B2B companies are by nature focused on their customers’ needs. I have discussed recently with several professionals about the pertinence of social media marketing in this sector. It is not yet a natural behavior, especially for those commercializing industrial equipment. The most frequent comments are: “It is not for us“, “We know our clients“, “It is not a common practice“.
I think differently. If it is not a common practice, Let’s do it. There is probably an opportunity to build a competitive advantage.
As I am French, it could be also part of the reason why!
kljl
In a recent report on B2B, Forrester Research highlighted some interesting shift in marketing budget allocation in the US:
1- Companies are aiming to be more visible in sharing information or fostering interactivity (more spending on pro-active information vehicles: online videos, podcasts, webminars…).
2- B2B decision makers planned to limit investment on ATL media contributing to the overall awareness (much less spending on traditional media: outdoor, print TV ads)
Let’s hope that they will go more on pertinent, rich content and interactivity with clients through blogs or other Web 2.0 tools.
I would say that differentiating B2B or B2C is not relevant as such. It is critical to build the appropriate momentum in order to acquire new customers and keep them loyal whilst improving their satisfaction whatever the product or service.
The main differences between B2C and B2B about social media usage stem from:
- Nature of content
- Targeting
- Selection of the most efficient tools for each type of business and client (Twitter is perhaps not the most pertinent selection to promote industrial equipment).
Let’s have a look on some interesting initiatives to keep in mind:
Product development & personalization
Community of Dell’s users is helping the company to develop new ideas of products and services through votes on line.
Personalization is not a privilege for Tee Shirt fans only. Companies can design their mobile merchandising unit online as well with Bboxx.
Client acquisition
Expanding its customer base is always a major step for small businesses. Bizual is helping these companies to acquire new clients through a dedicated community platform.
Orange Business TVis most probably a very effective mean to reinforce the brand’s credibility and expertise amongs TelCo professionals.
Who could be involved in the selection of service providers at one stage.
Webminars, webcats and podcasts are already largely available, especially coming from consultancy and services companies.
Client retention and Customer service
Sharing information through Blogs is a good way to build credibility and supporting customer loyalty:The Safe Workplace, Industrial Technology Today.
Comcast is using Twitter as a Customer Service helpline: Comcastcares has 19 781 followers.
A lot of initiatives have been launched already and some Key success factors might be identified (at least to start properly):
- Be the first in your sector (in order to set standards)
- Relevant and targeted content rather than 15 000 new initiatives all over the place.
- Maintain what you have started (so it means step by step).
- Internet and social media are not free but you could measure, track, monitor and get feedback.
- Consistency and synergy with other tools
It is better if the left hand knows what the right hand is doing!
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Manuel Donze // Jun 11, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Very interesting! The example with Comcast completely in avant-garde.
In Switzerland companies are very far from this approach!
Which CEO in Switzerland know Twitter? very low percentage!!
2 admin // Jun 12, 2009 at 9:34 am
Thanks Manuel for your contribution to the discussion. I don’t know the penetration of Twitter amongst companies in CH…most probably very low and even lower within certain companies nearby Lac de Joux
In the meantime, Twitter is just a tool and needs to be used with a specific objective.
Do you think it could be appropriate for some follow-up with Oh2You’s customers?
Frederic
3 Manuel Donze // Jul 1, 2009 at 9:00 am
We are working with Twitter: all new information is communicated through Twitter and Facebook.
I have no tool to validate the impact of Twitter; better for my company to use Facebook
Manuel
4 admin // Jul 1, 2009 at 9:27 am
Dear Manuel. Twitter could offer ways for tracking and monitoring. A the end of the day, it is important to use the social media tools for what they can acheiv e. As you use Twitter and Facebook you have the opportunity to work on community engagement (Facebook) and more customer service actions (Twitter) for example. I guess that the tool which works the best would be the one which is used the most by your clients.
Frederic
5 Manuel Donze // Jul 1, 2009 at 10:07 am
Effectively you are right.
But perhaps I am wrong but I have the impression that Twitter is not really used in Switzerland.
Do you have statistics about this?
I appreciate to use facebook with our page Oh
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oh/84182721422?ref=ts
6 admin // Jul 2, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Hi Manuel. I don’t have specific statistics but you may have a look on the following links
http://twitterfacts.blogspot.com/2008/05/individual-twitter-user-statistics.html
http://twittercounter.com/
http://www.nickburcher.com/2009/03/twitter-demographics-and-usage.html
7 Eugene // Jul 15, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Interesting article. Were did you got all the information from? Did you type it yourself or you copy it from elsewhere?
8 admin // Jul 16, 2009 at 10:50 am
Hi Eugene. Thanks for your comment. I have various sources of information and tools for gathering market intelligence (e.g Netbvibes and RSS). For the rest I try to make my brain working a little bit
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