In my first visit to the annual Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) Summit, I found myself bombarded with smart thinking, quick wits and a ton of takeaways. Gary Vaynerchuk’s opening keynote was packed with crude, yet spot-on comments about the great culture shift we’re in the midst of (Rated R for language). And while he might not have been as compulsive as Gary, Kipp Bodnar’s session on Driving and Measuring B2B was full of points worth sharing.

B2B > B2C
While use of social media for B2C may be the more popular and glamorized of the bunch, B2B companies are actually in a better position to use social media for talking with their customers. B2B companies know their audience; conversely, it’s harder to expect what a consumer does on any given day. Still, just because you’re better positioned, it doesn’t mean social media is always the right tool.

When it might not make sense:

  • If you have a small customer base (say less than five). As Gary mentioned in his keynote, it’s the message that matters and not the platform. Don’t jump on Twitter if you could just as effectively reach all of your customers via e-mail, phone, or smoke signals for that matter.
  • Velocity and volume. Social media may not be right for fast sales, like if you need to close 10 leads in the next month.
  • No resources. Don’t risk doing it wrong if you don’t have the time and talent to make it work.

Content Creation Leads to Organic Growth
The more content you put out there means there is more content to be found by search engines and therefore found by your customers and prospects. More pages = more opportunities to be seen. Kipp compared Web pages to lottery tickets; the more you have, the greater your chances are for success. Creating a blog or developing product-specific pages is a great way to start building those numbers. Of course, you’ll want to make sure the basics are in place – like landing pages that can collect lead information.

Your Customers > You
Your customers are more important than you. And they know it. Don’t talk to them in a way that’s promotional. Help solve their problems and answer their questions. Blogs are often the leading source of website traffic, so make sure you’re offering value to your customers.

Key things to keep in mind:

  • Answer your customers’ questions. Thinking about the 10 most common questions people are asking you is a great place to start your blog. What are your sales/call center people hearing most?
  • Headlines win. Using numbers or a “best of” approach will capture the attention of readers.
  • Preview your blog post on a mobile phone. If it’s readable, you’re in good shape. Headlines, bullets, etc. are key.
  • Include calls to action. A call to action alongside relevant content can help gain new customers.

Social + CRM = ROI
Have your sales system tied into your Web analytics. This will help you determine where your leads are coming from and provide insight into how you want to spend your marketing dollars. Measuring from visit to customer can help you determine the cost of the customer acquisition and the total lifetime value of the customer. Ultimately, social media can lead to more engaged, lower-cost customers.

How are you communicating in the B2B social media space? Have you found success?