If you haven’t already ventured into the online world of social media and marketing, there are probably only a few reasons why:

• You don’t know how to
• You don’t have the time to
• You don’t think it will benefit you

These are reasonable responses to the question of “why?” but with a little further research, I think you may just change your opinion as many businesses have, including us!

It can be a little difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel, especially in a business to business scenario. There are several benefits, so maybe now is the time to jump in!

You don’t know how to – It can be a little overwhelming if you don’t have an understanding of what it takes to get involved in social media. The best thing to do is search for one of your clients on these social media platforms, or even one of your competitors to see what they are doing and how they utilize Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Word Press, LinkedIn, etc. Read, read, and read… it will give you more insight in how to join the online world as well as keep you up to date on what is going on in your industry. Who knows, maybe you will have something to say right away. Commenting on other businesses blogs and pages are great ways to introduce yourself and share your knowledge on the web.

You don’t have the time to – You don’t have to dive into everything at once. Maybe you are already more familiar with Facebook than any other site. Start there. If not, just pick one to start with for the first few months and you will gradually gain the confidence to implement others. Setting up a Facebook or Twitter account will not take you long to accomplish, just get it done and you can do some tweaking later. There are actually a lot of great blogs out there that will walk you through the entire process of creating these accounts.

The best in the business are posting and tweeting multiple times a day. They most likely have the resources to have an employee dedicated solely to social media. You should shoot for at least once every couple of days and if you start up a blog, try to start by posting relevant news to your company or your industry once a week, or at a minimum, bi-weekly. The more you do it, the better you will get and thus, take less of your time to create frequent posts.

You don’t think it will benefit you – It is true that social media is more effective for B2C companies but that doesn’t mean that it is not beneficial to B2B. The idea behind social media is to first of all, create more brand awareness on the web. The more websites your company is listed and active on, the easier it is for people to find you, understand you and learn what specifically sets you apart from the rest. These sites show up on general searches through Google and other search engines, so if you post quality content, rich in industry keywords, you will get a higher ranking. It’s all about posting good content as regularly as you can to try to get people involved in your business and your industry. Start a dialogue, talk to people that you otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to, drive businesses to your website, and ultimately make a positive impact on your business. We’ve seen it work.

Remember— If you do want to get into social media and even after your research you don’t think you will be able to pull it off, you can always outsource it to a trusted company.

15 Benefits of Social Media:

• Create brand awareness
• Reach beyond your own prospect list
• Drive more traffic to your website
• Stay informed of the goings on in your industry
• See what people are saying about your company
• Get your news out there in real time
• Gain a higher ranking on Google and other search engines
• Show your existing and future clients you are willing to stay up to date
• Show your existing and future clients you care about your brand
• Show your existing and future clients you care about them
• Ability to provide immediate customer service
• Post job opportunities instantly
• Track website and social media performance with Google Analytics
• Generate more sales leads
• Oh yeah…. It’s FREE

A Few Points on Social Media Sites

Facebook

• This is the most universal social media site.
• This site allows you to post videos, pictures, links, polls, etc.
• You can customize your landing page to entice a visitor to “Like” it.
• You post relevant news to your “fans”
• Join industry or company specific groups and join the discussions.

Twitter

• This is the most real time social media platform, where the majority of serious “tweeters” will post multiple times a day.
• A great way to post latest news, other peoples relevant “tweets” (retweet), post and reply to job opportunities.

LinkedIn

• This is the best site to stay in touch with key contacts from specific companies of your choosing.
• Offers group discussions in several industries.
• Lets you introduce and be introduced to mutual business contacts in your industry.

WordPress

• This is one of the easiest ways to set up a blog for your business.
• A blog is a great way to increase the content and size of your website which will help to get you a higher ranking on search engines.
• Helps to bring visitors to your site regularly.

YouTube

• People love to watch videos.
• A great link to have on your website.
• If you have no desire to create videos, you can still set up a channel for your business, like relevant videos to your industry as well as post comments.

Google Analytics

• Not a part of social media but an essential tool to track the effectiveness of your website and social media.

It’s April 18th and I’m flying to Florida to enjoy a holiday. I typically take time off in late December as we shut down between Xmas and New Year’s anyway. This is something new… Turning the ship over to your co-pilots is a necessary evolution in developing your company’s management team. They may stumble or even fall but life and business does go on without you. I tried it a week last fall during our busiest season and now 2 weeks during an equally busy spring. My goal in the not too distant future is to try two months. I will be plugged in with e-mail and I’ll probably work on some of the writing projects we have on the go but that’s it. Everyone is pretty much self managed now. Over the last 5 years, we did the “Good to Great” exercise successfully. My team will be flying solo on a couple of RFP’s for the first time, moving a half dozen websites to completion…and enjoying every minute of it. I also had to broker out my position as front man for my band TreeoH. We are just 4 weeks into a new house gig and I hated subbing out in the infancy stages. The trick is having the right people around you regardless of the enterprise. It’s the greatest lesson I’ve learned and have discussed it on previous blogs. Having the right people with the right tools to do the job is critical. We make so many concessions in this area out of fear of one kind or another. It’s a big mistake for business of any size.

