Social Media for B2B Marketing: Tips & Resources from 4 Technology Marketers

I attended a great event Tuesday on social media marketing strategies for B2B and B2G technology companies, hosted by Women In Technology, a Washington, D.C. association of women technology professionals. Although the event focused on tech, the strategies and principles shared can be used in any industry. Here are the slides from the presentation.

Although I didn’t expect many of the 80+ attendees to be active in social media, as the event was an overview not deep-dive, I was surprised to be the only one in the room that knew what Technorati is. Many of the people had never heard of Twitter, although I did speak with a few who recently began using Twitter for personal use and 1 using it for their company (Jen Krupey (Twitter name: @krupey) of Viget Labs (Twitter name: @viget), one of the event speakers). A few people using Facebook for personal use, but didn’t hear of anyone using it for business. Quite a few people interested in starting a blog for their company, but having a hard time justifying time and resources to executives since ROI can be difficult to measure. LinkedIn was also brought up, but the only people using it for marketing or business is recruiters. New LinkedIn applications may make it more effective for marketing purposes.

The panel of 4 speakers included Matt Goddard of R2integrated, Susan Kearney of Smith Gifford, Jen Krupey, Director Marketing Services for Viget Labs, and Brian Reed, CMO of Boxtone.

Quick overview of tips and insights:

• Marketing IS technology - think about how technology can make every marketing program more effective, efficient, or measurable
• The Web should be viewed by marketers as a buying engine for customers, not a selling engine for companies
• Figure out how your customers want to purchase and do it their way
• 3 parts of the digital ecosystem:
  • Engagement - the user experience
  • Distribution - the social media outlets used to provide user experience
  • Analytics - the technology/systems used to measure results
• Don’t fall into the “fad trap” - just because there are new technology-based marketing techniques doesn’t mean they are right for your business
• Measure real success (revenue, new customers), not the steps along the way (leads, mentions, etc.)
• Think of your website as a neighborhood or marketplace, make it vibrant and interactive
• It’s the content stupid… Good content distributed widely to the places your target audiences are already visiting is best, especially for up-and-coming companies
• Embrace two-way communication
• Start a lot of fires and see which ones burn - Don’t wait until you feel you’re a social media master before trying different avenues. Social media is ‘learn as you go’, as no way to tell what will be effective for you until you try it
• Don’t forget search engine optimization (SEO), but don’t rely on just SEO to drive people to your online materials. Must seek out where people already are online and meet them there.
• Adopt the mindset of a direct marketer - test, measure, lather, rinse, repeat
• Always be transparent. Don’t try to fool your audience, it will get ugly.

Jen Krupey has posted her presentation slides on the Viget Labs blog, including discussion of the “Motrin Moms”, a group of upset mothers commenting on and responding to an online video advertisement by pain reliever medicine brand Motrin via social media, particularly Twitter.

The speakers recommended the following books:

• Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

• Guerilla Marketing with Technology: Unleashing the Full Potential of Your Small Business by Jay Conrad Levinson

• The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott (I highly recommend this as well)

What social media strategies are working (or aren’t) for your company? Any advice or tips?