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In today’s B2Bchat (Thursday June 9) we’ll discuss what it takes to have a successful eCommerce business for B2B companies.

We’ll cover the following questions:

• Q1. Do you currently have an eCommerce program? If not, are you researching or evaluating approaches?
• Q2. What are your goals regarding eCommerce? Will it a sizable portion of your business?
• Q3. Do you have any reservation re eCommerce? If yes, what are they?
• Q4. Are you looking at B2C for best practices? What B2C eCommerce strategies work in B2B?
• Q5. What tools, blogs, or publications have you found useful in your eCommerce planning/implementation?

Join fellow B2B marketers for #b2bchat this Thursday June 9 – 8 pm ET/5 pm PT! Follow @b2b_chat on Twitter and join the discussion using #b2bchat hash tag.

Follow #B2Bchat on Twitter - Thursdays 8 pm ET

Today on B2Bchat we’ll tackle the topic of customer marketing – turning customers into spokespeople for your business. Customer testimonial remain the staple of B2B marketing – but what new and interesting developments are in this area? How can we re-energize our customer marketing programs?

Join your fellow B2B marketers as we discuss the following questions:

• Q1: Do you have a customer marketing program? Any tips for those just getting started?
• Q2: Going beyond press releases and case studies, what forms of testimonials have you tried?
• Q3: Contests (‘submit-a-video’), awards, etc – are these gimmicks or legitimate ways to get testimonials?
• Q4: How can you integrate social media into customer marketing? What works, and what doesn’t?
• Q5: What is the best way to say “thank you” for a testimonial? What’s most appreciated?

See you on the chat at 8pm Eastern on April 21! Use #b2bchat hashtag to join the conversation.

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With the spring season of conferences and trade shows in full swing, #B2Bchat (a weekly conversation for B2B marketers on Twitter) tackled the best practices on how to manage them (and survive). Panels, business meetings, speaking sessions, trade show floor, dinners, parties – how do you balance them all? Below are the tips and how-to’s that #B2Bchat participants shared.

Starting with the basics – Q1. On the trade show floor – How can you be most effective, whether or not you have a booth?

• tracibrowne: Show up with quantifiable objectives so you can measure success (or failure)
• skylineexhibits: If you have a booth, promote ur presence aggressively to get right people into it. Have talented staffers who want to be there.
• donseamons: Engage, focus your message, qualify quickly, then move on.
• kseniacoffman: Pre-schedule meetings; don’t show up w/ out an agenda
• NickBianchi: It’s good to set up contacts in advance, but don’t overplan. Many valuable things can be spur of the moment.
• Brandspiration: Try to get a list of exhibitors before attending – research who you want to network with in advance & then approach.
• MaureenB2B: Staffers should have great consultative sales questions around likely pain versus info about “stuff”
• b2bento: Pre-event networking is the key! RT @vasanthgan: A1: Pre-schedule meetings, spread your key messages
• DWesterberg: So many things to accomplish at a conference.  Think: press, alliance partners, buzz @ conference, leads

There was a side conversation on ‘disinterested staffers.’ I honestly have not seen this on our booth ever, but here are a few pointers:

• tracibrowne: How do you know a staffer doesn’t want to be there? They usually make it pretty obvious…rolling eyes first clue ;-)
• skylineexhibits: They either tell you, you ask them, or their performance is so bad at a previous show.
• donseamons: I was just at HIMSS11, a large health B2B show. Many examples of disinterested staffers: http://bit.ly/epliJD

Q1 summary: objectives, preparation, key messages & questions, + enthusiastic staffers = success!

Q2. If you have a speaking gig, how to best leverage it ? Pre-, post- and during the panel

Pre-session:

• tracibrowne: If the event has an online community be active in it
• ASegar: On event community, let it be known you’ll be around pre & post your session to chat & answer questions
• skylineexhibits: Speak early in the show, then have a booth on the show floor. Attendees will talk business in your booth. Can’t mandate, but you can ask. Networking with the other speakers is awesome, too: go to the speaker room, attend speaker dinner (if there’s one)
• ASegar: Offer organizers short pieces, written or video, about your session
• donseamons: Lots of pre-show pub in mailers, emails, social media, etc. Schedule time for the speaker to be in the booth, and promote that, too.

