4 inspiring examples of B2B companies harnessing social media for B2B marketing

In our 7 Steps B2B Digital Marketing Guide we show the importance of tailoring planning and content generation and curation around the specific needs of business-to-business (B2B) buyers when positioning B2B products and services. In this post I will look at more examples of B2B companies making good use of social media.

Social media and business are two phrases that have sat uncomfortably for several years; I think for good reason. I think about my own use of social media going back before 2008 to when the major platforms developed into mass audience participation, real-time news and networking sites, and the ways in which people use them. Business applications of social media do appear to have been shoehorned in as an afterthought.

In previous posts, we talked about the importance of curating content and creating great original content and offered…

What social media marketing can learn from real-life networking events

One of the oldest forms of sales and marketing is to go to a real-life in-person networking event. While these real-life networking events don’t have all of the efficiency and measurability of social media marketing, if you’re looking to get more sales leads from your social media marketing efforts, there are a lot of tips and ideas that we can learn from being in a room with real people.

Using social media in networking events

Here are some ways that real-life networking events can inspire us to get better results from social media marketing: 1. Find out 'who should I meet?' When you go to a real-life networking event, it doesn’t do any good to just scurry around the room trying to talk with anyone and everyone. Instead, you should use a focused approach.Find a short list of 5-10 companies that you would definitely…

12 great LinkedIn pages to learn B2B marketing from

If you're a B2B marketer, particularly if you work in professional services, you will have noticed how LinkedIn has become a much more effective platform for marketing your business in 2012. With innovations to company pages, profiles and advertising. Just this week, LinkedIn has enabled your groups to be showcased on your company page too. If you're looking to improve your company page then take a look at the leaders - there are some good examples from a range of sectors. LinkedIn asked followers of their blog to tell them their favourite LinkedIn Company Pages and have now compiled their 12 Best Company Pages of 2012. I think these are great examples of how businesses and organizations are using their LinkedIn Company Page to showcase…

An introduction to selecting the right B2B social media options

Most business-to-business (B2B) companies are already employing some form of social media as part of their marketing mix. But how many B2B marketers really think about their customers, who they are, what they look like, what they like and where they congregate, before selecting and using social media tools? And which are the right tools to use? I think there's a danger that companies feel they have to use everything, but fail to prioritise on the social media networks that matter [Editor's note - you discuss with colleagues what to prioritise with our Digital Marketing Radar].

The social media business conundrum

Using social media and selecting the right tools is the urgent marketing challenge facing B2B marketers. But they are faced with huge challenges that their B2C colleagues are not. The immediate and emotional nature of the B2C purchase compared to the complicated,…