Honestly, why do we think that sophisticated B2B buyers are going to follow our brands on Twitter or become our fans on Facebook?
The answer is we don’t.
Even if we believe deeply in the power of social media, we all have that gnawing feeling deep in our guts that says that there’s little reason for a busy, intelligent person to want to receive frequent updates about our brands when those brands produce complex services and products with two-year sales cycles.
Once again, the answer is they don’t.
The research confirms it. A survey of 1000 consumers by marketing agency Razorfish found that just 3.5% of consumers follow a brand on Twitter for “service, support, or product news.”
We don’t follow brands, we follow deals
What drives consumers to follow brands on Twitter? Deals. According to Razorfish, 44% of respondents said they were looking for exclusive deals or offers, while 24% said they followed the brand because they were customers and 23% said they followed in the hopes of getting interesting or entertaining content.
That would seem enough to end the debate about B2B social media participation right there. What, are we going to send out coupons for 15% percent off an enterprise software installation? (Actually, B2B buyers would probably love that but we’d lose millions and get fired.)
We can’t do deals. That’s a B2C thing.
The expectation of value
But let’s dissect what’s really going on with these deals. Consumers follow brands because they have an expectation that they will get value from the relationship. But to use a famous example, how many Dell PCs can we expect a follower of Dell on Twitter to buy? To keep those followers interested, Dell needs to offer other, lesser things of value like deals on accessories, warranties, etc. At the heart of the relationship is the expectation of continuing value.
B2B marketers can create that same expectation of value—of deals—through content. Consumers show us that in a world where everything should be about deals, they are looking beyond the coupon as the sole definition of value. I’m actually shocked at the number of people who said they follow brands because they are customers. That’s a gimme for marketers to deepen the relationship with them. And another 23% said that they see enough value exchange in content alone to warrant a follow.
We have to understand that in B2B, content—in the form of ideas, education, research and support—are our deals. Social media like Twitter are the offer engines for the valuable thought leadership content that we offer through our other channels like the website and events. If we can offer a steady stream of these deals through social media, we give B2B buyers as much reason to follow us as consumers have to chase coupons.
What do you think?
Chris
Not sure I totally agree – as the person behind twitter.com/avaya_support I can tell you the folks at Razorfish are dead wrong when it comes to B2B – people do follow brands for “service, support, or product news”.
And as a B2B brand I am providing exactly that. Plus I recently ran a twitter only deal (support from Avaya to help close end-of-year deals) and got my first lead within seconds and another lead within 2 hours.
Yes twitter is great for promoting your social content but B2B marketers can also learn from our B2C brethren.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the comment. To be fair to Razorfish, they were not drawing any conclusions about B2B based on their survey. They surveyed consumers. It was I who applied their findings to B2B. I’m glad to hear that I’m wrong! Social media should be a good way to maintain and deepen a relationship with B2B customers after the sale. Glad you’re seeing that. Are others having the same experience as Paul?
Hi Chris,
I agree with what you say. Some of my comments on your post..
Consumers are really taken away by social media and enough proofs are already given. But many a firms are not able to utilize this to the best extent. Still the amount of content related to the product/service available on the websites of a company are very less. Customers have to Google to find out more info about it.
Secondly as Paul said customers do follow a brand for support but then i guess it comes more from other customers who have also faced the same problem some time back. At least i have seen this happening in most of the Orkut, Facebook and Linkedin communities. Also ‘Dell is Hell’ the famous blog has many a threads proving this.
I guess the fight is not about whether it is B2B or B2C…rather about how to provide better value to the customers in any platform available.
Regards
Ujjawal
Hi Ujjawal,
Point well taken. I guess we will see fewer differences between B2C and B2B over time. I hope so. I would love to see social media become as vibrant in B2B as it is in B2C. Thanks for the comment!