Hurrah to Deloitte UK getting that social media is just another way to talk! Their new video – The Growing Power of Consumers features Nick Turner, Digital Lead for Consumer Business, but the principles he mentions also apply to the B2B world:
1. Engaging needs to go beyond the marketing function, it requires collaboration across different departments in managing different touch points.
You don’t meet marketing departments at events, you meet human beings. You may have no interest in following a law firm on social media, but would tweet with a lawyer with expertise in your industry. Social media is not “just marketing” or “something that brands use”. Can you imagine telling an important contact that you don’t have email? Can you visualise their reaction? Many will now look at you in the same way if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile and a Twitter account.
2. Technology and analytics can help integrate and track interactions across all touch points and channels, to guide real-time targeted responses.
When I left Morgan Stanley I had less than a dozen connections in LinkedIn, and had never used Facebook or Twitter. I was initially very uncomfortable about social media being real-time and public… until I realised the flip-side: that social media was searchable, and you can find contacts and conversations of interest. Social media is a wonderful research resource, helps you do more with less and increases serendipity. You can virtually join events that you’re unable to make in person and conversations can continue long after the event. I could go on…
3. Reputational risks need to be managed.
Nick Turner refers to Social Command Centres. Others refer to CLOs (Chief Listening Officers). Not being on social media doesn’t mean that you’re not being spoken about online. The first step is to find out what conversations are already going on about you, your colleagues and your firm. If no-one is mentioning your firm, why not?
It’s time to understand which social media platforms are relevant to you, and how to build and optimise profiles on those platforms. This doesn’t mean that you need to be everywhere. Discover where your contacts hang out on social media and prioritise. Speak where your contacts want to listen and engage.
4. Content creation should be focused on inspiring and informing contacts and prospects, not just selling to them.
Plan your content. Set a strategy. What you are going to talk about? How will those topics be interesting to your target audience? Who will be the ‘faces’ of your business on social media? What constraints, if any, are required on what can be said in public?
Effective use of social media means creating content that is provocative. That is, content that provokes a reaction so that readers want to share it with their friends or engage with you on the topic. It’s better to have a strong opinion and be prepared to defend it rather than sit on the fence.
5. Arm contacts with the right information, improve trust, and increase loyalty.
Old rules, new tools! At its heart, business is about relationships, relationships are built on conversations, and (say it with me!) social media is just another way to talk… with the added advantage that it’s searchable and accelerates the know-like-trust-buy-advocate cycle
This is really helpful advice! Thank you for taking the time to write this.
Pleased that you think so! Thank you for taking the time to comment 🙂
You share most of points while I was surfing on the web for information about a topic which is written here, I across http://www.forbes.com/sites/capitalonespark/2013/04/01/the-benefits-of-social-media-beyond-marketing that contain some most interesting point about social media beyond marketing, that I think you have missed here. Thanks for sharing information… keep posting…
The serendipity of social media 🙂 Thanks for highlighting that Forbes piece – as you say, lots of interesting points. This post focused on the themes mentioned in the Deloitte video. Echoing point 2 above, I could go on…!