Here’s a shocker for you—social media is all the rage. Not only are all of the business publications talking about it, but so are all the specialty/niche publications (even Balsa Woodcarvers Association is holding seminars on social media; okay, I made that one up, but it IS believable). You do not have to rush into social media today. You can ponder before you plunge in.
When a friend of mine returned from a trip abroad, he was in a bit of a panic. He asked to meet as soon as possible. As the marketing manager for a global B2B business with five distinct international divisions, he was concerned about the work the UK ad agency was doing for the division there. “They’re redoing our division website. On the redesigned homepage there are logos and links for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Am I missing something? What in the world are we going to be doing with Twitter!”
During our lunch, we worked through a few questions that seemed to give him peace. Hopefully they’ll do the same for you.
- What is the marketing problem you’re trying to fix through social media? At the moment, you’ll have to ignore the clamoring in the marketplace. It seems everyone IS talking about social media. You may have heard about Dell’s $7 million in sales because of their Twitter campaign. Two things about that: 1) $7 million is not really that big a deal for Dell. They’ve probably had larger rounding errors. 2) Even it is WAS a big deal for Dell, you’re not Dell. Dell’s claim to fame in the first place is Internet marketing. Your B2B business probably didn’t launch as an Internet catalog. Dell is talking about social media and everyone else is, too. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a call to action for you, for now. Before you jump in, explore where your marketing challenges are and then align media to match the challenge. If you’re having awareness problems, then MAYBE social media might help. You’ll need to explore the next question before you’ll know.
- Is anyone talking about you on social media? Now may or may not be a good time for you to launch an active social media program, but it is a fantastic time to start monitoring social media. The very first item to monitor: conversations about you or your brands. If you discover there are robust communities already talking about you on blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, then that’s good support for jumping in now. If they’re not talking about you, then it might just be a good time to keep listening.
- Is anyone talking about your competitors on social media? It could just be folks don’t know about you, but they do know about your competitors. Monitor social space to see if they’re talking about your arch rival online. If they are, then it might just be time to launch your social media program.
- Is anyone talking about the problems you solve on social media? Maybe no one’s talking about you or your rivals. Listen to see if any one is talking about the problems you solve. If you hear people talking about needing to keep paper documents at work secure, and you’re a document scanning or shredding company, then it might just be time to launch your social media program.
- What’s the worst thing that would happen to you if you weren’t on social media at all? Could you live with that? This is not a draw-in-the-crowds kind of question. It will probably never be the title of a best selling book, and it’s very unlikely your high-priced consultant will ask it. You know what that means, right? It means it’s probably one of the most valuable questions you could ask yourself. Seriously ponder the worst case scenario of NOT being visible on social media. If you’re comfortable with the worst case, then it might not be the time to launch your social media program.
- What would happen if you took the plunge into social media 12 months from now instead of now? See question #5.
The bottom line is, just because it’s popular to TALK about social media doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for your B2B enterprise to do right now. On the other hand, now is a perfect time to start monitoring social media so you’ll be in a strong position to launch, when the time is right.
Launch with care.
About The B2Bblogger: Trey Pennington (@treypennington) uses technology, marketing, and stories to connect businesses with the people they seek to serve. With an educational background in marketing, including an undergraduate degree in marketing management and an MBA, combined with a masters in education, Trey understands the need for businesses to discover and develop their core story and to engage their marketplace in making the story their own.
His book, Spitball Marketing: Using What You’ve Got to Get More of What You Want is due out in early 2010. You can read more from Trey now at his blog www.treypennington.com.
