Any company, including B2B, wants a strong community – to provide feedback, evangelize your brand, and stand up for you in times of crisis. But how do you build and nurture this community, where do you start with? In other words, how can B2B companies move towards being ‘social enterprises’? These were some of the questions we tackled on the last #B2Bchat.
What does it take for a B2B company to be ‘social’? What are some of the attributes?
Companies have to become more social, but whether they embrace it (yet) is subject for debate. The suggestions on starting with your customers especially resonated with me – they know your product and company best, and can provide real-world feedback, rather than a second-hand opinion. It’s also important not to equate social media with being social; presence on “social media outposts” alone does not make you a social enterprise. Ability to engage in meaningful conversations is essential:
b2bento: Start being ‘social’ with your existing customers (Flip the funnel) and partners
misskatiemo: Break out of speaking like a corporate robot – have actual conversations with people (offline AND online!)
Ron_Hudson: Involve existing customers/clients in product/service improvement/development. Clients/customers want to be heard, acknowledged, and rewarded. Doing it in a public forum inspires repeat behavior.
EngageStrat: Social B2B = Openness, willingness to be responsive, tenacity and dependability . Willing to commit the resources to stay involved
pathwaypr: Must have a clear plan or agreement on how to approach. To be successful, need to be willing to commit to it for the long term.
Kinaxis: You must trust your employees to speak on your behalf and educate them accordingly
cpechayco: B2B companies have to be social to survive. Whether social media as we know it makes sense is another question.
briansrice: Openness, commitment to participate, ability to add in personality, support, ability to integrate with other mediums
CelsiusMI: Be a partner! A solid B2Brelationship should be beneficial for all parties involved. Also, put in the work to do GREAT things.
joellenroberts: Listening = *most* important thing. Can’t properly respond to community if you don’t listen to wants/needs.
What does it mean to have a community? Is community important, and why?
As expected, there were no suggestions that you should ignore your community. But the participants highlighted the fact that not all customers would want to interact online, some will require personalized attention. Also, don’t equate being on social media with having a community – it goes much deeper than that.
b2bento: SM or no SM – community is important. One evangelist of your brand is better than 100 salespeople.
kseniacoffman: Community to me means (1) customers & (2) partners – entities that contribute to/are vested in your success
marcseyon: Goes back to really knowing your business partners, not treating them as nameless faceless entities in a ledger
FSSimon: B2B community offers opportunity to build brand evangelists and WOM (word of mouth). Also new business development opportunities. Critical for long term growth.
kimgeralds: I really don’t get the point for B2B unless the company is listening. If you want to broadcast, use email.
jeffthesensei: Why customer communities? Foster stronger long term relationships, create champions and identify share of wallet opportunities for sales
Kinaxis: Community is about virtuous cycle of content and connecting. Community exists since dawn of time – only medium has changed.
asuthosh: Community is critical – but only if in it for the long term. Too often, communities are abandoned by their creators. Either disheartened by lack of initial interest, “no funding”, or shifting “strategic priorities”
joellenroberts: Some business customers have no interest in being part of a “community,” but do want personable communication beyond a sales pitch.
misskatiemo: Are prospects part of your community? Absolutely – partners, customers, prospects, fans… they’re all part of your community.
jeffthesensei: Prospects should be a part of it but have access to all. Customers need to feel “exclusive”. They paid to belong.
Do you have a designated community manager? How do they interface with PR, customer service, product development?
Community managers (or at least the titles) are not very common in B2B. On the chat, he had a few bona fide community managers, including misskatiemoand Kinaxis. Some insights shared on the chat into the role and responsibilities of a community manager:
jeffthesensei: Community management should be done by the community ideally – company and customer mix. Create ground rules for all. Community is about inclusion and acceptance. If you exclude customer in managing it, you send a distinct message.
