A chance for business to gain via social media

the impact and role of B2B social media is less talked or understood than its effectiveness in marketing. Generally social media do have an important role within business.

John Bell, broadcast and print design team at Ogilvy PR says: “In fact, one of the fastest-growing social behaviours for senior decision-makers in a B2B environment is managing their social network profile, and I think that’s a testament to the fact that we now live blended lives.”

He adds: “What’s changed is that more of us are using all sorts of social media platforms to take care of things in our lives, from making decisions on business, to communicating, to networking, and so forth.” and “You can’t ignore it. I feel inundated every day and so there’s a pressure to make sense of it and turn all that information into actionable insight.”

how does these idea translate to business to business marketing?

It’s all about connectivity and relevance where some of users are finding perfect contents or connecting with high profile person or perfect brands. Bell believe social media value is in strengthen relationship.

But, surprisingly in B2B relationships, it has not been leveraged enough, while he notes that an estimated two-thirds of incidents of switching suppliers is down to B2B relationship problems.

Ethan McCarty, who the senior manager, digital and social strategy for IBM, says he believes this issue reflects “an overall shift, in trust in organisations to trust in networks”.

Bell says many brands are doing just that. His research show that 60 percent of buyers in the B2B space say word of mouth from peers influences purchase decisions. What is more, 51 percent of people using search are doing it to find a recommendation from someone else, preferably with experience of a product or service.

He also emphasizes that, with a few notable exceptions, companies are often too slow to develop anything akin to brand advocacy or expert programmes where they are putting people within the company in direct contact with buyers.

Source: Financial Time