Are you a B2B company contemplating the use of social media? Are you wondering how you can make social media work for your business and how it can contribute to your bottom line? Well, honestly, social media might NOT be for your B2B company. Here are five questions to ask yourself about your company, product or service, which will help determine if social media will work.
1. Does your company have a very limited audience? If your company, product or service has less than five customers, you might want to skip over social media. The reason is, if you have a limited audience and limited budget, other marketing strategies might give you a bigger bang for your buck. Try alternative strategies such as phone calls, in-person meetings, or direct mail efforts to your limited audience because these are more intimate efforts and could provide a bigger return on your marketing dollars.
2. Does your audience have restricted access to social media sites? If a high percentage of your target audience sits behind a firewall during work hours, you might want to consider another source for educating. Although many companies are allowing their employees to freely surf the ‘net, some companies still have restrictions based on privacy and because they own a great deal of confidential information. Do your research and find out if this is a barrier.
3. Do you have an internal advocate who will push for social media and can be your resource? You really need someone who is your internal social media enthusiast and can make a case for its use. This person doesn’t have to know everything about social media, but they should want to do it, have the energy to advocate for it, and understand the use. If your company lacks at least one internal advocate, any efforts put forth will most likely fall flat.
4. Is your social media goal to generate short-term sales? If your social media goal is to increase your bottom line in a instant, you are going to fail. If that is your immediate need, then use another marketing method. Social media is based on building relationships, building trust, and fostering engagements. Sales will come with proper execution of a social media strategy, but again, it takes some time to build those efforts and show a direct return.
5. Do you have the resources? Whether you decide to outsource your social media campaigns or execute in-house, you must be sure you have the resources to get the job done. The worst social media efforts are those that start strong, and take a huge noise dive because the resources aren’t there for continued support. Be sure you have the resources in place before you get out there and start updating, tweeting, or blogging.
Use these questions as a guiding force to determine if social media is right for your company, and if this is the time to get out there and get social.
