I spend so much time these days talking about social media that I sometimes forget that these are relatively new channels. The most common question I get these days is “how do I get started”? Facebook? Twitter? Blogging? I know it’s a cop out but the answer is a big “it depends”. Without exactly answering the question, here are a few things to consider when thinking about a social media program for a business that primarily serves other businesses (is B2B).
Your goals: What do you hope to achieve? Is it about awareness building? Maintaining relationships with existing customers? Being a part of the general conversations about your brand? Selling more product?
Your audience: Are they using social media? How frequently? How big is your audience?
Level of engagement with your brand: How important is your product or service to your customers? How interested are they in interacting with other customers?
Where they congregate online today: Which sites? What level of technology adoption/comfort?
Internal drivers: Who will represent your company? Who is using social media today? What is the commitment level from management/the organization?
Content: Who will seed the conversations? Do you have content to share/syndicate?
Regulatory: Are there any compliance or regulatory issues to consider? Do you have an approval processes?
Resources: How much budget? How many people will be involved?
Measurement: How will you know if you are successful? What are your KPIs?
Like the game of poker, social media takes minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. There are many options and strategies. As I have advocated in the past, the best way to identify the right media is test many, kill off the losers and scale up the winners.
Good luck and let me know if I missed any other things to consider.
I actually first broke into Social Media (from a business standpoint) with a b2b based product. It was high tech, not easily understandable to a layperson, and had a high price point.
Could not agree with Frank more here from a b2b perspective. It’s a different kind of market then most SM avenues (and consultants) are used to dealing with.
Test. Test. Test. If you hold true to this maxim: “As I have advocated in the past, the best way to identify the right media is test many, kill off the losers and scale up the winners.” You will be far ahead of the game.