Sometimes I answer questions on LinkedIN’s Q&A section when they deal with public relations and/or social media. Today, Mark Micallef from AXIMA asked a question about how and if B2B companies should use social media. You should use the link to read all of the good answers that Mark got from the users of LinkedIN but below is just Mark’s question and my answer if you are in a hurry.

Mark’s question: Is the social web relevant in a B2B context?

Enterprises with a focus on selling to the consumer end-market have realised the potential of the social web (twitter, facebook, buzz, etc) and established their brand presence accordingly. But is the social web relevant to enterprises who’s market is other businesses? Does a B2B need to monitor social channels for messages about its brand, and does it need to communicate its own messages?

And my answer:

Hi Mark, the short answer is yes, definetly and that would be smart but via dialogue – not push marketing

There are several ways that a B2B company can be involved in social media, as I see it:

1) The company itself can have an online presence in the form of profiles on relevant business-related networks such as LinkedIN. Establishing a good profile there can help you in many ways because other companies can access a lot of information about the company and the people, you employ, who recommends them, how much experience they have got etc. Just as a Facebook profile might be my “social media face” to the world, your company’s LinkedIN profil could become yours.

2) A business is also “in social media” when the people it employes are involved in various social media. As was stated above by others, business is ultimately the result of relations between PEOPLE. So a B2B company definetly also needs employees who are active in social networks and use social media to establish valuable relations and connections.

3) A B2B company can use social media and social networks to reach out to their partners and help them improve their business by finding out what it is exactly, that their stakeholders need.

The third example leads me back to your second question: should B2B monitor social media for messages about its brand?

I’d say absolutely – but don’t just do a brand monitoring, you should also monitor subjects related to your business and your stakeholders’ businesses!

Let me give you an example: A major manufacturer of washing machines would like to sell more units. They would also like to improve their relationship with the plumbers and electricians who install and repair the units in people’s houses and use that relationship to get valuable feedback on how the units are doing and what the customers think of their purchase.

So, the washing machine manufacturer starts monitoring social media services and networks and find out that an amazing number of enthusiastic plumbers and electricians are actually making their own videos on how to repair a range of issues that frequently occur when washing machines are used in an unintented manner or just get old. These videos are actually quite popular in the trade and get watched a lot by other plumbers and electricians.

This gives the washing machine company an idea: start a dialogue with the video creators and find ways to help them continue to make videos. Perhaps they need better cameras or a microphone? Perhaps they have always felt that a particular design was stupid and took too long to repair but could be fixed with a simple design change – but they never before had an easy way to make a suggestion to the washing machine manufacturer?

Pretty soon a respectful and mutually beneficial dialogue is happening. The washing machine manufacturer does not “take over” the video production but simply uses it as a platform to establish a new form of dialogue with their key stakeholders.

This example, btw, although annonymous is far from fictional

Always remember in social media: “sharing is caring” and social media is not just another marketing channel for brand messages – it is a place for dialogue between equals.

Hope this helps you out!

Jesper

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The setup of the LinkedIN profile has for a long time by many been perceived as too static and not very user friendly. But now LinkedIN has introduced a new drag-and-drop system that allows you to rearrange the different sections or ‘boxes’ on your profile, so you can chose the order in which information is presented from top to bottom. Watch this quick video to see how it is done.

You can find a lot more interesting tips on using LinkedIN on the LinkedIN YouTube profile at http://www.youtube.com/user/LinkedIn!