Susan the Meticulous Wonders…is Social Media for Every Business to Business?
December 9th, 2008 by susan
In the world of being meticulous, it’s important to make good choices about what to ignore. Sometimes my most important list is the one reminding me of things I’m NOT working on right now. I’ll cop to employing skepticism as a way to avoid exploring new social media tools / destinations / designations. Hey, you try being meticulous and getting through a day without skepticism.
But folks, I gotta say it – people talking to each other about big choices, like, say, business-to-business purchases – pretty much that’s here to stay. And nowadays people do a lot of that talking online. Just think of “online social marketing†as a big new trade show all your competitors and prospects have been invited to. It’s happening every day, all day. It’s easier to get to than any other trade show – cheaper, too. Heck, it’s indexed so you don’t even need to carry around a map and schedule.
Now, it may be conducted in a dialect you are just learning to speak, but you know what? It’s the dialect everyone under 30 grew up speaking.  It may not always be Facebook and Twitter and forums and expert blogs and RSS and user reviews, but the top is propped open on this one – prospects are expecting an online presence more and more every year.
Tags: blogging, facebook, forums, rss, social media, twitter
December 9th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Hi Susan,
Although I see the potential in social networking for certain business/marketing models, it remains the domain of the <30 crowd, who rarely make big-time BtoB decisions.
For companies trying to reach <30s, social marketing is way groovy…
December 9th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Hi John,
Thanks for commenting. You are so right to point out that the time may not be right for certain companies to invest in some of the social media tools and networks.
There is a tool at that aggregates their research to give a peek at what a target demographic (age, country, gender) is doing on the web per creating content, participating in communities and reviews, just listening, not even listening, etc…While I run in to U30 b2b purchase decision-makers and influencers pretty regularly, I put 35-44, US, Female in the tool for evaluation.
About a fifth of that demographic is doing more online than just listening – doing the things we call social networking and social media. Meaning, they are creating content (blogging), commenting, joining communities, writing reviews, etc. The results for the same demographic substitute “Male” for “Female” are slightly higher toward being content creators,etc.
December 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
The link to the tool:
http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.htm