Social Media for B2B Market – Techno Infonet

1. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Social Media For B2B Market

2. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Nexus Of Social Media & The B2B Business Model Take a close look at the nexus of B2B business models and the primary function and benefits of social media. By understanding where these two most effectively connect, it becomes easier to see where marketers can invest their time to get the best results in B2B social campaigns. The B2B buying process is a demanding one. When purchases can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and people’s careers can be put on the line when a bad purchase is made, it’s easy to see why B2B transactions often require a complex buying cycle.

3. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Relationship Between Social Media & Inbound Marketing For many marketers, the relationship between social media and inbound marketing is not 100% clear. (If you’re still unclear on the benefits of social media marketing, see “What is Social Media Marketing, And How Can It Help My Business?“) Most would say that the purpose of inbound marketing is to create great content and promote it through various channels. Social media is one of those channels, but it also plays a secondary role: it amplifies the impact and reach of content that’s published in other places. A common example of this would be promoting a recent blog post via social media channels in order to raise awareness of the blog post.

4. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com What Does Social Media Marketing Look Like At B2B Firms? A recent Content Marketing Institute study gave a clear picture of what a successful B2B social media marketer would look like. The following statistics highlight the findings: • 86% of B2B firms have a dedicated individual or agency to oversee their content marketing efforts • They are active on an average of 7 platforms • 91% use LinkedIn in their social marketing efforts (highest of all the social media channels) • 85% use Twitter • 81% use Facebook • So, how does a B2B marketer go about structuring an inbound campaign?

5. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Step 1: Understand Your Audience Conveying these factors through social media is compounded by the reality that social channels are highly personal venues. So, you have two options for reaching these potential buyers within your target market: Communicate with decision-makers as your brand Communicate with decision-makers as yourself, on behalf of your brand

6. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Step 2: Define Your Goals — Micro & Macro The B2B buying cycle is lengthy and typically involves multiple touch points. So for each marketing effort, it’s important to have a series of goals that take into account the potential universe of conversions. In the barest of terms, we tend to think of conversions as, “Did we make the sale?”

7. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Step 2: Define Your Goals — Micro & Macro Better questions to ask to help understand conversions for B2B social media campaigns include: • Did we make a connection that made them aware of our brand? • Did we make a connection that improved their perception of our brand? • Are our offers encouraging them to sign up for more information and become part of our email subscriber base? • Are they including us in their research process (and thereby building our brand authority) by downloading our white papers or reading case studies? • Are they asking us questions or sharing our material?

8. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Step 3: Define Your Metrics — By Value & Volume Volume: Volume metrics focus on engagement and growth. They’re early signs of success and they’re very tangible. These include: • Growth in the number of followers or fans • Likes or shares that your content gets • Click-through rates • Website traffic resulting from social channels Value: Value metrics are where you look for the outcomes that impact your bottom line. If your goals are lead generation and sales, these are the ones that really matter. How many leads are your campaigns generating? Are you scoring your leads and looking at lead quality? What do the conversion rates and lifetime customer values of these leads look like?

9. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Step 4: Drive Your Tactical Choices Accordingly • As the landscape becomes more crowded, social media’s ability to amplify the reach of your content can’t be overstated. Every content marketing strategy should include a secondary dissemination loop, and social media needs to play a key role in that. • Some networks are a natural (and growing) fit for B2B companies. LinkedIn is the obvious choice, with Twitter a close second. Slideshare is also rapidly gaining market share. Niche networks that cater to your customers are also worth getting to know, as they can be a source of highly qualified leads.

10. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Step 4: Drive Your Tactical Choices Accordingly • Google authorship will play an increasingly important role in getting eyes on your content. Even if there’s not a direct sales benefit to participating in Google Plus for your business now, the indirect benefits, such as Authorship Markup, are powerful enough that I’d advocate taking the network seriously. • If you haven’t taken your social media marketing into the visual realm, it’s time to begin experimenting. Images (think Pinterest and Instagram), video, and the rise of micro video are opening whole new content avenues.

11. +91 79 40307527 www.technoinfonet.com Contact US TECHNO INFONET FF-107, Abhishree Adroit, Nr. Swaminarayan Mandir, Mansi Circle, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad - 380015 Gujarat, India. Phone : +91 79 40307527 Let's be Social: sales@technoinfonet.com http://www.technoinfonet.com