Do you know what the top 5 social sites are that your B2B company should be using? Keep reading for tips on how to utilize these tools.
Kendra Porter
Social Media Coordinator
Recently, I came across a study conducted by MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute which revealed that the top five social media sites used by B2B marketers are 1) Twitter, 2) LinkedIn, 3) Facebook, 4) YouTube and 5) Slideshare.
If these sites have been identified as the TOP 5 social media sites, what are the benefits to implementing one or more of these sites into your company’s overall marketing strategy?
I’ve compiled a few of these benefits below:
TwitterÂ
- Easily promote a company website, blog content, upcoming events and share content from third party sources.
- Easily communicate with numerous people at one time, rather than individually.
- Publicize your company, adding valuable connections with the intent to increase the likelihood that people will not only view your profile but will become interested in doing business with your company.
- Promote your blog and other media channels associated with your company.
- Easily gain insight about who has visited your profile, information that could be used to identify potential business opportunities.
- Feature new products and highlight testimonials.
- Distribute news and industry information to prospects and customers and expand your company’s reach beyond traditional media endeavors.
- Create two-way communication by encouraging followers or “fans” to provide input on the content being shared.
- Establish relationships by being a resource to potential customers.
YouTube
- A YouTube channel allows your company to be discovered more easily in that people from around the world look for videos specifically on YouTube. Searchers are more likely to find videos on your company’s topic when looking on YouTube rather than through a random web search.
- Your videos get shared more since YouTube is optimized for sharing and sending information in a more effective way than videos on your website.
Slideshare
- Upload files, e-books, webinars, presentations, videos and images directly to a corporate-branded Channel without having to shoehorn the content into a carefully architected website.
- Capture a viewer’s profile and automatically import the contact information into a CRM tool such as SalesForce.com.
- Yet another source for prospects to discover your brand, offering a company the opportunity to expand their reach and feature content outside of the company website.
Each one of these sites offers a B2B company powerful tools for building awareness, thought leadership and lead generation. And, each one functions as one of the many moving parts within an overall marketing strategy.
For more detailed information on the MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute survey entitled B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends visit http://members.marketingprofs.com/B2BContentPR