During the panel:

• b2bento: Present agnostic, useful and good content. Don’t try to oversell. Network (online) pre and post events – answer questions
• skylineexhibits: Don’t sell your product, sell your expertise through credibility by doing a great, informative presentation. Offer to email something of value (such as a white paper) for attendees that they can get by giving you a business card.
• kseniacoffman: It’s appropriate to invite ppl to your booth after the panel (soft sell)
• vasanthgan: During the panel, focus on the future trends/solutions and not on what the audience already know about.
• itsjustjana: Post session Q&A is sooo important. Huge pet peeve when I book a speaker who talks and runs.
• DWesterberg: At events I like to have the most giveaways for largest audience – Not at $200 item/drawing but a $10 item for 20.

After your panel:

• ralaw33: Post show we’ve gotten the best response by using social media platforms to distribute slides and video. Extends use.
• phylliskhare: I like that idea of creating a short video response right after the panel — that’s something to do right away!
• ASegar: Try to get your session recorded; can use for post-conf PR

Q2 summary: Try to speak early; promote the session & booth presence; be active in online community pre-show; share your presentation socially.

Q3. If you blog or tweet from an event, what do you focus on?

Tweeting, live blogging, daily blog recaps and post-even long-form blogs are all useful, but immediacy is definitely with tweeting and live blogging:

• cuferg: Focus on content: sessions of interest to your targets/audience, key messages coming out of the sessions, show floor happenings.
• vasanthgan: Key Numbers (stats) of the business/market that is shared in events.
• kseniacoffman: Think like a reporter – but put a company PoV on it (i.e. what you wish the press woud write about you) :-)
• cuferg: I’ve noticed marketing presentations are providing easily “tweetable” content, key points in 140 or less lately. Any others doing this?
• shotgunconcepts: @cuferg Just the new reality of an old axiom. You always need to leave audience with a few memorable points. They’re now 140 characters.
• tricomb2b: Capturing the meaning behind the event and using information gained to educate and help others!
• MarchellGillis: Interesting trends and sites from the event, I may reference folks that I meet
• shotgunconcepts: Offer value in your event tweets & blog posts, don’t just be a self promoter
• B2Bento: Good example of live blogging – @asuthosh did a great job of live blogging from SMWF – http://b2ben.to/btR5i9
• asuthosh: Include relevant comments from the audience and reactions to those – that tends to be left out in conference material
• skylineexhibits: I’ve shown a speaker after the event the Tweets I sent – they are grateful

Involving the on-line, virtual audience came up as a theme:

• ralaw33: I focus on sessions so customers not attending can be part of discussion. I tweet before to find sessions they are interested in. I love soliciting questions from followers and asking during Q&A. Presenters like it since it means audience participation
• itsjustjana: Key take aways from the conversation or sharing a problem identified and asking for more feedback or the agree/disagree
• kseniacoffman: I had good feedback on live-tweeting tours – especially if a few go on simultaneously, or not all can attend. Take lots of photos – great for people following virtually

Daily recaps will be popular, both with virtual and live attendees:

• kseniacoffman: Daily recaps are very popular – I get a lot of traffic to these; takes effort though
• tricomb2b: Agreed! @itsjustjana Yes, when i can’t attend a daily recap is event gold!
• CASUDI: I really like to see daily recaps ~ from others at a show ~ with good info clipped from all the noise

There were a few contrarians who do not do much live tweeting from the event:

• tracibrowne: I have to sit this question out – I can’t tweet and pay attention to the event.  I take notes and blog later
• ASegar: Frankly, the better the event (for me, that means the more I participate) the less I tweet. But If I’m at a presentation I’ll tweet more if there’s a backchannel conversation going on

Don’t forget your manners:

• tracibrowne: If all you are tweeting is criticism you are going to look like a [not a very nice person]

And most importantly:

• b2bento: Tweet with event hashtag – immediately creates a community around the event.

