Interesting topic and blog, I think that I will be learning a lot from here

Thanks for your thought-provoking comments.

It seems that many B2B marketers jumped into social media first, then tried to figure out how to make it work second.

Perhaps now is the time for B2B marketers to survey their customers and prospects to better understand the social media they are using and how they are using it. Then based on that understanding B2B marketers can determine which social media and tactics will actually be on target and have the best chance of positively influencing these prospects and customers.

- Mac

Thanks for joining the conversation.

You clearly believe that social networking increases sales. However, can you provide any quantifyable data to prove your claims?

- Mac

I think the fundamental question is ‘Are your customers and prospects using social media and, if so, what are they using and how are they using it?’. Obviously this is far easier to ask than answer. However, as with all marketing, the most successful campaigns are going to be those where you understand your target market and communicate with it effectively.

With regards to the function of marketing, I understand where you’re coming from in one respect, but if we take your view a step further, it is everybody’s job, from the receptionist, through to the CEO, to generate leads. The company’s image is in the hands of all of these people and that can have a profound impact on its success.

I think where Alan was coming from is what marketers consider to be true marketing. I think it is true that most B2B companies are probably sales-led, and therefore the role of the marketing department in those organisations is designated as generating leads.

The true definition of marketing, however, is understanding customer’s needs and using this information to build products and services around them. The marketing communications process then helps to promote these products and services and aid lead generation. I think that a lot of organisations’ marketing departments are more marketing communications departments, rather than encompassing the whole spectrum of marketing. In a marketer’s ideal world, the marketing function would be the driving force behind the organisation and would determine the organisation’s product/service offering and future strategy. In this situation, the development team would develop the product/service according to customer requirements and the sales team would sell it. The marketing communications would certainly support the sales team, but as the products and services should have been developed according to customer needs, and the business benefits should be clear for all to see, marketing’s main function is not lead generation, but customer demand satisfaction. Sadly, many of us have to live with the reality that marketing is little understood or listened to and often considered as a sales support function.

So, back to topic. If the true definition of marketing is used, social media could prove to be invaluable (if your customers use it!) in order to determine customer requirements and then communicate the fulfillment of these. Personally, I don’t think that it is likely to prove hugely successful for lead generation (depending on the business you’re in, of course – if you are marketing something connected with social media, then I guess this may not be true).

That turned out to be much longer than I anticipated!

Sarah

the “expert voice” part is very important, even if it doesn’t directly affect lead generation. It may have a very positive affect during the consideration stage of the buying process, after the lead generation phase.

I think you are correct about integrating blogs with websites. However, some believe that having your blog in a different domain than your website, with lots of relevant links between them, might be better than hosting both in the same domain. That’s the advice I followed.

-Mac

A very insightfull blog post and meaningfull discussion. I’d also be very interested to read good case stories with proven ROI.

So far, our (limited) social media efforts are more about monitoring conversations, building an expert voice and building partner relationships than about lead generation.

About blogs and search engine ranking : it is my understanding that you’re supposed to integrate your blog in your website rather than setting it up as a separate domain name so the “google juice” it generates benefits your website.