CLICK DOCUMENTS Tips on how B2B marketers should leverage social media Compiled By: Ambal Balakrishnan

ARDATH ALBEE Integrate Social Media with Your Nurturing Storyline Blog Marketing Interactions | Twitter Ardath421 The most important thing to remember is that social media is not just another broadcasting channel. When a B2B company participates in social media, they need to remember how to have a conversation. Promote others, share great ideas—whether or not they’re yours—and make sure there’s not a sales pitch in sight. Social media is not for selling, it’s for connecting. And there’s a big difference between the two. marketinginteractions.typepad.com

REBEL BROWN Be Thoughtful Before you jump into social media, consider the following - thoughtfully. Who in your organization are the best fits to communicate via social media? What information do you want to communicate via social networks? One of the best questions to ask up front before beginning any social media effort is “Why would anyone want to follow me? What value am I providing? What ‘persona’ do I want to create?” peoplewhoknow.typepad.com Blog Phoenix Rising | Twitter RebelBrown

BRIAN CARROLL Blog Start with a Lead | Twitter BrianJCarroll Social media can be a bit like a bunch of people with megaphones blurting out their messages one-way. People will cover their ears (unsubscribe) and tune that out. But if they could simply turn those megaphones and put them to their ear instead of their mouth, they'll hear much better. Then they will be prepared to simply talk and join in dialog in a more relevant way to accomplish their goals. startwithalead.com Use social media to ‘listen’ to and learn from your audience

PATSI KRAKOFF Be helpful and ask for help Small business professionals who want to attract people for their products and services through Twitter often start off on the wrong foot. They look at it and answer the question, “What are you doing?” Focus on others, what you can do to help them. Act like you’re a new arrival in a cocktail party. Don’t try to draw attention to yourself and your business. But be sure to be helpful by sharing where they can get helpful information to help solve their problems. writingontheweb.com Blog Writing on the Web | Twitter Patsiblogsquad

MAC MCINTOSH Blog Sales Leads Insights | Twitter B2B_Sales_Leads Consider social media to be one of the marketing tactics you can use to accomplish your branding, awareness and SEO objectives. But I suggest you look elsewhere in your B2B marketing communication toolbox when your primary goals are generating leads and driving sales. sales-lead-experts.com Does social media drive leads and sales?

MARIA PERGOLINO Blog Modern B2B Marketing | Twitter Marketo InboundMarketer Social media should not stand alone as it works best when used in conjunction with all marketing resources and tools. By thinking of social media as a piece in your overall marketing strategy you will save your organization time, make customers and prospects happier, and provide a stronger return on your social media efforts. marketo.com Social media should be a part of overall marketing strategy

SEAMUS WALSH Social media is not a panacea, it is a means to an end Social media is not a panacea, it is a means to an end and should be part of a thought out customer touch point strategy. It is important to go to every identifiable social media site and register your company name and trademarks as userid’s, that way when you are ready to launch into a social media campaign you and your brand is ready and you are protected from unscrupulous intent. www.vaztinc.com/blog Blog B2BContentMarketing | Twitter SeamusWalsh

Recommended Resources from Experts Blogs Forrester Blog for Interactive Marketing Professionals Ardath Albee's blog Marketing Interactions Brian Carroll's blog B2B Lead Generation Blog Sales Lead Insights: A B2B marketing Blog Books Charlene Li's and Josh Barnoff's book Groundswell Laura Patterson's book Marketing Metrics in Action Hugh MacLeod's Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity Others Valeria Maltoni's eBook Marketing 2009 Julien Smith's and Chris Brogan's eBook Trust Economy Gary Vaynerchuk's video Telling Your Story Charlene Li's Why Social Marketing Fails and What to do About it Velocity's The B2B Content Marketing Workbook Seamus Walsh's 'Assessment to measure how well your content is aligned to sales' Business Week: Social Media Will Change Your Business 10 Superb Social Media Presentations MarketingSherpa B2B Lead Generation Benchmark Study 2009 Sales Lead Expert’s Learning Center

Interesting articles on social media for B2B Marketing Jamice Wallace's 20 Support Cases for Using Social Media in B2B Marketing Maria Pergolino's The Who, What, When, Why and How of Twitter for B2B Marketers Mac McIntosh's Is social media effective for B2B lead generation? Jon Miller's What’s Wrong With Social Media For B2B Marketing Josh Bernoff's B2B buyers have very high social participation Laura's Ramos's B2B Marketers Eye Social Media, Web 2.0 Tactics

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