Monday, November 7, 2011

B2B Social Media - Content and Culture

I am a "huge" believer that statistics show whatever we want.  (I have quoted Twain before, bit it's still one of my favorites: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.")  But when statistics support my personal observations and experience, I have to believe.  The use of social media by B2B companies is growing, is proving far more prevalent, and far more valuable than generally recognized.

What intrigues me, though, is how the effective use of B2B social media differs from the higher profile B2C usage.  Content drives B2B social media, content that allows people access to a company's expertise, leading views, and unique insights.  Social media not only puts a face to the corporate wall, but exposes a deeper understanding of the skills, talents and brains that make up the company.

Social media enables B2B companies to claim and demonstrate their position in the marketplace.  What makes the company different?  Why should we partner?  What is the competitive edge you bring?  Simply retweeting articles written by others or developing a fun Facebook page does not create the necessary demonstration of who you are.

Focus Research's 2011 Benchmark Study highlighted the importance of thoughtful content.  B2B marketers ranked blogs, webinars, white papers and videos as more valuable for directly supporting marketing objectives than did B2C companies.  User/peer-created content and data-driven research reports were more valuable to the B2C companies.

Corporate blogging is the primary purveyor of new content and has tremendous impact in the B2B space.  B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who do not according to Hubspot (State of Inbound Marketing Lead Generation Report, 2010).  Hubspot also found that companies that blog more than 4X a week see the greatest increase in traffic and leads.

Nice.  But how does a company already stretched for resources blog that often?

This is when culture enables social media.

Too many companies are afraid to let their experts "talk."  Materials need to be vetted through the PR or Communications or Marketing or Social Media Department.  The tone has to be "right."  The spin has to be "right."  The message has to align with the corporate message.

Those companies don't trust their own culture; they don't trust the individual voices of their employees to harmonize.  Trust comes from culture.  A social culture is a necessary enabler of an effective B2B social media strategy.    

Blogging is how companies share their thinking, their knowledge and the depth of their expertise.  A blog post needs a genuine voice.  It needs the person who has the knowledge to write the blog.  Most companies have a number of "mile deep" experts, but few experts have the time to author a blog.  Most, however, can find the time to write a post every couple of weeks.  And that is the approach many of my most successful clients have taken - a shared blog.  Each person writes every few weeks on a particular subject, sometimes on seemingly esoteric topics.

This approach works for the bloggers as well.  Putting pictures, brief bios, contact information and expertise on the web site as well as on the blog helps the bloggers to raise their professional profiles.  That practice also turns the company from a building into a group of people, individuals with personalities whom prospective buyers can reach out and contact - and with whom they can establish relationships.  Deep experts and passionate employees are the new front line.

People learn about one another internally from blogs as well.  A social culture not only drives lead generation and revenue, it also improves corporate loyalty and productivity.

Content and culture.  They need each other.

Related articles you might like to read:
12 Tweetable Statistics Prove B2B Social Media Rocks: http://t.co/bsprfmox
Mature Companies Need to Break the Rules:  http://bit.ly/kGxlxz
Corporate Culture and Leadership are Inextricably Bound Together http://bit.ly/jHNyhg