The B2B Marketer’s “New Normal”: How to Use Social Media to Generate Leads
By Courtney Wiley, Director of Digital Marketing
NOTE: Stats not associated with a graph can be found on the Earnest Agency Blog titled, “Vital statistics for every B2B marketer.” Special thanks to Chris Wilson, Managing Director of Earnest Agency and Chairman of Association of B2B Agencies and Jeff Bullas, Sales and Marketing Manager at Infinity Technologies and blogger at jeffbullas.com.
In today’s E-to-E world (everyone-to-everyone), the B2B buying process is fundamentally changing. With 93% of B2B buyers using search to begin the buying process and 37% posting questions on social networking sites when looking for suggestions, successful B2B marketers are establishing best practices today on how to use social media to fill their sales pipelines for tomorrow.
A Peek Into The Future: Moving from Traditional to Social
We’ve all read the reports that confirm our suspicions: B2B marketing leaders are shifting the bulk of their spend from traditional to digital. In fact, according to Booz & Company’s B2B Marketing Survey 2010, we can expect a 67% increase in social media spend over the next two-three years, trailed closely by a 64% growth in digital and online marketing:
Good thing, too, because B2B buyers are becoming more aggressive in their search:
85% want B2B brands to interact and engage with them online
93% of B2B buyers believe that all companies should have a social media presence
9:10 say that when they are ready to buy, they’ll find you
First, What are Other B2B Marketers Doing?
A recent poll found that 43% of B2B marketers prefer Twitter when it comes to social media marketing; 32% leverage LinkedIn to generate leads; 16% engage customers on Facebook, and 8% rely on blogs:
100% of large and enterprise B2B firms realize the most value with Twitter as their #1 lead-gen tool:
Interestingly, 75% of B2B brands participate in Twitter (versus only 49% of B2C firms).
And if your target persona includes the C-level and VP title, your best bet is to engage via Twitter and Web logs because that’s where they tend to hang out the most:
Kristi Grigsby, Senior Director of Marketing for INgage Networks says, “I have seen that my own experience follows the trend that is taking place market-wise: as B2B marketers, we continue to look for ways to apply this new medium to our business environment. It wasn’t that long ago when I began seeing Twitter as a valuable tool in my B2B outreach, rather than a simple means to provide B2C support. Now I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
So how do you take advantage of this “new normal” and use social media to drive lead generation for your B2B brand?
What You Can Do Today: 7 Ways to Use Social Media to Generate Qualified Leads
1. If Twitter is your social media drug of choice, be everywhere all the time by using hashtags and schedulers
- Hashtags: If your event budget has taken a nosedive like many others, use the advanced search feature on Twitter to research what events your competitors and/or prospects will be attending. Be careful not to blast the conference hashtag with commercials but instead post insightful responses and informative resources for the hashtag followers. The idea here is to put yourself in front of a captive audience and drive qualified traffic by sharing thought leadership and educational assets.
- Schedulers: In the “How to grow your Twitter following” post, research shows that a vibrant Twitter account updates more than 20 times a day. As a B2B marketer, be direct (use @ replies) and establish yourself as the subject-matter expert in your field (i.e., share educational articles and links in between your branded tweets). To update your timeline about once every hour, try using a free scheduler like Twuffer, SocialOomph, HootSuite, or TweetDeck.
- Also monitor Twitter for customer care inquiries and negative sentiment directed towards your competition. If someone is having an issue with your competitor’s product, this is a good time to step in and showcase your differentiators.
- Participate in industry Tweetchats. This is a great way to directly engage with prospects, potential partners, and other thought leaders by asking and answering questions related to a certain topic. For a Tweetchat directory listing, start at Twitdom.com. One of its Twitter application directories—“What the Hashtag?”—is a user-editable encyclopedia for hashtags found on Twitter.
2. Use the advanced search feature on LinkedIn to find prospects that fit your buyer persona. (NOTE: Save those searches and get alerts via email when new people match your criteria.) First research the connects and then outreach in a non-aggressive manner, offering your expertise around a specific business challenge of theirs you may have uncovered.
- While on LinkedIn, establish yourself as a thought leader by answering user questions. If prospects know you are willing to answer inquiries from the general public, they may be willing to ask you questions directly—which may open up a selling opportunity.
- Join a few LinkedIn Groups specific to your industry. These groups help you keep your pulse on the marketplace and in touch with people who share your interests (i.e., who could also benefit from your solution).
3. Use Facebook to establish the culture of your brand
- Be sure you “like” your current customers and prospects. Engage them further by leaving messages or comments, and congratulate them on newsworthy items.
- Use photos to showcase your company culture so that prospects get an idea of what type of people make up the company. Treat this as an opportunity to also share behind-the-scenes goings-on, making your brand more personable.
4. Mobile: Use SMS short codes (EX: Text “ELAvate” to 247365) to give prospects a green way to opt-in for additional content. Use it as another touch point and reason to push out differentiators about your brand.
5. YouTube: Increase your search engine ranking + brand awareness online by tagging your videos appropriately. Try connecting your corporate videos to topic-specific landing pages, especially since YouTube is the #2 search engine.
6. Leverage the WOM value on social bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious
- Ask employees to bookmark your high-quality conversion pages, which helps to increase your social footprint
- Tag press release announcements and landing pages as they are released. (This tactic can generate exposure for your brand as long as you tag appropriately.)
7. Online Community and Chat
- Find new customers through your online community presence, provide micro-groups that are specific to particular business challenges
- Employ a live chat feature on your site so that you can engage visitors directly as they click on high-value pages
Embrace the B2B marketer’s “new normal,” and use social media to generate net new leads while building a viable sales pipeline.
