Social Media - Promising to B2B Marketers

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Social media can be leveraged for B2B marketing too. Some questions that  may strike you are - whether potential B2B buyers are present online? Do they spend time online? Do they use social media either for personal or professional purposes? Do they subscribe to podcasts, stay connected online (through instant messaging); build contacts via social networking sites (SNS); participate in online forums, etc? Answers for all these questions is ‘Yes.’ There was a notion that 'users of social networking sites and other forms of social media are young, and hence best fit for marketing GenX consumer products only.' This notion no longer holds today. Supporting this, several developments in social media space were noted. Nielsen online customer analytics (2008) observed that composition of member community websites is shifting from the young to the old. Significant number of Internet users above age 35 and baby boomers are using social media and networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Toolbox, Slideshare, etc. This trend is reaching behind the corporate firewalls.

There was also a shift noticed in the usage of social media - from 'purely personal' to both personal and professional use. Business professionals are using social media to develop personal contacts; connect with potential members and partners to communicate and make decisions (LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.,); collaborate with knowledge communities to generate knowledge through open interaction (Toolbox); share best practices and insights (Slideshare); search job, source talent, etc. These trends are offering potential opportunities to B2B firms for reaching prospective customers, promoting relations and marketing their products and services via social media.

9 comments:

jammmichael said...

Social media is one of the major way of internet marketing. It is easy and reliable way of marketing. This article focus on this concept very well.

HubSpot Partner

Vizz Media said...

Social media provide a platform where customers come in direct contact with the company, and also it is helpful in increasing awareness, branding , web traffic, an easily gateway to build community and a quick access to lot of people.

B2B Social Media said...

One site that wasn't mentioned above is MyTradeZone (http://www.mytradezone.com).

It's a free B2B social networking site where businesses can create their company profile, post their products, and follow other companies through the marketplace and community.
B2B Social Networking

Dunitz Sandrino said...

Social media add a great impact for B2B sites, engaging the customers to stay touch base with the promotions, tradeshows, etc.

Business Catalyst Developers NSW said...

A very interesting read! Thank you for sharing such great info on social media. Social Media can be a very important part of a B2B strategy and the best way of marketing.

Email Marketing Services said...

Your providing such a useful information for me.
B2b marketing data

Unknown said...

Social media is one of the great way to increase traffic and sales on your B2B market place.

Free B2B marketplace

Unknown said...

Such a great information now a days for
online B2B marketplace you should have a community engagement, Social media and a Community websites are best platforms for engage people..

Unknown said...

Is there any further reading you would recommend on this?

Amela
B2B marketing

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