Social media, social media, social media... that’s all we ever hear these days.
A recent B2B marketing report has stated that “78% of responding B2B organisations are already conducting social media activity, while another 19% are planning to introduce it in the next year”.
But here’s the important part... if your social media activities are not integrated and measurable, then you’re missing out – in a big way!
The success of B2B social media marketing is dependent on its integration with your current marketing activities and database. The behavioural data from social sites needs to be used to help personalise and segment your other communications... in real-time.
To get the best out of your social media presence, the standard marketing KPIs need to change. Data such as followers, ‘Likes’ and ‘Shares’ become important, as does the type of followers you are looking to attract. What industry do these people come from and what is their job title? You need to focus on where your prospects are most likely to be found, target these platforms and then measure performance through to lead generation.
The more you know about your prospects, the easier it will be to communicate with them in a way that addresses their exact challenges, needs and wants... making your interactions with them more human. And we all know what that means... engaged prospects and sales-ready leads entering your sales cycle.
So, there you go... it isn’t enough to just have a social media presence these days; if you want to see the real benefits, you need to integrate and measure performance.
This subject of social media integration is just one of the many topics we discussed in our B2B Marketing Survival Guide for 2013. To check out the other predictions we made regarding marketing in the next twelve months...
