Evolution of Social Media for B2B Lead Generation

“Analytics is key” says Paul Dunay Social Media Expert

“After 2 years of developing a strategy to deal with various types of social media conversations within Avaya we finally got the monitoring and routing of those conversations to be institutionalized within the firm. No small feat by any means but I just couldn’t imagine that the sum total of social media in B2B was just about monitoring and reacting to tweets all day. I felt there had to be much more we can do with the social data that we just can’t get out of monitoring. So I started looking at the social media analytics space for social technology that can provide real insights. I believe there is a vast sea of unstructured social data about everything you can imagine out there which can be used to help pre-inform your decision making in marketing. It’s up to the marketers to harness the insights of what the data is telling us. Challenge the norm and transform marketing and lead generation into the revenue generating center it should be!” – Paul Dunay, former social media head at Avaya and current Chief Marketing Officer, Networked Insights

So…Is there a “Mantra” for Social Media?

Consider this…what if Monitor, Measure, Analyze and Convert was to become the golden rule for social media marketing? What if defining goals, identifying core messaging, determining appropriate social technology tools, tracking SMO results and understanding SMM analysis to affect improvement were an integral part of corporate social media strategy?

We have lived through the social media monitoring phase, followed by the reputation management phase. Now as Paul Dunay wrote, we are in the social media analytics phase which, in my opinion, will lead us logically into the conversion phase. I think this phase should come sooner rather than later. I have seen first-hand lead generation plays that are executed without any goals or ways to measure its success, whether or not it involves social media. So while I agree with Paul and see it as a positive step towards making social media more effective for B2B lead generation, I would still urge you to ensure you do not get too carried away. It won’t work to neglect tried and true demand generation tactics in the foreseeable future.

What do you think? Does social media marketing actually live up to the hype? Does it deserve all the attention it’s getting? Is it worth the effort? What kind of results would make it worthwhile? I would love to hear your thoughts! Leave me your comments below.