Social networking is one of the biggest web phenomena of the late noughties. You probably know fewer people who don’t have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account than who do. And what started as a way for friends and family to connect has fast established itself as an innovative way for marketers to communicate online with business customers. Recent research by Nielsen Online indicated that social networking has overtaken email in popularity – an indication to marketers that if they’re not already on the bandwagon, they need to jump onboard.
Excitingly for B2B marketers, a host of business specific sites have also made themselves available – where LinkedIn has established a presence others, such as Viadeo, Xing and BT Tradespace, have followed. Leveraging the benefits requires dedication, but if you’re prepared to put in the time then sites like these can offer a wealth of marketing opportunities.
New functionality
The good news is that these sites are adding marketing-friendly functionality. LinkedIn HQ has been building its advertising practice in Europe over the past 18 months. “We’ve seen a rapid adoption of our services by marketers,” says Henry Clifford Jones, head of advertising at LinkedIn. “They like the fact that we’re in possession of an audience that are quite difficult to reach, and the fact they can target them by factors like industry and job title.” This year LinkedIn has added new functions including polls and custom groups. Marketers can try out the poll function free of charge, or for a fee have a sponsored poll which will guarantee a certain number of responses within a given time. Custom groups allow for integration with the likes of RSS feeds, YouTube and Twitter. It has also added a new lead generation tool, and has announced a partnership with Twitter -allowing users to share status updates across platforms.
It might not have as many members as LinkedIn, but Xing is establishing itself as a social networking site for businesses. “Business professionals use Xing to find useful contacts, new business opportunities, clients and ideas,” explains Thorsten Vespermann, Xing’s director of corporate communications. It offers corporate solutions, known as Enterprise Groups, that encourage companies to build up customer networks.
It also provides B2B clients with services aimed at managing communities, such as moderator training seminars. “Companies on Xing stand to profit from our more than eight million members worldwide – that’s eight million potential business partners, co-operation partners and service providers,” says Vespermann. When you look at it like that, it’s understandable why so many B2B brands are now opting for a ‘social’ presence on the web.
Targeted opportunities
Viadeo, which now claims to be the second largest professional network in the world, offers a range of advertising channels – online display advertising features within the weekly network updates, and brands can buy space on the personalised email updates that go out to members.
But Viadeo’s real USP for B2B brands lies in its ability to create branded communities. Anyone can set up a discussion forum for free, but the communities wrap up a host of features into one area – so a business can have a branded space that includes forums, events, adverts, jobs and more. “One of the most exciting trends we’re seeing is how businesses can take who is engaging with them and turn them into brand advocates. If you pull professionals into your community who like what they see, they recommend you. Then everyone in their network will see that and your reputation builds from there,” says Wayne Gibbins, European marketing director at Viadeo.
Indeed customer testimonials are what many believe to be the true benefit for brands looking to use social networks to market themselves. BT Tradespace is half social media network, half sales portal – brands can set up and join communities, but also take bookings for products and services through the site. Currently, around one-third of its 350,000 UK members are in B2B. “Online reputation is of paramount importance in B2B – customer testimonials are not only a major feature of the site, we’re working on extending the functionality so that brands here can take those testimonials to their own websites and link the two,” explains Ivan Croxford, general manager at BT Tradespace. Croxford says they also encourage companies to upload video and photo galleries to their spaces on the site – because with Google’s universal search tool now including not just text but image and video results too, the more content you add, the more chance you have of appearing in relevant search results.
Facebook and Twitter for business?
For a similar reason, it can be worth investing time in creating a free Facebook business page, even if you’ve dismissed the world’s most popular social networking site as being too consumer facing. Its pages are well indexed on Google, and as UK commercial director Stephen Haines points out, “Facebook is a great way to enhance your presence on the internet. No matter what your business, your customers are on Facebook – there are 300 million users on here and 10 million people become a fan of a Facebook page every day.” Facebook pages for businesses look and act like your personal Facebook profile page. Brands can use them to post important information and updates, start discussions, upload photos and videos, create events and add applications.
Build your own
Of course the option for many bigger brands with the budget is to build their own online communities from scratch. Procter & Gamble was an early adopter of this strategy – in 2007 it launched a presence in the social media space that The Wall Street Journal dubbed a move that would ‘draw even more marketers into the arena.’ Launching a bespoke site – whilst easier for B2C brands with volume and consumer interest already a given – is possible for B2B brands so long as they are clear about who they want to populate them.
“Some bigger organisations develop closed communities,” explain Chris Reed, director at Fishburn Hedges. “It’s quite a popular concept in the States – less so here at the moment. For example drugs companies will establish a community of people who suffer from the same ailment and encourage them to discuss symptoms online. Marketers find out useful information about their target market – they can take lots from it.”
But part of creating a successful community is identifying if you have either the pre-existing customer base or the funds necessary to make sure it reaches critical mass, warns Freddie Laker, director of digital strategy at Sapient Interactive. “If the online community doesn’t have a large enough user base of active repeat customers it will inevitably fizzle out and cease to be relevant,” he says.
The rules of DIY
Whether establishing a presence via existing or bespoke communities, there are some basic rules worth considering.
Firstly, don’t use them to preach or promote. “Treat social networking like you would an offline networking event,” says Reed. “You wouldn’t stand up in the middle of a conference and say ‘I’ve got this fantastic product, everyone talk to me.’ You would talk, network, listen, and participate.”
Put in the legwork to populate your site. For B2B brands, this might mean spending a few months prior to any official ‘launch’ inviting members personally. “Highlight to users that the more comprehensive information they input, the more relevant traffic and interested parties will visit their profiles,” suggests Tim Gibbon, director at Elemental. “Communities that are embracing the new wave of technologies such as the integration of RSS and blogs, Twitter, YouTube and other rich media content can easily keep their profiles fresh and vibrant.”
Moderation isn’t always key: “While you might well provide the platform, infrastructure and cash, the membership will believe it belongs to them. This sense of ownership is essential to generate the peer-to-peer recommendation that the network requires,” warns Mark Blaylock, creative director at Flipside Group. He suggests having clear terms and conditions that form part of the ‘contract’ made when a new member joins. “If you are going to intervene in the discussion or reserve the right to moderate or remove content you have to be prepared to explain your reasons for doing so.”
Integrate with other platforms where possible. “Facebook Connect, The OpenSocial Foundation and OpenID are leading the way in how businesses can pool their profiles across various networks and centralise how they communicate, interact and ultimately promote products and services,” says Gibbon.
The way forward
With the technology associated with social media developing so fast, what opportunities are there around the corner for marketers? “For 2010 and beyond we believe the most successful communities will make the best use of personalisation and contextualisation,” says Rene Hermes, vice president of marketing at CoreMedia. “Contextualisation involves the community member’s current situation – criteria might involve the time of day, the season, their location or the type of device they are using to access the intranet.”
“They’re going multi-media – they’re going real-time” says Rachel Clarke, head of social media at Twentysix. “A community is no longer a group of people on a message board – they share all kinds of content and increasingly expect real time interactions.” Most important though, says Clarke, is to join the social media space only if it works with your audience and you have the commitment and passion for it to succeed.
