Think social media marketing is only for B2C companies? Many of us in social media are asked this question from colleagues, company executives, and clients - sometimes daily. Many assume social media is solely for large consumer brands looking to leverage platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to sell or promote more candy bars or sneakers. For most B2B brands the sales cycle can be months or even years, not seconds or minutes, therefore, building long term advocacy and providing customer value is a critical aspect and opportunity in any b-to-b social media strategy.

1. Social Media for B 2 B
Presented by:
Georgie Brown
Managing Partner, Big Couch Media Group

2. About Big Couch Media Group
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Big Couch Media Group is a South Florida based strategic consulting, branding,
and full service digital solutions company.
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Big Couch Media Group’s company principles, John Studdard and Georgianne
Brown, have held several key C level positions in publicly traded and large
organizations in B to B and B to C.
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Big Couch Media Group’s focused industry verticals include leisure travel /
hospitality, ecommerce, online publishing, financial services, technology, CPG,
and health & wellness.
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The BCMG team is extremely passionate and has extensive experience, thought
leadership, and leverages best practices in assisting emerging entrepreneurial
organizations develop, implement, manage, and optimize results focused growth
strategies:
• Strategic Consulting
• Brand Development
• Integrated Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Website Development
• Mobile Strategy
• Analytics

4. Agenda
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Why Social Media?
The Landscape
Establishing a Plan
Key Channels for B2B
Case Study
Resources
Q&A

5. Why Social Media?
• Authority and Thought Leadership
• Lead Generation
• Conversation – Engagement
• Social CRM

11. Focused Strategy for B 2 B
• Content Strategy
• Channel Strategy

12. Content… Content… Content

13. Content Strategy
• Establish your tone and POV
• Different formats – calls to
action, Infographics, charts,
videos, presentations,
Webinars, Whitepaper, etc.
• Develop appropriate
messaging and tactics
across your social channels
• Think about target keywords
• Develop a schedule – and
commit to it

14. social media: b 2 b

18. Blogging – The Numbers
Blogging – The Numbers
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31 million bloggers in the U.S.
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60% of bloggers are men, 40% are women.
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60% of businesses have a company blog.
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35% actively blog at least once per month.
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Conversely, 65% haven’t updated their blog
in a year or more.
B2B companies with active blogs reported a
60% increase in leads.

19. Blog Considerations
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Platform
Design
Tone
Frequency

20. Frequency Matters
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How Often Should You Blog?
Frequency matters,
research shows tied to
customer acquisition.
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Recommend minimum
once per week,
optimal 2-3 times per
week if possible.
Be consistent and
compelling.

21. Blogging Best Practices
Pick a Practices from Influential
Best frequency and stick with it.
Use keyword-rich, attention grabbing
Bloggers
headlines for each post.
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At least one photo (with ALT tags) for
each post.
Formatting matters. Use sub-heads,
bullet points.
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Quality vs. quantity.
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Create blog categories and tags.
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250 – 300 words.

23. •
200 million members
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Executives of all 2013 Fortune
500 companies are members
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Over 5.7 billion professionallyoriented searches in 2012
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3 million+ companies have
LinkedIn Company Pages
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1.5 million publishers Share
button on their sites
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More than 2.1 million LinkedIn
Groups
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Adding over 172,000 users daily
– 2 per second

24. Personal Profile

25. Recommendations

26. Endorsements

27. Company Page

28. Engage in Groups

29. Create Your Own Group

30. Example – HP

31. Sponsored Ads

32. Connecting – Build Your
Network

33. Engagement

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Over 1.11 billion users worldwide
Over 100 million in the U.S.
655 million daily active users
Over 50 million Facebook pages
Average user spends 20 minutes per session
Average user “likes” 40 pages
Over 70,000 companies use Facebook to
connect with customers

42. Start with a Great Profile

43. Start Following People

44. Start Talking – Twitter “The
Lingo"
• Mention
• Tweet
• ReTweet
• #Hashtag
• Message
• Trending

45. Share Compelling Content

46. Case Study:
Background
• Capitol Lighting is an 88 year old omni-channel
specialty lighting retailer.
• The company has 8 showrooms in Florida and New
Jersey, as well as their website 1-800-Lighting.com
• In addition to B2C, Capitol Lighting aggressively
markets B2B (PRO program) to trade professionals
such as interior designers, electricians, architects,
landscapers, etc.

47. Dedicated website

48. Developed unique
content and value
proposition

49. Established targeted
social media
channels to promote
content and
engage PRO
members

50. Content is recorded
and republished on
website as rich
content – great for
SEO

51. Pushed as a playlist
to Capitol’s
dedicated YouTube
Channel

52. Providing guest
blogging
opportunities for PRO
members on Capitol
Lighting’s consumer
blog

53. • Entire Capitol Lighting
management and sales staff
very active in participating in
social media targeting trade
professionals
– All have established
robust profiles on
minimum of Facebook
and LinkedIn
– Aggressively repost all
Capitol Lighting events,
news, and content
– Proactively have joined
and engage in trade
related LinkedIn groups

54. Keys to Social Media Success
Establish robust presence
Relevant, interesting, and engaging content
Develop your tone and personality
Build and engage with your network
Be consistent
Integrate your social media throughout your
marketing communications
• Connect all your social media
• Keep learning
• …. Have Fun!
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55. Resources and Tools
Resources
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SocialMediaToday.com
SocialMediaExaminer.com
Mashable.com
eMarketer.com
MarketingLand.com
Tools / Tracking
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Hoot Suite
Social Mention
Social Sprout
Google Analytics
Each social channel