mentions (23%).
- Negative buzz: If negative buzz does occur, online participation enables you to quickly turn it around. If a negative comment about your brand is voiced online, by having an online presence and monitoring online conversations in real time, your company can quickly attend to the concern and not only avoid a larger issue but also use it to reflect how responsive you are... and so making your brand the hero of the story (rather than the villain).
- Online conduct: Every company sets its parameters for online conduct and communications. Explain to executives that just as they have always approved who will represent the brand offline to media and analysts, they will also approve who will represent the brand online. And, just as organizations train employees on appropriate conduct inside the office, the same now applies to online conduct, with plenty of precedents from other companies (see links to 100+ social media corporate policies and templates).
9. Ensure relevance. "It's a shame when companies lose relevance because of strategies that their competitors' implement, but it's tragic when companies lose relevance because they themselves fail to implement strategies."
Companies can lose market relevance in many ways. In some cases, they don't move with enough alacrity in aligning their offerings to the fluctuating needs of their markets. In other cases, companies fail to adjust fees when a market becomes less price elastic and so they lose customers to lower-priced alternatives.
In many cases, companies lose mind share—and along with it the perception of relevance—not because of product or price but because of marketing strategies that don't support the changing media habits of their target audiences.
As noted in part 1 of this article, social media participation by B2B audiences is already at high levels and continues to rapidly increase. The argument here is that to maintain relevance and awareness with their audiences, companies must quickly become active in the media that their markets are using—otherwise, their competitors will be the ones that are active in those media, if they're not already.
10. Extend CRM. "Providing touch points across various channels for our customers has always been the rule. Why should social media be the exception?"
Whether through retention-based programs, special campaigns, or state-of-the-art software systems, B2Bs go to great lengths to manage their valued customer relationships. Accordingly, B2Bs pay significant attention to ensure they quickly respond and support their customers across myriad touch points, including in-person meetings, the telephone, and email.
So, given the real-time, two-way nature of social media, why would any B2B not use these tools to provide another touch point to customers? (Yes, that's a rhetorical question for your executives.)
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You're now armed and ready to win over the boardroom, marketers! Once you've received approval on integrating social media into your 2010 marketing plan, and need to better understand where to begin (and where to from there), these resources may prove helpful:
- "Start Smart: A 10-Step Social Media Guide for B2B Marketers," a MarketingProfs article.
- "A Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Social Media Program," a guide covering everything you need to know about building a successful social-media strategy, program, policy, and team.
