Facebook doesn’t work for B2B. Or does it? Alex Aspinall aims to find out
The burgeoning plethora of digital channels floating around out there in cyberspace means marketers working overdrive to ensure they are ticking all required boxes. Social media alone sees some marketers fighting on anywhere up to 10 fronts, so it’s no surprise that some write off certain channels. And there may well be decent reasoning behind doing so.
For example, Anna O’Brien, director of social media (client-facing) at Greenlight, takes a robust stand towards Facebook and B2B. “Facebook has failed to build features to allow B2B to thrive there,” she says. “Sure, some B2B brands are going to test the waters and may be successful but the reality is the user sees Facebook as more of a playground than the office water cooler. As long as that mindset exists, Facebook for B2B is questionable.”
But a recent trickle of high-profile B2B Faceboook campaigns, and the mounting emphasis on integration, can serve to encourage alternative thinking. In the last couple of months, campaigns have been launched on Facebook by Silverpop, Aviva and Satmetrix. And these names should be added to B2B brands such as Dell, Salesforce and Cisco, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, all have well established Facebook presences and thousands of self-confessed ‘fans’.
Each of these brands has sought to leverage Facebook in slightly different ways, ranging from simple attempts to get people to ‘like’ their page, through to encouraging people to watch videos, interact and even to engage in competitions. Plenty of B2B time and money is being invested in Facebook’s digital playground. So, the question has to be asked: ‘Why?’
Joe Edwards, digital and social planner at OTM/Tidalwave, has an answer. He says, “There are two billion people on the web today, and Facebook accounts for 850 million of them. And while it is considered a personal network, engaging with ‘people’ is what all businesses are trying to achieve. Facebook can be a great place to do this.”
Give the people what they want
Customer experience management software company Satmetrix chose to launch a B2B campaign on Facebook to promote a new version of its software suite. The product is heavily social media focused and Facebook’s association with sharing and commenting provided the ideal backdrop for the campaign.
Britt Davies, global field marketing director at Satmetrix, says, “We chose to use Facebook because the product we are promoting enables our customers to mobilise their promoters by prompting them to share positive comments on social media when they have provided positive feedback.
“Facebook is an ideal environment for brands to interact with brand fans – whether B2B or B2C. It is enabling us to reach the ‘manager in the man’ with a topic that we know is important to them and in a format that is fun and fulfilling.”
Davies seems to be adding weight to the argument suggesting a blurring of the work/life balance. B2B buyers are also people that use Facebook. If your content is pitched correctly, and relevant, it is likely to pick up traction. And though Aviva’s ‘Magic money’ campaign was not exclusively B2B, a similar rational was behind its decision to use Facebook.
The campaign targeted 25-35 year-old professionals and was designed to encourage them to think about pensions; not necessarily what you’d imagine to be at the front of their minds when they were poking friends and playing Farmville. But the blurred barriers described above, and a strong creative served to prove you wrong. Facebook requires a different mindset in terms of expectations but it shouldn’t be written off.
Sue Helmont, head of brand, Aviva UK, says, “The campaign is about starting a conversation on long-term saving, and is very much a test for us to assess how we can use social media to discuss important savings issues with people of various ages.”
It’s good to talk
The phrase ‘starting a conversation’ is interesting, and sums up perfectly how to carry out successful social marketing. Everyone knows the days of one-way marketing are over and social media networks, Facebook included, offer an excellent opportunity for some best practice longer-term digital marketing.
As Philippa Ling, head of operations at Aspectus PR, explains, the key to success is approaching the platform with the right game plan. “Facebook can be a great channel for engaging with both prospects and clients in an informal environment and helping with recruitment drives,” she says.
“The key to successful Facebook marketing lies in the value of the content you post, and how targeted it is for your market, as well as your ability to engage with your audience. Facebook as a marketing channel is all about two-way dialogue; finding out what content resonates with your target audience and using that knowledge for future engagement.”
So perhaps Facebook isn’t quite so different from the other channels and platforms through which many B2B brands happily invest time and money. It seems success is earned via the creation of well targeted, relevant and compelling content, a long-term outlook and a willingness to interact with people on their terms. There are few places on the internet that people are as willing to interact and build relationships as Facebook, so, if you’re willing to do it properly, maybe it shouldn’t be written off.
Integrate everything
Like any social avenue though, Facebook is not an easy win. And there are two key ways in which marketers could come unstuck. It’s important to ensure your brand isn’t doing Facebook just for the sake of it. A presence that isn’t regularly updated and monitored could be more detrimental than not bothering at all.
Gareth Jordan, associate board director at Quick-Thinking, says, “It is human nature to want to feel part of a community. On the other hand, brands often forget the fundamental elements that make social networks work.
Whether you’re a major manufacturer or a village solicitor, success doesn’t come from having lots of ‘likes’. It comes from remembering the things that make good conversation: being interesting, relevant and valuable to whoever you’re
engaging with.”
The other thing that must be considered before jumping head first into a well considered Facebook campaign is integration. On the whole, and though this statement may fly in the face of everything that has gone before, it would be an error to think of a Facebook campaign in isolation. Integration is key to successful marketing in the digital age. And Facebook should probably be best seen as another one of the digital touch points, serving to offer potential customers the opportunity to engage.
As Bob Dearsley, CEO of ITPR, concludes, “Coherence and consistency have always been key to any marketing campaign and with information on businesses accessible across various platforms, never has this been more important, or more often overlooked.”
