Phil Lauterjung

Are B2B Companies Ready to Use Social Media?

At a recent NetMarketing Breakfast sponsored by BtoB Magazine for Marketing Strategists it would seem that the answer might be yes.  A panel of 4 engineering-focused, industrial marketers discussed the use of social media in their marketing efforts.  Since a number of commentators have lamented the reluctance of B2B businesses to adopt social media, what these 4 marketers had to say was very interesting.  Is there a transformation occurring in the B2B ranks?

Paul Dunay, Global Managing Director of Services and Social Marketing (so Paul, how do get that title on a business card?) for Avaya, Inc. said he had been busy transforming an existing number of blogs and tweets into a new strategy.  He gave a list of 5 objectives that they are pursuing.

• Listening – to conversations using social media tools.
• Supporting – their customers using their preferred methods.
• Energizing – their community of users and prospective users.
• Spreading – the corporate vision of Avaya.
• Embracing – product ideas from various sources.

We’re using Twitter as a ‘teaser’ channel, Facebook as a hub of information, forums as a type of help desk, and blogs as our corporate voice.  You must bring valuable content that adds to the discussion.  Paul Dunay

Robert DeRobertis, Director-Marketing for a division of Analog Devices, said he was applying an engineer’s rigor to measuring the ROI of all their marketing plans.  “You have to link your social marketing program to financial results,” he said.  “My CFO knows that if he cuts one key element in my plan, it will have an impact on revenue.”

“Turn your company inside out,” said Rick Short, Director-Marketing Communications for specialty alloy developer Indium Corp. “Customers want transparency; they want the real deal.”  As an example, Indium’s web site features photos of employees at work along with simple, content-rich videos of product demonstrations and testing.  The one important metric for Short is whether or not the effort produces a contact.

Gary Spangler, eBusiness Leader for DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies, takes a more cautious approach.  “The social train is coming, but you don’t have to get on all the cars at once,” he said.  “The terms that your audience is using may be different than what you’re using,” he said.  “We listen and integrate their terms in our SEO efforts.”

Did you catch the recurring theme in their comments?  I think it’s very interesting that all of them are making a concerted effort to listen to their customers.  After all, whether you’re talking about more traditional approaches, or social media, it’s always been important to listen to your customers.

What I find to be very interesting is that B2B companies have been accused of being slow to adopt rapidly advancing internet technology in their marketing efforts.  My own informal surveys of B2B web sites and use of social media tools seems to bear that out.  What do you think?  Are B2B businesses late to the party?  If so, how much will that affect their staying power when the economy starts to improve?  Feel free to leave your comments below, I’d love to hear what others think about this.

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