To uncover more vital statistics for B2B marketers, watch this video by Earnest Agency:
How to Use Social Media to Generate Leads
NOTE: Stats not associated with a graph can be found on the Earnest Agency Blog titled, “Vital statistics for every B2B marketer.” Special thanks to Chris Wilson, Managing Director of Earnest Agency and Chairman of Association of B2B Agencies and Jeff Bullas, Sales and Marketing Manager at Infinity Technologies and blogger at jeffbullas.com.
In today’s E-to-E world (everyone-to-everyone), the B2B buying process is fundamentally changing. With 93% of B2B buyers using search to begin the buying process and 37% posting questions on social networking sites when looking for suggestions, successful B2B marketers are establishing best practices today on how to use social media to fill their sales pipelines for tomorrow.
A Peek Into The Future: Moving from Traditional to Social
We’ve all read the reports that confirm our suspicions: B2B marketing leaders are shifting the bulk of their spend from traditional to digital. In fact, according to Booz & Company’s B2B Marketing Survey 2010, we can expect a 67% increase in social media spend over the next two-three years, trailed closely by a 64% growth in digital and online marketing:
Good thing, too, because B2B buyers are becoming more aggressive in their search:
First, What are Other B2B Marketers Doing?
A recent poll found that 43% of B2B marketers prefer Twitter when it comes to social media marketing; 32% leverage LinkedIn to generate leads; 16% engage customers on Facebook, and 8% rely on blogs:
100% of large and enterprise B2B firms realize the most value with Twitter as their #1 lead-gen tool:
Interestingly, 75% of B2B brands participate in Twitter (versus only 49% of B2C firms).
And if your target persona includes the C-level and VP title, your best bet is to engage via Twitter and Web logs because that’s where they tend to hang out the most:
Kristi Grigsby, Senior Director of Marketing for INgage Networks says, “I have seen that my own experience follows the trend that is taking place market-wise: as B2B marketers, we continue to look for ways to apply this new medium to our business environment. It wasn’t that long ago when I began seeing Twitter as a valuable tool in my B2B outreach, rather than a simple means to provide B2C support. Now I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
So how do you take advantage of this “new normal” and use social media to drive lead generation for your B2B brand?
What You Can Do Today: 7 Ways to Use Social Media to Generate Qualified Leads
1. If Twitter is your social media drug of choice, be everywhere all the time by using hashtags and schedulers
- Hashtags: If your event budget has taken a nosedive like many others, use the advanced search feature on Twitter to research what events your competitors and/or prospects will be attending. Be careful not to blast the conference hashtag with commercials but instead post insightful responses and informative resources for the hashtag followers. The idea here is to put yourself in front of a captive audience and drive qualified traffic by sharing thought leadership and educational assets.
- Schedulers: In the “How to grow your Twitter following” post, research shows that a vibrant Twitter account updates more than 20 times a day. As a B2B marketer, be direct (use @ replies) and establish yourself as the subject-matter expert in your field (i.e., share educational articles and links in between your branded tweets). To update your timeline about once every hour, try using a free scheduler like Twuffer, SocialOomph, HootSuite, or TweetDeck.
- Also monitor Twitter for customer care inquiries and negative sentiment directed towards your competition. If someone is having an issue with your competitor’s product, this is a good time to step in and showcase your differentiators.
- Participate in industry Tweetchats. This is a great way to directly engage with prospects, potential partners, and other thought leaders by asking and answering questions related to a certain topic. For a Tweetchat directory listing, start at Twitdom.com. One of its Twitter application directories—“What the Hashtag?”—is a user-editable encyclopedia for hashtags found on Twitter.
2. Use the advanced search feature on LinkedIn to find prospects that fit your buyer persona. (NOTE: Save those searches and get alerts via email when new people match your criteria.) First research the connects and then outreach in a non-aggressive manner, offering your expertise around a specific business challenge of theirs you may have uncovered.
- While on LinkedIn, establish yourself as a thought leader by answering user questions. If prospects know you are willing to answer inquiries from the general public, they may be willing to ask you questions directly—which may open up a selling opportunity.
- Join a few LinkedIn Groups specific to your industry. These groups help you keep your pulse on the marketplace and in touch with people who share your interests (i.e., who could also benefit from your solution).
3. Use Facebook to establish the culture of your brand
- Be sure you “like” your current customers and prospects. Engage them further by leaving messages or comments, and congratulate them on newsworthy items.
- Share your solution videos with Facebook supporters in an entertaining way
- Use photos to showcase your company culture so that prospects get an idea of what type of people make up the company. Treat this as an opportunity to also share behind-the-scenes goings-on, making your brand more personable.
4. Mobile: Use SMS short codes (EX: Text “ELAvate” to 247365) to give prospects a green way to opt-in for additional content. Use it as another touch point and reason to push out differentiators about your brand.
5. YouTube: Increase your search engine ranking + brand awareness online by tagging your videos appropriately. Try connecting your corporate videos to topic-specific landing pages, especially since YouTube is the #2 search engine.
6. Leverage the WOM value on social bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious
- Ask employees to bookmark your high-quality conversion pages, which helps to increase your social footprint
- Tag press release announcements and landing pages as they are released. (This tactic can generate exposure for your brand as long as you tag appropriately.)
7. Online Community and Chat
- Find new customers through your online community presence, provide micro-groups that are specific to particular business challenges
- Employ a live chat feature on your site so that you can engage visitors directly as they click on high-value pages
Embrace the B2B marketer’s “new normal,” and use social media to generate net new leads while building a viable sales pipeline.
To uncover more vital statistics for B2B marketers, watch this video by Earnest Agency:
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