Q3 summary: Blog & tweet with key takeaways, buzz or audience reactions; Lots of photos; Solicit questions from followers; Don’t forget the virtual audience.

Q4. How do you ensure effective follow up?

• MaureenB2B: Key is to define, before the event, what your follow-up goals are. Do we want names or warm leads or other?
• cuferg: Based on pre-show goals, segment booth visitors, cold/warm/hot and have plan in place to address each group.
• fearlesscomp: Agree on lead definition. Gently nurture. Score for handoff. And provide sale with content too.
• skylineexhibits: Improved follow-up starts at the show: Write down what attendees said so sales know & are motivated to follow up. Plan in advance the fulfillment, the team, and who is responsible. Blog post on this: http://bit.ly/cuSLM2
• itsjustjana: Document your conversations. Who, where, what, when, why. All of it. Remind me why I was engaged and then sell me
• kseniacoffman: Note on the back of biz cards what you talked about, what follow up is needed
• ralaw33: Never thought of using phone to scan. Awesome! @itsjustjana: With business cards i either scan with my phone or text the info
• tricomb2b: Have a desired outcome in mind and steer the conversation towards the goal
• tracibrowne: Ask the visitor how they prefer to be contacted…then honor that
• shotgunconcepts: Event hashtag is not just for the time of the conference. Continuing using in the days afterward to follow up without clutter

Q4 summary: Document everything – follow-up needed, when & where you met, photo/scan card with your phone!

Q5. Tips for staying sane and avoiding burn-out?

• shotgunconcepts: Two conference essentials that most people don’t get enough of: water and sleep
• tricomb2b: Know your limits and what you need to recuperate before getting back into the heat of things!
• tracibrowne: Stock protein bars in the booth for your staff for a quick pick-me-up
• ASegar: Yoga too! RT @KseniaCoffman: If you can, find time to exercise!
• kpainc: Hydrate well before show; limit parties; eat right; plan meetings & specific booths to see; don’t walk exhibit floor to explore
• Brandspiration: Schedule breaks, know where to find coffee & water, keep a positive attitude & have fun meeting ppl.

But all this “healthy living” and “balance” discussion was countered by the “work hard, play hard” camp:

• AitchesonS: Boring! :) RT @phylliskhare: No parties. Go back to room, drink good water, eat something healthy, blog, and sleep.
• skylineexhibits: Tough to avoid all the parties when that’s when some of the best networking happens
• Edgemon72: I would say get 7 hours sleep and keep attentive! Great data available at parties if your not drunk or tired.

I will leave you with these words of wisdom as a summary:

tracibrowne: I tell people the day starts when coffee shop opens and ends when the last attendee leaves the bar. There’s plenty of time for rest and sleep when you get home. Squeeze every second you can out of the three or four days.

Does #b2bchat sound interesting? Join us for a lively discussion on B2B topics every Thursday at 8pm Eastern. Follow @B2B_chat for updates. If you are not familiar with Twitter chats, please see my post: Primer on Twitter Chats

By Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Follow #B2Bchat on twitter

In tonight’s #b2bchat, we’ll discuss the following questions:

• How can you be most effective on the trade show floor – whether or not you have a booth?
• How to best leverage your speaking session – pre-, post- and during?
• If you blog or tweet from an event, what do you focus on?
• How do you ensure effective follow up?
• Tips for staying sane and avoiding burn-out?
• Bonus question: how are trade shows/conferences changing with social media?

Join fellow B2B marketers for a lively discussion – see you at 8pm Eastern on March 24! Use #b2bchat hashtag to join the conversation.

