Building the B2B business case for Social Media

10 BENEFITS

Make no mistake:”Social” Media is Business media.

Yet many B2B are not convinvced that

these game-changing media

demonstrate significant benefits for their business sectors & unique

challenges

This attitude is costing them

Potential profits, busniness leads,

industry relevence... and market share to their smarter online

competitors

The need of the hour?A better understanding of the tremendous B2B

business case for social media

10benefits

Social Media provides an array of new touch points for B2B brand executives to interact with prospects and customers.

• Due to two-way, real time attributes, social medial tools enable a highly personla branding experience for B2B customers and prospects.

• The convenience if social medai allows more B2B executives to build relationships with current and prospective buyers...and building relationships is core to all B2B marketing and sales efforts.

Extend Branding And Relationship building

Efforts

#1B2B branding is High Touch and is

mainly established through directly interfacing with customers and

relationship building (vs. Ads & campaigns in B2C)

• B2Bs can build professional communities centered on knowledge sharing & reducing challenges that professionals face every day – AND leverage these interactions to build brand, reputation and prospects

• Company’s can participate in existing communities and networks to share insights and help solve problems

• Through the value of thier community participation, Companies can increase their standing and improve the potential of positive third party referrals

B2B professionals actively network online to find jobs,

share knowledge, solve problems & build their network of industry

contacts#2

Tap professional communities

• With social media, companies now have access to a world of new markets...and new business leads

• Through monitoring online conversations, B2B executives can learn of changing needs and emerging opportunities that can fuel new offerings and practice areas to drive new revenues for the organiuzation

• With their newfound reach, B2Bs can also identify companies with which to establish revenue generating partnerships

The B2B market seems smaller than the B2C market thus,

expanding reach is imperative for recognizing and creating new

business opportunitiesGrow Reach

#3

• Through text, audia and video, social media gives thought leaders a dynamic new platform to demonstrate their expertise and gain exposure

• Companies can create rich, in-depth conversations, professional forums and knowledge exchanges around thier unique ideas, articles, perspectives, reports and methodologies

• Can ”rejuvenate and repackage” their existing thought-leadership content in new ways for these new channels – and thereby maximize the ROI from existing content

B2B relies on thought leadership to communicate,

differentiate and position their offerings

Support Thought Leadership Programs

#4

• Due to providing objective, third party experiences and feedback, favorable WOM (word-of-mouth) reduces buyer-side risk of big-ticket B2B purchases

• Programs implemented through social media help to facilitate brand advocates that can help sell B2B offerings through spreading positive mentions and endorsements

B2B buyers are heavily influenced by third-party feedback in their

purchasing decisions – both to identify solutions and to limit risk to

their organizationsIncrease Third-Party

Influencers(Word Of Mouth)

#5

• Educating prospects through out the purchasing cycle is a core role of B2B marketers, with social media providing them tremendous new outlets for knowledge sharing that can facilitate faster sales cycle

• Social media tools and paltforms provides new ways to communicate information and answer buyer questions about their offerings much more quickly

• In providing two-way communications, companies not only inform prospects, but also build trust and credibility that can work to increase sales in shorter periods.

Unlike impulse-driven, low-risk purchases, B2B sales cycles are far longer, with buyers doing lots of research and reference checks

Dramatically shorten sales

cycles

#6

• While social media requires an investment of budget and professional resources, it’s nowhere near the cost associated with other media

• Even in tough economic climates, B2Bs can afford social media programs and use these initiatives to gain competitive advantage

• As the cost of each sale acquired through social media is significantly lower, ROI and profit margins can increase

Social Media is the MOST cost-effective media. Ever.

Decrease Marketing Spends

#7

• The information exchanged, and relationships built, through these social channels helps to decrease confusion and, in turn, increase the purchasing rates of B2B products and services

• Informing and helping prospective buyers through social media can help position B2Bs as trusted advisors and decrease the concerns associated with high learning curves

B2B offerings are often very complex and necessitate a

learning curve for buyers, both pre – and – post purchase

#8

Minimize Complexity of

Services

• B2Bs must remain relevant with existing & potential clients - they must be active in the media that their markets deem relevant and actively uses

• Since many B2Bs are slower to adopt social media, many companies can leverage first-mover advantages within their industries

• Due to the insights gleaned through monitoring online conversations, companies can identify new offerings and needed improvements around which to strengthen their competitive advantage

Companies must identify ways to strengthen and improve their

competitive advantage – of both their offerings and their marketing

strategiesCreating competitive &

sustaining advantage

#9

• Social media technologies enable new CRM methods for B2Bs to improve their customer communications, extend customer service and share knowledge

• Social media tools and programs, B2Bs can not only inform but involve clients in every step of the brand development process and in return, deepen these relationships

Due to smalller market size and higher-priced offerings,

the value of each B2B customer is much greater

than B2C customersIntensify

CRM efforts

#10

What to learn more about Social Media Marketing

for B2Bs?

Contact Details

Siddharth Hegde: Founder & DirectorEmail: siddharth.hegde@ethinos.comMobile: +91 98202 17252Website: www.ethinos.com

www.ethinos.com/blog@siddhegde www.facebook.com/EthinosDigital