Lee’s quote for the day “If you’re only as good as your weakest link, try replacing that link and see your business flourish.”

As we were trying to put together some interesting facts about social media for B2B marketers, we discovered this interesting video. Then, we decided why would we tell you something, when we can show you instead. So, enjoy it.

B2B companies are ahead of their B2C rivals when it comes to social media adoption

• 81% of B2B companies maintain company-related accounts or profiles on social media sites versus 67% of B2C
• 75% of B2Bers participate in microblogging (eg. Twitter) versus 49% of B2Cers

Source: Business.com – 2009 B2B Social Media Benchmarking Study (http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007404)

And the FTSE 100 are just plain running scared of Twitter

• Just 16 of the FTSE 100 companies are using Twitter, despite the fact that 20% of Tweets contain a reference to a product or brand

Source: Virgin Media Business (http://ow.ly/1gDTf)

But CIOs could well be the biggest blocker to social media adoption

• 54% of CIOs prohibit use of social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, while at work

Source: Robert Half Technology (http://rht.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=131&item=790)

Use of social media by B2B companies is validated by B2B buyer perspectives

• 93% of business buyers believe all companies should have a presence in social media
• 85% believe companies should not just present information via social media, but use it to interact and become more engaged with them

Source: Cone Inc – Social Media in business (http://ow.ly/1dLqJ)

And that’s because the B2B buying process is fundamentally changing

• 9 out of 10 buyers say that when they’re ready to buy, they’ll find you

Source: DemandGen Report

• Over 70% of purchases are restricted to established vendors or are heavily dependent on Word of Mouth recommendations

Source: Buyersphere ebook, Enquiro (http://ow.ly/YbQm)

• More than 8 out of 10 IT decision-makers said word of mouth recommendations are the most important source when making buying decisions

Source: Forrester Research, How to take B2B relationships from Indifferent to Engaged: Jan 2009

• 59% of B2B buyers engaged with peers who addressed their challenge, 48% followed industry conversations on the topic and 37% posted questions on social networking sites looking for suggestions

Source: Genius (http://www.genius.com/marketinggeniusblog/2767/a-glimpse-inside-the-mind-of-the-new-b2b-buyer.html)

Yet there are differing opinions as to where search comes into play in the buy cycle

• 7 out of 10 buyers say that they start their buying process at vendor sites, not Google

Source: DemandGen Report (http://ow.ly/1d82N)

Versus

• 93% of B2B buyers use search to begin the buying process

Source: Marketo (http://bit.ly/9O6pix)

If you think C-level executives aren’t active online, you’re sorely mistaken

• The Internet is the C-Suites top information resource (74% of C-Level executives say it’s very valuable)
• 53% of C-level executives said they prefer to locate information themselves
• The C-suite first turns to mainstream search engines (63%) to locate information
• 6 out of 10 C-Suite executives conduct more than six searches a day
• Executives in IT are the most prevalent users of the Internet for information gathering

Source: Forbes Insight – The Rise of the Digital C-Suite (http://www.forbes.com/forbesinsights/digital_csuite/index.html)

Client marketers are warming to the idea of social media, but many are still to act

• While 92% of client marketers agree that it would be unwise to ignore social media, 63% do not have a social media strategy

Source: The B2B Barometer (http://www.b2bbarometer.co.uk)

The relationship between Marketing and Sales in B2B organisations still remains fractious

• Sales generate 53% of their own leads and marketing contributes just 24%

Source: 2009 CSO Report (http://bit.ly/7EbaHS)

• 90% of marketing deliverables are not used by sales

Source: The New Rules of Sales Enablement (http://tiny.cc/jXRxX)

• 49% of B2B marketers confess to not measuring ROI

Source: The B2B Barometer (http://www.b2bbarometer.co.uk)

And if you still don’t get the whole social media thing, it’s worth bearing in mind…

• 89% of journalists make use of blogs while conducting their online research and 96% turn to corporate websites
• 56% said social media was important or somewhat important for reporting and producing stories

* Note: We have used and abused the above information, as the author insisted. A special thanks for the folks at Earnest Agency.