Is Social Media more difficult in B2B than B2C?
I submit that it is! Please hear me out.
When I say Ralph Lauren, Nine Inch Nails, Vineyard Vines, GAP – or even Apple – you get a sense of a very homogeneous type of person. You get a picture of exactly who I mean and the “lifestyle†that brand portrays. When I say Ralph Lauren, it’s like reading the preppie handbook.
But what happens when I say Unisys or Delco or even Oracle? What mental image, what picture of homogenous people comes to mind, if any? Probably nothing, right?
Now, consider Nine Inch Nails and their use of social media. The band printed tour shirts with different, seemingly random boldface letters that, when strung together, spelled out a website address – iamtryingtobelieve.com. The tactic engaged an audience that was totally in sync with their brand and lit up their community site, Spiral.
Sure a B2B company can launch a microsite any day. But can it launch one that speaks to the company’s audience so perfectly that it resonates with a vast majority? I would submit the answer is no.
Yes, I know microsites aren’t social media. My point is that out in social media land if you know exact who your audience is, what will resonate with them and how to tap into it, you are home free. B2B audiences are more fragmented, with internal employees, external partners, channel partners, third party vendors, and, oh yeah, customers and prospects.
What’s your take? I’m interested to hear from you …
June 29th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I think that within B2B, a small network can be very influential. The ability to niche and connect is very powerful. Providing information can lead to spread at industry events and much more.
I think that the personalities within the company need to be brought forward, and not just the senior execs.
Most people in the social media-sphere have jobs and some of them will have jobs in your niche, you just become another part of their online activities.
People who talk about the clever work that they do for their companies are interesting to listen to - there’s loads of senior execs talking publically now, lets here from the people that drive the business from within lets move towards the true notion of the transparent organisation. It will make your company exciting, your eco-sphere will grow and you’ll build better offerings for your customers. It needs to be done in stages for it is a cultural shift.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
You raise a good question about B2B use of social media. Undoubtedly it is more challenging than activating for consumers, but there are a number of ways to look at opportunities to approach B2B. The first question that came to mind when I read your post is “How are you defining social media.” Are you referring to conspicuous platforms such as Facebook and YouTube? Your point about microsites doesn’t necessarily need to be true, especially if you enable social behavior and media sharing elements into the microsite platforms that you create. Microsites don’t have to be brand brochureware.
I can think back on campaigns that I have worked on where our client was a large B2B provider, yet there were benefits to generating consumer programs to create downstream awareness that either benefited the company from a brand reputation standpoint, or created a marketplace demand for other companies to source solutions from the client. A use of social media to influence the influencers, so to speak.
There is also value in using social media in a B2B context to offer industry insights and benefits that match the B2B market segment within which the company’s targets reside. For example, if a company manufactures office products or delivers office services there may be an opportunity to use social media to create a small business community that provides solutions and facilitates B2B dialogue about topics that are germane to that segment. In these situations, however, it may be better to add value to existing online communities where there is already vibrant dialogue rather than to create new properties.
I have also worked with some people that believe that at the end of the day all people are consumers and that if you can introduce a brand into relevant dialogue online, the B2B aspect becomes irrelevant. I think that POV is an oversimplification that does not take into consideration the fact that business owners have unique issues and needs that should be addressed.
Lots more to say about the subject having dealt with this challenge often in the work I do as a digital and social media strategist at Ketchum Digital. Thank you for the thought-provoking post.