Kinaxis: Dedicated manager is critical; then bring super users into the mix through advocacy program
robbtrost: The community manager should be either: brand manager or marcom manager with strong social media experience
LoisMarketing: Idea from a conversation this week: in professional services firms, the administrator may be better social media/community manager than the marketing director, with insights into personalities
asuthosh: A community manager should almost be invisible, yet omnipresent… if that’s possible! A light touch works best. Something like a evening party host. Ensure everyone’s having fun & deriving benefit.
misskatiemo shared an interesting blog post (Community Roles & Players) on how her company set up its community engagement team, which includes close to a dozen people. Other companies are not so lucky, or have not yet defined the role with as much precision. Some tips and observations:
kimgeralds: Resource constraints make it difficult to have a dedicated person, until someone at the top makes it a priority.
joellenroberts: Having a dedicated community manager is one strategy. Not only one. Depends on the business objective you’re looking to fulfill.
How to move your company into ‘social’? Where to begin: forums, blogs, social outposts outposts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook)?
bfr3nch: It’s best to build community sites where the community already resides – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Meetup, associations, forums, etc.
briansrice: 1st look to see if they are out there in an existing community. Then determine if you can leverage or need to build your own
kimgeralds: Start with a community that already exists ‘face-to-face,’ say a Users Group, or via the Online Support site, Wiki’s, forums, etc.
trainingfactor: Consider blogging; a blog allows for call to action links which enable viewers to make choice to connect
30lines: Integrate. Put those links in your email signature, document footers, brochures, business cards, etc.
robbtrost: To encourage moving into ‘social’, best bet method is to provide data from like-situations or competition. Show impact examples and provide solutions
AliciaSanera: I recommend starting with 1 tool (based on the comfort level & potential ROI) learn how to use it. Avoid the ‘intimidation factor.
Kinaxis: For companies: Make the business case. For example, some research suggests that that customers who are community members remain customers 50% longer than those who aren’t.
We also touched upon what might incentivize customers to join a community:
cuferg: Incentives? How about content, best practices, engagement, networking?
AliciaSanera: Education, idea building, networking, exposure are the most common. Not so different from business communities ‘in the real world’
stsanto: Special offers, first to know, offline gathering to create opportunity for networking
cpechayco: I prefer incentives that add value to both businesses: white paper, consulting services, how-tos, etc.
ExoPoirier: Guide your customers in listening first, where what and whom to listen, and let them find their comfort zone by themselves
jeffthesensei: Another way to get people to join yours is to be part of their communities. Pay it forward!
robbtrost: Incentive = information about the brand. Make your community feel like they have the scoop to what’s happening with the company/products.
joellenroberts:But shouldn’t just be about the brand; should be about what insight you bring to the table. That builds repeat business. Provide actionable content they can’t get elsewhere. Don’t do gimmicky bribes and assume they’ll stay in the long run.
Some cautioned that the communities need to be managed and moderated; otherwise the community will lose value:
Ron_Hudson: Interaction without direction can lead to a free for all promotional community. Nobody wants more clutter.
Others had more faith in self-moderating communities:
asuthosh: Works wonders if harnessed well! RT @kimgeralds: Consider crowdsourcing opportunities in a b2b technology community of your customers
jeffthesensei: Maturity in B2b communities is high. You can recruit and train volunteers to moderate.
ExoPoirier: Agree but still ambitious. However, regarding B2b maturity, you bring up a good point.
What obstacles have you encountered in ‘social’ initiatives? Successes?
At this time me veered into challenges, with major themes being: companies trying to be social, while the culture does not encourage it; lack of patience and expectations for immediate results; lack of appropriate metrics to measure engagement and tie it to lead generation:
cuferg: Concerns about sharing publicly (competitor awareness/involvement), inability to see the value.
30lines: Make sure the technology isn’t getting ahead of your audience. Make it as easy to participate as possible.
pprothe: Biggest obstacles is simply making time for engagement/content development. Making “Community” a habit, integrated in your day-to-day marketing.
AliciaSanera: Helping clients get over the formality they are used to in traditional communication. It’s hard for them to be “real.”
trainingfactor: #1 obstacle is antisocial companies attempting to be social (whole culture must change)
jeffthesensei: Biggest challenge is company’s focus on sales/themselves in social media. Biggest success happen when you make it about your customers, relevant to them.
fearlesscomp: Lack of patience is good point. Too many managers expect instant leads.
girlmeetsgeek: If companies do not have in-person, authentic networking down, that should be focus before social media. Social media leads to human connection.
