Business to Business Marketers Using Social Media

Business to Business Marketers Using Social Media

SLR is a global environmental consulting company who works in the following business sectors: oil & gas, infrastructure, industry, mining, renewable & low carbon, planning & development and waste management. This company is a business to business company that relies on mostly referrals, trade shows, RFI/RFP and general web presence as their marketing tactics to secure new business. SLR does not have a well developed social media plan for two reasons: the company does not see the value in social media to garner new business and there is a reluctance in having platforms where SLR employees, clients and competitors could potentially share confidential information. 

With that being said, SLR would benefit from a stronger social media plan. There is value in social media, however with the current exponential growth of the company it is understandable why the company does not want to invest in another in a strategy. The old adage "if it is not broken, why fix it?" is not how a company should be running its marketing plan. A stagnate marketing plan is a dying marketing plan. Also, the fear of confidential information being exposed is exactly what will happen if SLR does not take charge to control the conversation and monitor these platforms.

This is not to say, SLR should jump into Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. Instead, SLR should searching where these conversations are happening. Where do contractors, consultants, government agencies, etc. talk about oil and gas drilling? Or what platforms do mining and minerals professionals use on a professional or a social level? There a few online discussion forums, but after viewing the "Environmental Consultant Discussion Forum" these do not look like a hotbed for trading industry leads, instead it looks like a Q&A session for non-industry individuals. (Environmental Consultants, 2015).

Instead, SLR should be focusing on LinkedIn and Twitter in order to manage the conversation about themselves and their industry, learn about the evolving field, and have touch points with potential clients.

Why LinkedIn?
First, when establishing your online credibility for your business it is extremely important to have a strong LinkedIn profile. More and more potential colleagues and clients are going to look at the LinkedIn profile if/when they begin their background search on your company. It is important for business to business marketers to have a strong showing on a platform that just caters to business connections.

There are other social business platforms that SLR could use, but LinkedIn is the most important social business platform because it has the largest number of business profiles and therefore allows for the greatest promise for future client partnership. Also, the structure of LinkedIn allows for easy search options for individuals within the industry you are looking to do business with.  (Garst, 2013)

How to Use LinkedIn:
There are a variety of ways a company can utilize LinkedIn proactively in order to gain the highest ROI. A few options are:

1. Having a dedicated marketer who will post regularly to the business's account. It is important for these posts to be targeted toward potential clients, information on the successes of the company, and general updates about the company but still using targeted keywords. Also, there are a number of ways for a company to be seen as an industry leader. One of these ways is for a company to post about industry-related best practices in order to be seen as an industry leader.

2. There are numerous groups and niche subgroups that a company can join on LinkedIn. It would benefit a marketer to join all the groups and get involved in the dialogue and discussion.

3. Use LinkedIn as a platform to invite potential clients and current clients to events/open houses, etc.

4. Lastly, a company could also pay for advertisements. (Duermyer, n.d.)

Why Twitter?
Twitter is a great way to quickly and easily read information that you want to see, allows you to easily join conversations that you want to join. There is a high level of customization and specification with Twitter. Business to business marketers can learn about breaking news, industry-related developments, and information about potential and current clients succinctly. 

This type of microblogging allows a business to connect with another business in a variety of ways. Retweeting: by retweeting other companies and other companies will re-tweet your company; it creates links that can help with website SEO and create buzz on Twitter by gathering more interest and potentially more followers. Hashtags: a way Twitter was able to categorize and unify information for easier access. This allows business to search for specific keywords and follow new companies that fall within their industry.

How to use Twitter:
A business to business marketer should use Twitter only when they have identified strategy and expected outcomes. Here are few rules a business to business marketer should live by:

1. A poorly managed Twitter account is worse than no account. If you are going to use this fast paced platforms leaving it idle for weeks or months on end is going to show poor performance, especially if there is a strong dialogue around the company.
2. Always reply when a follower tweets something to the company. Need to show there is a person behind the user name and interact with those who follow you.
3. Utilize the search function to learn of tweets you may have missed or to find new companies to follow. (Foster, n.d.)


Duermyer, R. (n.d.)How to Use LinkedIn To Promote Your Home Business. About Money. Retrieved on February 1, 2015 from: http://homebusiness.about.com/od/socialmediamarketing/a/How-To-Use-Linkedin-for-Marketing.htm

Environmental Consultants (2015).  Environmental Consultants Discussion Forum. Retrieved on February 1, 2015 from: http://www.environmental-consultants.com/environmental-forum

Foster, H. (n.d.) Twitter for business: How to make it work for your business. Computer Weekly. Retrieved on February 1, 2015 from: http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Twitter-for-business-How-to-make-it-work-for-your-business

Garst, K. (2013). How to Effectively Use LinkedIn for Business. Boom Social Retrieved on February 1, 2015 from: http://kimgarst.com/how-to-effectively-use-linkedin-for-business

McCoy, J (2015). Is Twitter Killing YouTube? 5 Top Reasons You Should Prioritize Twitter. Business to Business Community.  Retrieved on February 2, 2015 from: t http://www.business2community.com/twitter/twitter-killing-youtube-5-top-reasons-prioritize-twitter-01142186#PQL5e50JDYIIpsBx.99