The use of the full arsenal of social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube and others is not a nice-to-have but a must-have in today’s business-to-business environment.
That is the view of Jasmine Sandler, a global keynote speaker, author and consultant in digital marketing and social selling for global organizations.
She has over 15 years experience helping corporations such as Citibank, Intercall, Doublerock, ISO and countless others use the web to drive online visibility and generate leads that have resulted in new business online. She started, developed and sold a social network before social networking was a widespread term.
Here are Sandler’s top six ways your business can flourish in the B2B space by implementing social media advocacy at the top:
1. Brand Perception: Your online brand today is equally as important as your offline brand. Period. If you understand this, and that social media plays a tremendous role in how your brand is perceived, then you understand that having a social media strategy that aligns with your company brand values is critical.
2. Customer Service Quality: Think of social media platforms as your company’s optimal avenue to deliver that quality customer service. The companies that do this right, with the correct engagement of their customers’ social media use, are the companies that will succeed. Those that don’t, will fail.
3. Leads: Social selling in the B2B space happens by creating a true social brand on an individual level — yes, the C-suite — and then using the brand to foster relationships (media, target customers, community) that generate long-term, ongoing leads.
4. Sales: If you market or run a business that sells products or own an e-commerce business, you know full well the importance of word-of-mouth sales. Well, this is exactly what social media does. It can be far and away your most efficient engine for driving WOM sales. You want to be set up for customers to write reviews, share and engage with products, comment and generally interact with their circles, who in turn can also become customers! Success begets success.
5. Talent Acquisition: Just as social media can be a wildly effective sales tool, it can be just as beneficial in the realm of hiring. Fundamentally, the truthful perception that your employees feel motivated, embraced, but also challenged, will emerge through social media and leave you and the organization as a beneficiary of what was just mentioned — word, of, mouth.
6. Market Leadership: In a way, the social media landscape is its own market, its own currency, and it needs to be regarded as such. The prevalence of social media sites can enable those who do not hold the largest market share in their industry, to begin approaching doing so.
“Today it is critical for B2B organizations to take hold of social media communications from end to end,” says Sandler. “This means social media strategies and implementation from initial employee onboarding, marketing, customer service, to sales and brand reputation.”
