Does Social Media Have a Place in Your B2B Marketing Efforts?
Do a Google search on "health care reform" and you'll find there are just a shade under 23,000,000 pages. "War in Iraq"...43,000,000. "World peace"...51,000,000.
Now do a search on "social media." A whopping 202,000,000 (that's million) pages returned. More than the previous three examples combined! Yes, social media is a hot topic these days - dominated by names like Facebook and Twitter. What does it all mean to a B2B marketer?
I've read article after article...after article...all praising the power, the reach, the absolute necessity of implementing these social media tools (and that's what they are - tools). One article in Ad Age recently chastised and called out any ad agency as basically "unqualified to handle an account" if they didn't have an active Twitter and Facebook account. And at a minimum, according to the article, they weren't qualified to handle the social media portion of an account. Well, that's like saying that if a B2B advertising agency isn't running print ads in trade publications, they're not qualified to handle the print media portion of an account. Or that if a B2C agency isn't running 60 second Super Bowl ads, they're not qualified to produce them. You get my point. But that's the hype surrounding the social media conversation right now.
It's time to put social media in perspective, step back, take a deep breath, and look at it for what it is....another marketing tool at our disposal. It's not the panacea some would have you believe. It needs to be framed inside an integrated marketing communications program (not on the island its currently being put on), and then evaluated appropriately.
Putting together an integrated marketing communications program involves many steps. Maybe you already have one, maybe not. (You should). To evaluate whether you should be using social media of any type as part of your marketing strategy, you need to get back to marketing basics - just as you do with any other media. What are you selling, to whom, where can you reach them (magazines, websites, blogs, etc.), and how can you most cost effectively reach them? Granted, I've greatly oversimplified the IMC process here.
When B2B marketers frame social media inside an integrated marketing program, they're going to find that currently, there are MANY B2B audiences out there who are not engaged in social media for work, in any way, shape or form. Your tweets may may not be falling on deaf ears, but they're falling on unqualified ears. Because the company that the 58 year old machine operator you're trying to reach with news of the improved speeds and feeds on your equipment blocks all social media websites at the plant. And the middle-aged and overworked plant manager doesn't have time, nor the inclination to tweet from his company issued cell phone. They MIGHT have Facebook accounts to stay in touch with family and friends.
Moral of the story? Consider your audience...consider your audience...consider your audience. Social media might be a marketing tool, a channel, to STRATEGICALLY integrate into your marketing program - but then again it might not be.