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It’s hard to think of any aspect of any market sector that doesn’t involve, or revolve around, influence. Back on October 7th, we tried a novel approach to #B2Bchat by engaging in a joint chat session with #ARchat, the Analyst Relations/Influence chat hosted by Fred McClimans and Steve Loudermilk. During this chat, we focused on market influencers, specifically, what role can, or should, Analyst and Influencer Relations have in the B2B sector.

For tonight’s #B2Bchat, we are again teaming up with #ARchat to revisit influence in the B2B sector. This time, however, we are taking an inward-looking approach regarding how firms themselves influence their market, the importance of defining an “influence strategy”, working with new influencers, and measuring your firms “influence impact” on the market.

The questions that we will discuss will include:

1. How do you presently identify your own firm’s “influence” in the market?
2. How do you measure your firm’s influence against your competitors?
3. Who drives your corporate market influence strategy (both cust and outside influencers)?
4. What steps can be taken to improve your influence (How key is traditional vs SM in these efforts)?
5. How do you spread your influence to “new influencers” like bloggers who break news stories and analysis faster than traditional influencers?
6. How are you thinking about your “influencing” strategy from an in-sourcing and outsourcing approach?

We are joined today by participants of #ARchat. So use #b2bchat as your primary hash tag, but feel free to add #ARchat hash tag to your tweets.

Join fellow B2B marketers for a lively discussion – see you at 8pm Eastern!

Follow #B2Bchat on twitter

Today we’ll focus our discussion on the planning and evaluation process as we gear up for 2011. Amidst the budget, resource and program planning, come up for air and exchange ideas with your B2B marketing peers.

We’ll discuss the following questions:

• What new things did you try in 2010?
• What worked and what turned out to be a dud or just SNO (shiny new object)?
• What promising new trends are you seeing in B2B marketing?
• What new programs will you implement in 2011?
• How will you justify the time/budget to undertake them?

Join us on Thursday Nov 4 8 pm ET/5 pm PT for a lively discussion. Don’t forget to follow http://twitter.com/b2b_chat for updates!

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In a recent post “Buyers vs Influencers: Who really controls the deal?” Fred McClimans (@fredmcclimas) discussed the role of influencers in the B2B sector, and the role that analysts, consultants and analyst relations professionals can play in establishing a strong B2B strategy. Increasingly, analysts (along with consultants and strategic advisors) are playing a larger role in influencing purchasing decisions and partnerships in the vendor/B2B space, an expansion of their more traditional role as advisors to the end-user consumer community.

Much of this is as a result of the increased pace of technology development, as well as economic uncertainty and a desire on the part of both vendors and end-users alike to mitigate risk in purchasing/partnership decisions. As a result, the importance of Analyst Relations (AR), in terms of identifying key analysts and influencers, has increased considerably over the past few years.

On Thursday Oct 7, we’ll take a look at this topic a bit deeper with a joint #ARchat/#B2Bchat session. Specifically, what role can, or should, Analyst and Influencer Relations have in the B2B sector.

The questions we will discuss include:

• Q1. What role do analyst relations/analysts play in your B2B strategy today?
• Q2. What’s the best approach to identify the key analyst/influencer in a particular business sector or deal?
• Q3. How can analyst relations and marketing work more closely to identify market/customer/channel opportunities?
• Q4. What are reasonable metrics and measures of success (i.e. tools) you use to value the impact of a B2B strategy or analyst relations strategy?
• Q5. What role can social media play in expanding your reach into the analyst/influencer market?
• Q6. Are bloggers “influencers”? Why or why not? What other categories of influencers do you track?

#ARchat was started and moderated by Fred (@fredmcclimans) and Steve Loudermilk (@loudyoutloud).  Fred is an Information, Technology and Business Analyst with over 20 years of experience, including starting several business ventures, and hardware/software product development, strategic marketing, company/product launch strategies, business partnerships, investment evaluations, fund-raising and acquisition strategies. Steve is the head of Industry Analyst Relations for Alcatel-Lucent’s Services group. Steve is also a leader of PRSA/GA and has over 20 years experience in media and analyst relations.