Having a ‘Community’ is generally viewed as desirable, but there’s much work to be done before B2B companies can truly embrace social interactions. Company culture, marketing approaches, executive attitudes all need to change before we can be considered ‘social enterprises.’
Many thanks to all who participated. Join us for next week’s #B2Bchat, Thursday, August 26, at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific, 8am Aug 27 in Singapore). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
We are all faced with growing responsibility/client load, and not enough resources. Or having the resources, but not feeling that you are getting the best bang for your buck. It’s all about setting expectations and tracking results.
In today’s #B2Bchat, we’ll tackle the tricky issues of resource management and utilizing outside contractors and agencies.
If you are looking for job/projects now, what skills are most in demand? What are the best ways to find new business/job?
What does it mean to be a great client? A great agency?
Have you parted ways with an agency? What is the best way to go about that?
On the agency side, have you ever ‘fired’ a client? What are the reasons to do so?
What are the benefits of using contractors vs agencies? Employees vs interns?
What is the best use for a marketing intern? What’s the balance of learning vs getting the results?
What tools have you found useful to manage workloads and teams?
Join fellow B2B marketers for a discussion on B2B Marketing Resource Management.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
Twitter is one of the pillars of social media communications, or so we are told, along with corporate blogging, Facebook, web. The reasons for being on Twitter are numerous:
Competitive and industry intelligence
Brand monitoring and “listening” to the conversation about your industry and your brand
Interaction with industry influencers: editors, bloggers, analysts
Learning new trends in the industry, in the marketing discipline, and what the movers and shakers are up to
Catching up with other B2B marketers (which #b2bchat is part of)
So assuming that B2B companies need to be on Twitter, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of managing corporate (brand) and professional (yours) Twitter accounts:
How do you set your Twitter objectives? What are you looking to accomplish?
If you manage a corporate Twitter account, do you also maintain a separate “professional you” account? How do you balance the two?
How much do you know about your followers? Do they engage with your brand?
Who should and should not corporate accounts follow?
How to avoid a Twitter burnout? Or is some time away a good thing?
Join fellow B2B marketers for a discussion on Twitter best practices, tips and advice!
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
As B2B marketers, we often look for potential customers in various professional organizations: we exhibit at trade shows, submit speaking proposals, put together panels, and use association conference lists to target our direct mail. We consider conferences to be ‘captive audiences’ and go after the attendees with new product introductions, marketing messages, and (when budgets allow) lavish parties.
But do we – B2B marketers – see value in belonging to professional organizations? If we are not part of them, are we missing out on valuable networking, professional growth, and exchange of ideas? Can we (and should we) justify the expense and time out of the office to participate in industry organizations and related conferences?
Hence the “professional development paradox for B2B marketers” – we target those who attend industry events, but are not big on involvement ourselves.
In the next B2B chat we’ll discuss the role of industry organizations in B2B marketers’ professional development.
What professional organizations do you belong to? What have been your experiences?
Do you attend local or national events? Do you attend virtual events? What is the value?
Are there relevant certifications for B2B marketers, and what’s the practical value of said certifications?
How do you justify time/expense it takes to participate?
In addition/instead of in-person events, what resources do you utilize to keep up with industry developments?
Join us for this week’s #B2Bchat on Professional Development Paradox for B2B Marketers Thursday, May 6th at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
B2B companies, especially those that are not web-based businesses, tend to be late adopters of social media. This has been my personal experience, as Firetide’s social media efforts started less than a year ago (although I had participated in LinkedIn groups for longer than that).
Many companies only have perfunctory efforts – they have twitter accounts, for example, but update it infrequently or don’t engage with their followers. Given that we are early adopters (funny to say that given that social media been the rage for years, it seems) we still have to justify the time and effort allocated to social media efforts.
So the Social Media Measurement #B2Bchat was in part exchange of tips and insights, and in part a venting session – which everyone needs every now and then.
Some highlights from the session.
As a B2B marketer, how do you justify time spent on social media? Are there any detractors within your organization?
