Social media marketing has three important aspects<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. It is about creating buzz<\/strong> or news worthy events, videos, tweets, or even blog entries that attract attention, and become viral in nature. Buzz generation is what makes social media marketing work, it replicates a message, not through purchase of an ad, but through user to user contact. The message does not necessarily have to be about the product, but could be anything either relatively or remotely associated; many successful viral campaigns have gathered steam by focussing on the interests of the social media enthusiasts with a subtle presence in the form of a company logo or tagline included.<\/p>\n 2. Requires building of assets<\/strong> that facilitate fans of a brand or company to promote it across multiple social media channels. Fan pages in Facebook or Groups in Linkedin are ideal examples.<\/p>\n 3. Demands a democratic approach<\/strong> – Social media marketing is successful only when it is designed to allow customer\/user participation and dialogue, with little or no control by the organization. If a company has something to hide, then maybe social media marketing is not for them, here only the honest or the smart survive, companies which know how to accept and make the most of both bricks and bouquets.<\/p>\n Advantages of Social Media Marketing versus Traditional Marketing Strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n Why should B2B Companies opt for Social Media Marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n Because most of their competitors are already there. Today most B2B companies are decreasing their offline marketing dollars and spending it online online. A recent survey by B2B Magazine revealed that over 48% of those surveyed were increasing their online marketing spend. Wonder why?<\/p>\n According to a recent study by KnowledgeStorm of B2B technology decision makers it was found that:<\/p>\n · 90% Participate in Video<\/p>\n · 80% Participate in Blogs<\/p>\n · 80% Participate in Wikis<\/p>\n · 69% Participate in Social Networks<\/p>\n · 53% Participate in Podcasts<\/p>\n In the same study it was shared that of 69% of B2B buyers use social networks “primarily for business networking and development.”<\/p>\n Now it would require a lot of over confidence to ignore that kind of social media audience and continue staying away from social media. At a minimum B2B businesses should at least be involved in communities and social network where their customers are present. It would also pay to explore the opportunity to reach out to key influencers in their target market segment and optimize their content and social media applications for syndication.<\/p>\n There is enough data available online which proves that social media marketing has made a mark and is here to stay!<\/p>\n B2B Social Media Marketing Present Usage Trends<\/strong><\/p>\n The “2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study” found that those B2B companies already using social media were much more active in the space than their B2C counterparts, especially when it came to microblogging, participating in discussions on third-party sites, blogging and monitoring company mentions on various social media. B2Cs were ahead in a few areas: social media advertising, user ratings and reviews, and online communities for customers and prospects.<\/p>\n B2B Social Media Marketing Trends for 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n “2010 Outlook” indicates social media marketing will be of rising importance for business-to-business (B2B) marketers.<\/p>\n Website, e-mail and search spending were at the top of the list for online tactics to increase, but social media was not far behind. Six in 10 B2B marketers planned to up spending on social in 2010.<\/p>\n Fifty-four percent of respondents currently use social media for marketing. That was up 9 percentage points from November 2008 and about 4 points from June 2009, showing a steady increase in B2B participation.<\/p>\n Among B2B social network marketers, thought leadership was the main purpose, though about one-half hoped to generate leads through social media.<\/p>\n How B2B companies use social media varies but what is important to note is that companies use different social media platforms depending on their end objectives, which could be creating brand awareness, lead generation or just customer engagement.<\/p>\n B2B respondents to a survey by Visible Technologies andSiriusDecisions had somewhat different priorities: The top way they leveraged social media was for generating awareness, followed by customer engagement.<\/p>\n\n
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