A few words on the format:

• This is the first “chat mixer” we are doing, and I hope we’ll have a great session by bringing together attendees of #B2Bchat and #ARchat. Don’t worry, we are keeping our existing format of a group discussion, just with the addition of perspectives from the AR experts and analyst community who participate in #ARchat.
• Please use #b2bchat hash tag as your primary tag (for tracking purposes). If you wish, add #archat as a secondary hash tag to your tweets, but be aware that “double hash tagging” will decrease the amount of characters available to you. Transcript will be based off #b2bchat hash tag, so please use it!
• If you enjoy the discussion this coming Thursday, be sure to check out the #ARchat proper, which takes place on Tuesdays 12 pm ET. (I personally find it hard to attend on a regular basis, since the time slot is 9 am Pacific, but the times I attended I learned a lot and had a great experience.)

Join us on Thursday October 7 at 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific! Be sure to follow @B2B_chat for updates.

About the B2Bblogger:

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.

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It’s been 6 months since the #B2Bchat launched in March of 2010, and we need your feedback!

On the next #B2Bchat, we’ll discuss if the chat is (or isn’t) meeting your needs as B2B marketers, and how we as the community can help improve it.

Whether you are new to the chat, or have been with us since the beginning, join in the discussion that will help shape the chat:

• What aspects of #b2bchat do you enjoy the most? What makes you come back?
• Would you like to see (1) guest speakers; (2) chat mixers; (3) open mic nights? Or do you prefer the current format?
• What can be improved? How would you like to see the chat evolve?
• Does the chat need a LinkedIn group or a Facebook page?
• Would you like to be notified of upcoming topics, or do you prefer to look them up yourself?
• How important is an edited write-up to you, vs the transcript?

Join us on Thursday September 30 at 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific. Share your feedback and ideas on how you’d like to see the chat evolve. Be sure to follow @B2B_chat for updates.

About the B2Bblogger:

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.

Follow #B2Bchat on Twitter

During today’s #B2Bchat we’ll continue the discussion on the ‘social enterprise’ that we started on August 19.  See: Want to Build a B2B Community? Twitter Chat Offers Advice and How-to’s [#B2Bchat Recap].

Today we will dig deeper into the topic, with the help of a guest speaker Steve Farnsworth, also known as @Steveology. I met Steve at a Silicon Valley Brand Forum event this summer, so it’s great to reconnect at #B2Bchat.

Steve is the Chief Digital Strategist at Jolt Social Media. He works with high tech companies to increase brand loyalty and shorten the sale’s cycles by effectively engaging their customers and stakeholders. As a director with the Silicon Valley Brand Forum and an adviser to Gravity Summit, Steve has moderated panels, spoken at or facilitated industry events at Intel, Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Adobe, Electronic Arts, Hewlett-Packard, and Stanford. His topics are always focused on how companies can make high impact changes to their online social marketing and branding programs.

The questions we will discuss include:

• Q1. Do grassroots approaches to ‘going social’ work, or do you need executive buy-in from the start?
• Q2. What are some early successes that you should focus on in initial projects?
• Q3. User groups and customer advisory boards – luxury or necessity? Which level should you aim for: user or C-level?
• Q4. Does corporate social responsibility apply in a social enterprise? How does social media impact that?
• Q5. If your CEO is not a tweeter/blogger, should they be? Is ghost blogging/tweeting a given at this level?
• Q6.What processes you need to implement internally to be ‘social’?

Follow @B2B_chat for updates and join us this Thursday, September 16th, at 8 pm Eastern as we continue the discussion The Social Enterprise.

About the B2Bblogger:

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.

Follow #B2Bchat on Twitter

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 misskatiemo and 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.’

As @support2point0, one of the chat participants, said:

That will be a good start!

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:

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.