I was surprised to hear from one participant that “Day of having to justify SM to anyone is over.” This has not been my experience. I suspect that in many B2B companies social media is still flying under the radar, and needs to “come out of the shadows.” So there will still be adjustments as social media gets fully integrated into marketing plans, and stops being a skunk works project. Many comments confirmed my impression:
I just make the time for it. There are a few detractors in my company, but most support our SM efforts.
Some are quick to be detractors: tend to be expecting too much, or not taking time to understand.
I view SM as an extension of ‘traditional’ communications – advertizing/PR, so weaving it into our regular mark. programs
I have spoken to some, who do see fear of unknown and lack on control to be concern.
B2B is all about relationship building during long sales cycle. Social media is a great way to build relationships.
I can link revenue directly back to my social media contacts/time. Dramatic increase year to year.
What are social media’s practical benefits, even for companies who do not monetize their web sites?
The responses varied from lead conversion metrics (from those lucky enough to have a closed-loop lead tracking system), to better understanding he industry landscape and listening to conversations, market intelligence and building personas.
SM gives the users a chance to interact with you as a business/product. It’s a big plus.
Looking at SM as extension of PR, I track mentions, engagement, as well as briefings & other PR opps secured through SM
Maintaining/monitoring brand perception in real time is an advantage, awareness of enthusiasts/critics comments = opportunity
A step above brand monitoring is establishing credibility as an industry expert.
Competitive/market intelligence is a huge advantage that SM brings; gets rid of ‘tunnel vision’
SM for a small biz helps to level the playing field; leads to interaction with industry pros – as long as you provide quality content
The last observation was especially interesting to me; you don’t need to have a huge PR or ad budget to know what is happening in the industry, and you can engage with the influencers directly. In addition, having the first-mover advantage, you can establish a position in social media and stand apart from the crowd.
Do you know the impact social media activities have on your brand awareness?
There was no easy answer to this question yet, so many of us have to rely on qualitative feedback.
You do if you set GSOT (goals, strategies, objectives & tactics) at start & keep scorecard two track progress.
Awareness is a measure of total reach and increase in reach online. So yes through analytics that can be determined
Brand awareness can be measured and tracked to some extent; but crucial to establish a baseline from which to measure
It can be difficult to measure, particularly for small businesses without resources and access to high powered apps or 3rd party software
Social Media ROI question is tough. BUT, what’s the ROI of having a telephone? Or email?
Without question, SM lets small companies and startups compete with vastly larger firms.
Do you generate leads with social media? If yes, how do you track them?
We track leads from SM by using Google Analytics and unique URLs.
We do a lot of content registration: Webinars + white papers through Facebook & Twitter. 5-10% of registrations come from SM.
SM for our company has been key for building awareness. Our web analytics show SM as top referrer.
We assign a unique URL to each tweet and then track inbound clicks all the way to a lead or other success event.
What are the tools that even companies without social media budgets can use to track impact of their social media presence?
Trackur; Google Alerts; even Tweetdeck are great measurement tools (or combination thereof)
For tracking twitter engagement over time: @twitalyzer & @klout
PostRank is a great way to tie social media with blog performance.
Great SM measurement tools being mentioned: PostRank, Twitalyzer, Klout, Rowfeeder, Trackur, Radian6 (although a later commenter said “Radian6 is a great sm product, but I don’t have $’s for it.”)
If you are using an existing web analytics package, you can use APIs like the Twitter search/REST API to grab data on buzz.
What are the objections you encounter regarding social media initiatives? Any tips for overcoming them?
This was more of a venting session as I mentioned early. It surely felt good!
Biggest obstacle I hear about is security and inertia
The age old challenge in B2B = tying SM to revenue. Yes, it’s a cliché at this point.
Do I have the resources in time, $ & people to make it work? It is a relevant concern.
Ah, the famous question: ‘What if they say something bad about us?’ Answer: ‘Then you have a prime opportunity for conversion.’
Internal objections when starting SM initiatives? “Our clients don’t use SM.” “It’s a time trap.”
I have a client that would love to tweet if they could do so to a controlled audience. [Classic!]
“We don’t have time to do SM right.” “Our B2B customers aren’t using SM.” “CEO won’t like negative feedback.”
Another challenge is the perception that social media is cheap and does not require any specific knowledge and expertise.
