When B2B marketers decide to take the plunge into social media – and hopefully after first establishing their company’s blog – they usually begin with the Big 3 of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, since those three do typically account for most of the action for B2Bs.
But life doesn’t end there, Megan Leap reminds us in a recent post on MarketingProfs’ Daily Fix. In particular, she points out three social networks that are frequently overlooked …but shouldn’t be:
SlideShare is a great way to disseminate the benefits of your solution in presentation format. You can embed them in a blogpost or article, or upload them as is. You can use some of the presentations you have on hand, or create new ones that you think will best fit the network’s conventions.
StumbleUpon – We’ve pointed this one out in past posts as perhaps the best social network you’re not using. While you can Stumble (vote) your own content in, it’s best if your readers do that for you; so be sure to have StumbleUpon buttons on your blogposts and other content you think Stumble-worthy. Megan reports that she’s “had the most success (literally thousands of visits a week!) on StumbleUpon with comprehensive, top-10 lists.”
YouTube – We all know the importance of video in B2B marketing, for product demos and pseudo-lifelike presentations. But if you simply upload these to YouTube, you’ll be underutilizing this social medium. Better to create videos that help personalize the company while reinforcing its thought leadership… such as interviews with key execs on timely industry topics, or with the development team on how your development/release cycle works to benefit customers. YouTube users actually expect user-generated content, so your videos don’t have to be expensive, big-budget productions …in fact, it’s usually better if they aren’t.
So yes, Virginia… there is life after the Big 3; give these three a try for starters, and see if they don’t benefit your B2B.
Simple, direct, and also great advice. There aren’t enough blog posts out there focusing on the “now what” phase of b2b social media. Thanks for sharing, Bill.