So, even as it may seem that social media is a given, many B2B companies are still in the early adoption phase, and are grappling with associated challenges. The dialog helped bring them to light.
As one of the participants said: “Social media is an amplification of the conversations that are happening anyway.” With social media you have the opportunity to participate, rather than staying on the sidelines. Jump right in!
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
With wavering executive buy-in and the desire to satisfy our own curiosity for the return on our time, we’re all looking for practical social media measurements for our B2B marketing efforts.
What’s your approach? That’s the topic for this week’s #B2Bchat, Practical Social Media Measurements For B2B Marketing.
With no best practice defined to date, let’s learn from one another. Many of us are still grappling with how and what to measure, especially in these days of tight budgets and limited resources. Some questions we will cover:
How do you justify time spent on Social Media?
What are the practical benefits, even for companies who do not monetize their web sites?
Do you know the impact SM activities have on your brand awareness?
Do you generate leads with SM? If yes, how do you track them?
What are the tools that even companies without SM budgets can use to track impact of their social media presence?
What are the objections you encounter regarding SM initiatives? And tips for overcoming them.
Join us for this week’s #B2Bchat on Practical Social Media Measurements For B2B Marketing, Thursday, April 23 at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News. An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
Social media goes beyond Twitter and blogging: new content delivery methods, namely podcasting and video, are gaining ground and offer a compelling experience for your B2B audiences. Are these new vehicles vital to your content marketing strategy?
In this week’s #B2BChat, we attempt to answer that question. Join us for a conversation on how to integrate audio and video podcasts, trade show clips, and training videos into the mix.
We’ll delve into questions that every B2B marketer wants to know:
The role of podcasts and videos in B2B marketing
What you should to know to pull them off successfully?
How to be a ‘multi-media producer’ – and do you need someone dedicated to this role?
How to create engaging content and how to handle the ‘talent’ (people being interviewed)
Tools and equipment you will need, along with post-production techniques and tips
We will be joined by unofficial guest speakers:
Keith Parsons (@KiethRParsons): Keith produces audio podcasts for his blog Wireless LAN Professional and will share his insights into the audio side of things.
Yvonne Schwemmer (@ProfMarketer) and Carey Schock (@cdschock) of Pelco (for those who are not in the physical security industry, Pelco is one of the largest manufacturers of security cameras and related equipment): Pelco’s trade show videos from ISC West were fun and ended up being complimented by such industry notables as Sam Pfeifle of SSN (again, for those not in the industry, Sam does not compliment anybody lightly). See the results of Pelco’s ISC West video efforts on YouTube.
Even though we’ll have Keith, Yvonne and Carey joining us (fingers crossed!), it does not mean that the chat will be a Q&A just with them. Bring your opinions, experiences and questions for a lively discussion with other B2B marketers.
Join us for this week’s #B2Bchat on B2B Podcasting and Video, Thursday, April 1st, at 8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific). Follow @B2B_chat for updates.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for the first #B2BChat last Thursday night – our new weekly twitter conversation for B2B marketers.
The objective is to bring the B2B marketing community on Twitter together while discussing topics relevant to us as B2B marketers.
So Mark Your Calendars ForMarch 11th at 8:oo PM EST.
In this week’s #B2BChat, we take on the topic of seminars and roadshows and attempt to answer the question, “Effective Lead Generation Tool or Glorified Sales Pitches?”
With travel budgets slashed, and time away from the office at a premium, 1-day seminars and road shows are gaining momentum. But some pundits judge them to be nothing else but veiled sales pitches.
How do you create appealing educational content, while meeting lead generation goals? Do you need a guest speaker (industry expert or educational partner)?
How do you maximize registrations, and minimize no-shows?
How to effectively integrate social media tools in the event promotion, and during the event? Should you focus on Twitter, create a LinkedIn group, or employ other tactics?
And last, but not least, what door prizes and give-aways are most in demand?
Join us for a live conversation with other B2B marketers who face the same challenges that you do.
Follow @B2B_chat for updates and join us this Thursday, March 11, at 8 pm Eastern as we tackle seminars and roadshows.
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News. An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for the first #B2BChat – a weekly twitter conversation for B2B marketers. The chat came together quickly – Kent, Jeremy and I briefly discussed via email, set the time and date for the first chat, and off we were!
With minimal promotion (barely a couple of hours before the chat) we got about a dozen people participating and helping shape the chat going forward.
First, about the chat – the objective is to bring B2B marketing community on Twitter together while discussing topics relevant to us as B2B marketers. There are many great chats on Twitter, but none specifically focused on B2B, so the #B2BChat fills this gap.
About the moderators, under the umbrella of @B2B_Chat:
Kent Huffman (@KentHuffman) is CMO of BearCom, a wireless solutions provider in Dallas TX, and also tweets as @WirelessWoman, bringing together wireless community on Twitter
Ksenia Coffman (@KseniaCoffman) is marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure company in Silicon Valley; she tweets for @Firetide
We started off discussing key challenges facing B2B marketers today. A few take-aways:
We are still grappling with the role that social media should play in the marketing mix. Nobody advocates ignoring it, but setting priorities and allocating the time can be a challenge.
Dealing with squeezed/reduced budgets and headcount resulting from the 2009 recession and at the same time dealing with the increased need to produce new content on a regular basis for all the phases of the buyer process … what @JeremyVictor is calling the “2010 B2B Marketers Dilemma.”
Content creation demands for the new channels can also be overwhelming, creating a marketer’s dilemma in the form of the old-fashioned ‘writer’s block,’ as @joezuc pointed out.
Tying in social media with lead generation (or even determining if it can be done) is also a challenge. @b2bento commented: “Convincing clients that Social media is NOT another demand generation channel [is a struggle]. Without crossing the thought leadership and engagement bridge – jumping to lead generation is suicidal.”
Social media resource allocation and understanding the changing nature of the digital buyer
The second item on the agenda was to discuss expectations and the chat format going forward. The feedback was to center each discussion around a particular topics. Some of the suggestions:
Facebook for B2B marketing.
Integrated marketing and not fall into a social media only focus –
How Print Advertising is being thought of right now
Marketing Software
Direct mail
Marketing dashboards
Email marketing
CRM software to monitor multi-channel efforts
Other topics for consideration: setting up user groups and best practices working with the sales teams. All ‘core’ B2B marketing tactics – no fluff here. On the other hand, we will explore how integration with social media and implementing viral campaigns can benefit our traditional strategies – we are not luddites after all.
It is important to point out direct mail elicited quite a conversation! Here are a few tweets to prove it.
What can you expect next from #B2BChat? Weekly conversations on the topics that interest you – the B2B marketer: thoughts, questions, opinions and best practices that will help you do your job better, while connecting you with the business to business marketers on Twitter.
Follow @B2B_Chat for updates and join us on every Thursday at 8 pm ET. Topic for the next discussion will be posted shortly! DM or @ relply to @B2B_Chat with questions and suggestions for upcoming topics.
Join us!
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News. An ASIS member (an international association for security professionals), she is a frequent speaker at industry events, including ASIS workshops and IWCE conferences. Ksenia launched @Firetide – with 800+ followers, it’s is one of the most active Twitter accounts in physical security and wireless infrastructure space. You can read more from Ksenia at Mesh Without Wires blog.
B2B Social Media & Content Marketing
Online Magazine for B2B Marketers
Connect
B2Bbloggers.com
Hi, I'm @jeremyvictor, the founder of Make Good Media and Editor In Chief of B2Bbloggers.com.
B2Bbloggers.com is an online magazine for B2B marketers. Our goal is to engage, educate, and make it easier for B2B marketers to find the information they care about to do their jobs successfully.
As a publisher and new media marketing agency, Make Good Media advises businesses how to integrate social media and content marketing with traditional marketing tactics to attract, nurture, engage, and convert customers in the brave new B2B world of the social, mobile web. How can we help you Make Good Media?
About the B2Bblogger: Ksenia Coffman is senior marketing manager at Firetide, a wireless infrastructure mesh company, where she is responsible for Firetide’s marketing strategy and technology solution partnerships. Her articles on wireless infrastructure appeared in various publications, including Security Products, Law & Order, SecurityInfoWatch.com and Communications News.
